PRACTICE OVERVIEW:
Mr. Emmert limits his practice to
appellate advocacy in the state and
federal courts. He has briefed and
argued numerous significant cases
that have resulted in published opinions
in a variety of fields of the law.
EXPERIENCE:
Mr. Emmert has been with the firm
since 1999, when he returned to the
private sector after spending nine
years in the Virginia Beach City Attorney’s
Office. It was in the public sector
that he developed the skills of an
appellate advocate, as he represented
the City and its officers, employees,
and agents in a variety of appellate
cases. Those included numerous challenges
to municipal authority; major tort
and eminent domain litigation; tax
and valuation appeals; and the nation’s
first appellate interpretation of
the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Since returning to the private
sector, Mr. Emmert has accepted
appellate challenges in a large
number of cases across many fields.
He has risen to the chairmanship
of the Virginia State Bar’s
Appellate Practice Subcommittee,
making him the principal spokesman
for Virginia’s appellate lawyers.
He is a member of the Supreme Court’s
Appellate Rues Advisory Commission,
and of the Boyd-Graves Conference
of the Virginia Bar Association.
He is listed in The Best Lawyers
in America in the field of Appellate
Law, and in November 2007 was honored
by Virginia Lawyers Weekly as one
of 15 “Leaders in the Law.”
Mr. Emmert is a frequent lecturer
on appellate advocacy before a variety
of bar associations. In 2005, he
introduced to Virginia the symposium
method of teaching appellate lawyers,
covering individual topics in depth
with very small groups of attorneys,
to ensure maximum interaction between
faculty and attendees. The Appellate
Practice Subcommittee continues
to present two such symposia per
year for the benefit of Virginia
lawyers.
EDUCATION:
For most of his life, Mr. Emmert has
lived in Virginia. He attended Great
Bridge High School in Chesapeake,
graduating in 1976. He then attended
Richmond College, a division of the
University of Richmond, where he received
a Bachelors of Arts in Economics in
1979, graduating magna cum laude.
He received departmental honors and
was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In
1982 he received a Juris Doctor Degree
from the University of Virginia School
of Law.
MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILATIONS:
Mr. Emmert is a member of the Virginia
Bar Association (Boyd-Graves Conference),
the American Bar Association (Council
of Appellate Lawyers), the Virginia
Trial Lawyers Association (co-chair,
Amicus Curiae Committee), the Virginia
Beach Bar Association (Circuit Court
Liaison Committee), the Federal Bar
Association, and the Virginia State
Bar (chairman, Appellate Practice
Subcommittee).
lsemmert@sykesbourdon.com
emmert@virginia-appeals.com |
