While impeccable communication skills and high intelligence are a part of the equation, truly great lawyers also earn a respect that follows them out of the courtroom and into the community.
Top Lawyers of Greater Lynchburg is the result of a comprehensive peer-to-peer survey, facilitated by DataJoe Research Company. (See methodology and disclaimers on page 142.)
Read on to see who lawyers themselves recommend in 26 specialties.
By Jeremy Angione | Photos by Ashlee Glen
Jefferson Street in downtown Lynchburg is rich with an old charm that gives the area its “historic” moniker. The cobblestone streets and even the James River continually evoke a sense of nostalgia to anyone passing by.
Although several new businesses have found a home on the quiet riverside street, The Glass House has been reinvented as a gastro lounge and cocktail bar, which reopened on October 18, 2023.
Originally purchased in 2019 by Dave Henderson and a group of investors, including Jason Cudd, Gordon Cudd, Daniel Sadusky, and Nathan Kalons, the Glass House initially served as a music and events venue.
“At the time, the music scene was tough here in Lynchburg. We decided to strategically pivot so that we could create a space that hopefully would engage the community more often than a music venue might,” Henderson explained.
As owner of The Water Dog and the Hen and Hound restaurant management group, which operates Fratelli Italian Kitchen and No. 7 Rooftop Bar, Henderson wanted the reenvisioned Glass House to be a wholly unique experience within his portfolio and in the Lynchburg area.
“I just felt that we had an opportunity to bring something new and exciting to downtown Lynchburg and with such a unique space, our team wanted to challenge the food scene with an experience unlike anything in the area,” Henderson said.
To create a completely new experience, Henderson says that it was necessary to make “significant changes to the infrastructure.” Although the Glass House was initially slated to reopen earlier this year, any curious onlooker strolling by the unfinished site would likely see the amount of work the Hen and Hound team put into reimagining the space.
According to Jason and Gordon Cudd, they had to tear up the plumbing, the bathrooms, and even the kitchen, which Jason joked used to be the size of a postage stamp.
What was, even in its previous iteration, a fairly cold and gray space, is now a warmly decorated lounge colored in deep greens and browns, with gold accents dashed through the room.
Henderson says that with the help of a Richmond-based architectural firm and interior designer Sharon Norris, “We were able to pinpoint an aesthetic that so far has been working.”
According to Henderson, the inspiration for the reenvisioned Glass House is thanks, in part, to a previously popular event, Rosé Thursday.
“We knew that we wanted to capture the Rosé Thursday scene that we had previously. The people who were here for Rosé Thursday were the audience that we were searching for in the new iteration of this restaurant,” Henderson said.
Despite its new, upscale finish, for guests the Glass House remains surprisingly approachable. Scanning the crowd during the busy service would reveal a diverse demographic of guests. Various ages, races, and even fashion senses feel comfortably represented.
“This might be the most diverse restaurant that we operate. Look, I’m a guy that wears my hat backward and I still feel at home here,” Henderson said.
The accessibility of the Glass House experience extends to the comprehensive menu of small plate-style meals and signature cocktails.
While items may be pricier than a trip to the Water Dog, there are plenty of options for guests to have a unique, homey, and affordable experience.
According to Henderson, the Glass House team worked hard to make the atmosphere, menu, and prices as accessible as possible.
“I didn’t want people to feel that this is only their special occasion spot,” he said.
The menus are as diverse in their offerings as they are fun, thanks to the combined efforts of General Manager Heather Harris and Chef Candace Vinson.
“The menu at the Glass House is what I like to describe as ‘conversational food’,” Vinson said.
She says that her inspirations and hopes for her dishes come from the “every day.” Vinson likes to blend everyday ingredients to create a unique dish that will encourage guests to chat about their newfound favorites. Likewise, Vinson’s dishes are inspired by everyday people and their stories of the foods they ate growing up in their respective backgrounds.
“I am also a lover of culture. My goal is to honor the food culture in Virginia and to honor the various ethnicities of our community. It brings me so much joy when a guest finds a cultural tie in one of our dishes,” Vinson said.
Guests should take additional comfort in the care that went into the kitchen layout in which Vinson prepares their meals. What was the size of a postage stamp could now very well fit a whole other restaurant. Vinson’s kitchen is a spacious, clean, and organized space, with every ingredient and tool placed with care for efficiency.
Vinson says that her team’s current and ongoing goal for the Glass House menu is
to “continue to create a bridge of familiar and unfamiliar delicacies.” She says that their farming partners are currently preparing the gardens for their Spring
and Summer menu.
