Noteworthy > VSB News

The Health Law Section hosted a Student Writing Competition for Virginia students in law school for the 2020–21 academic year. Contestants submitted papers on a topic pertaining to a health law issue or the practice of health law. Entries were judged by a committee of the Health Law Section on the basis of subject matter originality, relevance to health law, quality of analysis and research, and quality of writing. The winning entries and their authors are as follows:

1st Prize and $1500: Christian Sorenson Thinking Outside the Box: Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, In Vitro Fertilization, and Disability Screening in the wake of Box v. Planned Parenthood

2nd Prize and $1000: Edka Wong Does Fecal Matter? Implications of FDA Regulation on Current and Future Therapeutic Uses of FMT

3rd Prize and $500: Madison Wonson Conflicts of Interest in Nutrition Policy: Why Americans Are So Confused When It Comes To Nutrition And How The Law Can Help Create A Healthier America

The Virginia State Bar has established an award in memory of the late Edward L. Chambers Jr., to recognize his longstanding, extensive, and selfless volunteer work with the Virginia State Bar, and that of other future recipients. The inaugural award was presented to Mr. Chambers’ family in conjunction with the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Virginia State Bar at the Annual Banquet on June 17, 2021.

Ed Chambers practiced law on the Peninsula for more than 40 years. He was a member of the York-Poquoson Bar and served as its president from 1988 to 1989. Ed was very active with the Virginia State Bar and served on many committees and task forces, including, by way of example, Bar Council, the Executive Committee, the Standing Committee on Professionalism, the Clients’ Protection Fund Board, and the Sixth District Disciplinary Committee. He was inducted as a Fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation in 2010. He also served for many years as a Commissioner in Chancery, a Special Justice and as a Substitute Judge for the 9th Judicial Circuit. Chambers died on December 25, 2019, after suffering a heart attack.

The purpose of the award is to recognize those who serve extraordinarily and selflessly during their career without recognition commensurate to the level of their service to the Virginia State Bar. The award will recognize an exemplary Virginia lawyer who has enhanced the legal profession in Virginia by his or her extensive and longstanding commitment of time, knowledge and leadership on various Virginia State Bar boards, committees, sections or conferences.

The award is not designed to recognize service arising out of a role as President of the Virginia State Bar or service as a full-time judge or justice. A candidate must be a member, in good standing, with no history of public discipline.

Nominations will be invited annually by the Virginia State Bar, although the award may only be made from time to time at the discretion of the selection committee appointed by the Executive Director of the Virginia State Bar. The selection committee will include five (5) members representing section leadership, committee leadership, bar staff and Bar Council. The VSB immediate past president shall serve as chair.

Nominations will be due by February 1 each year, with the award announced by April 1. Please submit the nomination in the form of a letter describing specifically the manner in which your nominee meets the criteria established for the award.

Nominations should be addressed to Chambers Award Committee, chambersaward@vsb.org. Any questions should be addressed to Karen Gould, executive director, (804) 775-0550.

On July 1, 2021, Virginia marked the golden anniversary of its seventh Constitution, signed into effect on July 1, 1971. Of the 12 men who worked to draft the Constitution, 11 were Virginia lawyers, including Supreme Court of the United States Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., civil rights icon Oliver W. Hill, and Albertis S. Harrison, the 59th governor of Virginia who also served on the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Virginia has had seven different Constitutions in its history, with the first taking effect in 1776, and the most recent taking effect on July 1, 1971. Prior to the current Constitution, Virginia had not had a new version since 1902, a document that was rooted in the Jim Crow era. In 1968, Governor Mills E. Godwin Jr. asked the General Assembly to create a commission to revise the Constitution to reflect a modern Virginia and the societal changes and accompanying laws that took effect during the 1960s.

Constitutional law expert A.E. Dick Howard, a professor in the University of Virginia School of Law, served as executive director of the Commission on Constitutional Revision beginning in 1968.

In a recent article with the university he commented, “I consider Virginia to have been well served by the likes of Lewis Powell and Oliver Hill. Like the framers of 1787, they have handed us good constitution. Mulling its achievements and shortcomings offers an opportunity for an exercise in self-government by a free people.”1

The Library of Virginia has created a document with an overview of the Virginia Constitution from 1776 through 1971 which may be read at: https://bit.ly/7Constitutions