VJLAP Annual Fall Retreat: CLE Session #3

A View from the Bench: The Mental Health of Virginia’s Legal Community

• Saturday, September 18, 2021
• Time: 8:30 – 10:30 am
• Credits: 1.5 CLE (pending); Live Interactive

Registration Required: Purchase a “ticket” for  virtual attendance. REGISTER NOW

Written Materials: A View from the Bench_Annual Retreat – Written Materials_2021

Summary:

This session reviews the state of wellness in the legal profession through the unique view of the judiciary. The panel will discuss judicial wellness, burnout, signs and symptoms of impairment, and reasons for not seeking treatment. The panel will review first-hand experiences and observations of mental health and substance use concerns in the legal profession both in and outside of the courtroom. They will also review how to support wellness and the ethical considerations the judiciary faces when an attorney or a colleague is experiencing difficulties.

Panelists:

The Honorable John Gibney, Jr. (United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia)

The Honorable John Gibney, Jr. is a judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, sitting in Richmond. He practiced law from 1976 until 2010, when President Obama nominated him to the federal bench.

From 1978 until 1982, Judge Gibney was an associate at the now-dissolved Richmond, Virginia law firm Bell, Lacy & Baliles. From 1982 until 1984, Judge Gibney served in the office of the attorney general for the commonwealth of Virginia in the litigation section as an assistant attorney general. From 1984 until 1987, he served as an associate at the now-dissolved Richmond law firm Lacy & Mehfoud. From 1987 until 2003, Judge Gibney served as a shareholder (partner) in the Richmond law firm Shuford, Rubin & Judge Gibney. From 2003 until his confirmation as a federal judge, he served as a partner and a civil litigator in the Richmond law firm Thompson McMullan.

Judge Gibney received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from The College of William & Mary in 1973 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1976. From 1976 until 1978, Judge Gibney served as a law clerk for Justice Harry L. Carrico of the Supreme Court of Virginia.

The Honorable John Tran (Fairfax County Circuit Court)

Upon taking the bench on July 1, 2013 Judge Tran became the 63^rd Circuit Court judge of record in Fairfax County since 1742. The son of a South Vietnamese diplomat and later a refugee in the United States, he spent his entire adult life in the Washington Metropolitan Area and proudly considers himself a Virginian.

Judge Tran is a product of the Arlington County public school system, having graduated from Yorktown High School. Remaining in the Washington Metropolitan Area, he is a 1981 graduate of the George Washington University and a 1984 graduate of the George Washington University Law School. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Tran shaped his trial experience as a state and federal prosecutor in Alexandria, Virginia and later as a litigation partner in the Old Town Alexandria law firm of DiMuroGinsberg, P.C.

Before leaving the practice of law, Judge Tran received numerous awards including being named a 2010 Fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation and a 2011 Virginia Lawyer’s Weekly “Leader of the Law”. He remains, however, most grateful for receiving APABA-Va’s 2010 Presidential Award of Merit, APABA-DC’s 2013 Pioneer Award, the National Conference of Vietnamese American Attorneys 2013 Trailblazer Award, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s 2013 Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award and VABA-DC’s 2014 “Crown”.

In addition to his duties as a presiding judge in the 19^th Judicial Circuit, Judge Tran also serves on the Virginia Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Rules of Court and is a Member of the Boyd-Graves Conference

The Honorable Stephanie Murray Shortt (Pulaski Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, Chief Judge)

The Honorable Stephanie Murray Shortt is the Chief Judge in the juvenile and domestic relations district court for the 27th Judicial District in Virginia. She was elected to the court by the Virginia General Assembly on November 10, 2014. Judge Shortt assumed office on January 1, 2015, for a six-year term expiring on December 31, 2020. Before she joined the court, Judge Shortt served as a commonwealth attorney for Floyd County. Before she was elected as the Commonwealth’s Attorney in 2007 she served as the county’s interim prosecutor from 2005-2006. She previously served as a public defender in Fairfax City, Fairfax County, and Roanoke.

Judge Shortt received her undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke College and her J.D. degree from the American University Washington College of Law.