While the interior design and menus have received considerable focus in the new Glass House, Henderson admits that he wants the impact of the restaurant to extend outward to the community.
“I have been so appreciative of the relationships that are being cultivated on this street,” Henderson said.
The diversity of business types and leaders on Jefferson Street is a point of inspiration for Henderson, which drives him and his team to cultivate a sort of destination point for the community.
“There’s this notion of activating Jefferson Street in a way that allows all of us business owners to work together to create a whole new vibe for downtown.”
Only a few months into its reopening, Henderson says that the support for the Glass House’s new vision has been overwhelming.
“I did want us to stand out and be different, but I also never expected people to compare this space to something you might find in a larger city. Our reservations have been close to one hundred percent booked almost every night.”
While the Glass House has shifted away from its use as a venue, it will still be home to unique events such as Rosé Thursday. It also recently hosted a wine dinner in association with Antiquum Farm.
When winter ends, Henderson says the Glass House plans to extend its hours and unveil a weekend brunch menu.
By Lindsey Cline
It’s early morning; heavy dew casts a silver shine on the grass as the soft sun’s rays emerge over the woodland tree line. A group of Carolina chickadees flit up and down honey locust trees. They flicker from the trees to the birdfeeders, regularly startled by squirrels and bossy blue jays. On other days, white-throated sparrows sing all afternoon, a fox slips along the garden edge, and rabbits nest under a ninebark shrub.
The yard in this scene is not unique; a standard suburban 100’-by-50’ with a small patio. What brings wildlife to the backdoor are native plant garden beds 12 feet deep and running the length of space.
Here, among the songbirds, it’s easy to forget the threat that development poses to wildlife, but nature is in trouble: the native bee population declined by 90 percent in the past decade and more than half of bird populations are dwindling. While the majestic Monarch butterfly’s endangerment demands headlines, others, like the sturgeon, which were once so numerous that European settlers could “walk across the James River on their backs,” and the little brown bat, which hibernates in Blue Ridge Mountain caves, face extinction.
Gone is the assumption that “protected” spaces can save the wildlife we have left…much of Virginia’s 16 percent of land protected from development lacks prime habitat as it remains open for logging and agriculture. What if we welcomed insects, songbirds, amphibians, and reptiles into our developed lands?
The revolution is here, fueled by well-gloved gardeners and well-aware homeowners creating wildlife habitats in their backyards, community parks, and locally owned fields.
Apex predators require vast wild tracts to roam, but many species—especially the foundation of the food web—can thrive in neighborhood yards. And the backyards we have!
More than half of Virginia’s land is urban, suburban, or metro-adjacent. Virginians managed 1.7 million acres of turfgrass lawn in 2004 (last year of available data); we can estimate at least 2 million acres today. Imagine some of these lawns, which offer no ecological value, as gardens that restore essential bonds between flora and fauna.
The key to creating those habitats?
Native plants.
Native plants excel at supporting wildlife: acorns for squirrels, fruit and berries for bears and foxes, cover for rabbits and fawns, and nesting trees for birds and owls. Native plants allow wildlife to breed, feed, and live.
One can’t explain the importance of natives without diving into the world of insects. Insects, the foundation of a rich food web, nourish birds, fish, frogs, toads, salamanders, and bats. They are indispensable to ecosystems: insects decompose organisms, recycle nutrients, pollinate plants, and disperse seeds. Insects have spun a web of mutually beneficial relationships within ecosystems, particularly with native plants.
Insects adapted over time to exploit plant qualities during each stage of their lifecycle: hiding places for eggs, foliage for young caterpillars to eat, and nectar and pollen for adults. This dance is intricate—insects must time their lifecycles to correspond with their hosts. This process led the majority of insects to evolve so deliberately that they rely on a handful of plant lineages. Because of this specificity, insects can’t quickly adapt to non-natives.
Entomologist Doug Tallamy proved that insect populations decline without native plants. Famed biologist E.O. Wilson explained that if insects vanished, flowering plants would follow, then reptiles, amphibians, birds, and finally mammals.
The remaining debate, with experts on both sides, is the ease of establishing native gardens. Some claim that natives require less care and maintenance; others argue that unstoppable deer herds and infuriating groundhogs prefer them.
Implementing this new garden ethic falls in all directions—obstacles aren’t more significant than “traditional” gardens; they’re simply different. We must become the first-time hosta-obsessed gardeners we once were—learning new plant communities. While culture now denounces pesticides and praises pollinator gardens, the lack of practical advice and hands-on resources, not to mention the dearth of native plants themselves, can leave us overwhelmed with the task of implementing our new-found inspiration, especially if our marching orders include the astounding “saving nature.”
