Letters to the Editor It’s the Law It was inappropriate to include “State of Electrocution” by Meghan Shapiro in the December 2012 Virginia Lawyer . This lopsided essay against the electric chair may appeal to a narrow advocacy group but provided little value to practitioners. While Ms. Shapiro is a spirited advocate against the death penalty, it is the law of the commonwealth — a law supported by the vast majority of Virginians. The Eighth Amendment does not guarantee a painless death, something even non-mur-derers cannot expect. No doubt if Ms. Shapiro is successful in ending electrocu-tions, the death penalty itself will be her next target. Her article describes the execution of the murderer Frank Coppola. I sus-pect those who knew and loved Coppola’s victim, Muriel Hatchell, might not be so troubled by the events of his rough execution. Mrs. Hatchell was beaten and strangled with a cord. She asphyxiated on her own vomit. That some murderers choose to be electrocuted instead of choosing lethal injection should not be an issue that concerns the Virginia State Bar or the Supreme Court. J. Christian Adams Alexandria Northern Virginia’s New Generation of Family Lawyers Milestones and Defections Reshape the Region’s Tight-Knit Divorce Bar he was a lioness of the Virginia divorce bar, for decades both a fearless litigator and dis-tinctive personality. She practiced in Northern Vir-ginia for 60 years. So when she died of a stroke in late September at age 88 – she never retired --Betty A. Thompson left more than simply a void in the profes-sion. “In a way it feels like the end of an era – a long era,” said David Master-man , a Northern Virginia divorce lawyer who for years opposed Thompson. “And I think we’re starting a new one.” In fact, the Northern Virginia divorce-law com-munity – approaching 200 lawyers, by many estimates --has seen a cascade of change in recent years: Since 2008 prominent older law-yers have retired or scaled back their practices. One-time protégés have launched   �f;�e; �d;�c;�b;�a; �e; �f;  surging economic and popu-lation growth in the region, caseloads and court dock-ets have continued to soar.    �d; �e;�b;  �c;  than doubled in Virginia’s four northern counties since 1985, to at least 4,000 di-vorces annually. And by all accounts the profession has grown even more competi-tive. Continued... Paid Announcement S David Roop Cheryl Graham A Matter of Fairness? I was surprised by reading VSB President W. David Harless’s message, “A Matter of Fairness,” ( Virginia Lawyer , December 2012). I could not agree more that salary is a matter of fairness, nor can I disagree with his argument of parity between the salaries of employees of the VSB and the Supreme Court of Virginia. However, as a Supreme Court employee myself, I was astonished to learn that others believe our salaries to be so high. Since magistrates were mentioned specifically in part of the article and magistrates are Supreme Court employees, I thought it was important to correct the impression that may have been given about magistrate salaries. I am an attorney magistrate who makes almost exactly what Mr. Harless states is the salary for a legal secretary employed by the Supreme Court. None of the attorney magis-trates make the $85,000 a year that he quotes as the midrange for attorney employees of the Supreme Court and most make about half that amount. Nonattorney magistrates make less than the quoted midrange salaries for the legal secretaries employed by the VSB. If achieving parity between VSB employee salaries and Supreme Court employee salaries is a matter of fairness, then achieving parity between magistrate salaries and the salaries of others employed by the Supreme Court is also a matter of fairness. Virginia E. Bray Richmond Grant Moher Keenan Goldsby Carolé Krogmann www.tenleaders.org/newgenreport.pdf This article was independently produced by The Ten Leaders Cooperative, Reston, VA, on behalf of coopera-tive members. The article was proposed but not controlled in any way by those members. All editorial deci-sions were left to editors of The Ten Leaders Cooperative. For more information please go to TenLeaders.org. Read more at: 12 VIRGINIA LAWYER | February 2013 | Vol. 61 www.vsb.org