But gardeners are an optimistic bunch. As Yiyun Li writes, “One garden with the same unblinded hope and the same willingness to concede as one lives, always ready to say:
If not now, later; if not this year, next year.”
It’s possible to delight in the wildlife that garden sanctuaries support. More than once, my toddler watched with wonder as a box turtle marched from one garden bed to another. Despite my garden failures, Carolina wrens still nest in the wild grape vines and painted lady butterflies cover white snakeroot drifts. Whether our endeavors can reverse the tide remains to be seen, but the evidence makes a strong case that it’s worth our efforts.
We’re now challenging presumptions that to garden, we must hail overtly blooming peonies and roses. Instead, we might try delicate shooting stars in spring, striking purple baptisia for summer blooms, or pair rich violet asters with deep golds of goldenrods in fall.
Nature deserves to exist on its own merits, but we can keep high expectations around our homes and relish in our desire for beauty. While re-creating indigenous plant communities offers maximum habitat, native plants anywhere contribute to the effort and can work for tidy front entrances, side yards, or around entertaining areas.
Try them—you may (or may not) become a morning birdwatcher, but you will open the door to a stunning garden and a movement of new and vital wildlife refuges.
By Megan Williams | Photos courtesy of West Virginia Dept. of Tourism
Tucked away within the scenic embrace of Appalachia lies Mercer County, West Virginia—a haven for those seeking an off-the-grid experience. This quaint locale, nestled at the southeastern fringe of West Virginia, offers a mix of outdoor adventures, a glimpse into history, and the charm of small-town living. The communities of Athens, Bluefield, Bramwell, and Princeton form the tight-knit area that’s rich in history and Appalachian heritage.
Amidst its breathtaking landscapes, Mercer County transitions from the undulating hills of the New River Valley to the craggy precipice of Pinnacle Rock, all against the backdrop of the area’s coal mining roots. As the railroads and coal mining revolutionized southern West Virginia, Mercer County rose to prominence, riding the wave of “smokeless” coal discoveries in its depths. This surge in population over a mere half-century laid the groundwork for the diverse tapestry that today’s travelers can explore.
Historical Lodging Experiences
Mercer County boasts an array of distinctive lodging options, each offering a unique glimpse into the region’s history and charm. Guests are enticed to step back in time, immersing themselves in the area’s rich history by choosing accommodations such as the meticulously preserved Bluefield Inn. Dating back to 1904, this historic establishment has hosted luminaries including Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy Jr., and John Nash, among other iconic American figures.Guests can stay in the Abraham Lincoln room, with a king-sized bed and luxurious linens; or the Scarlett O’Hara room which exudes Southern elegance with its sateen linens; or they can commandeer the Kennedy Cottage which sits on the upper level of the property, is pet friendly, and endlessly cozy. New pet-friendly rooms cater to furry companions, ensuring an unforgettable stay in the picturesque foothills of the Mountain State.
Year-Round Outdoor Thrills
Mercer County is an adventurer’s playground regardless of the season.
Visitors can explore twenty-seven mountainous trails and West Virginia’s largest snow tubing park at Winterplace Ski Resort, which is rated the “number one place to learn to ski in the southeast.” Guests can glide down the powdery slopes morning, noon, and night, followed by a warm meal at one of the three on-site restaurants.
If you’re seeking more speed than what skis can provide, the Hatfield-McCoy Trail System is the perfect destination. This ATV and off-roading network pays homage to a notorious family feud between two West Virginia/Kentucky families along the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River. Comprising ten trails, this system traverses the rugged terrain of West Virginia, offering trails that vary from breathtakingly scenic to exhilaratingly intense. Another remarkable trail system, the Pocahontas Trail System in Mercer County, intersects with three Hatfield-McCoy Trail Systems—Indian Ridge, Pinnacle Creek, and Warrior—forming the longest continuous trail network east of the Mississippi. Found in Coaldale, just outside the historic town of Bramwell known for its plethora of millionaire homes dating back to the early 20th century, this trailhead provides direct access to gas, food, and accommodations, enhancing the overall experience for riders.
Southern Hospitality at its Finest
Once you’ve worked up a hearty appetite from the slopes or trails, only top-notch food will hit the spot. The RailYard in Bluefield stands out as a beloved local spot. With its sophisticated bar and mouthwatering appetizers (try the duck-bacon wontons), it’s the ideal spot to unwind after a thrilling day of adventure.
If you’re in need of a place to relax your tired bones a bit longer, the Granada Theater radiates historical allure. Hosting renowned entertainers such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Fats Waller, this meticulously restored 1928 vintage theater now showcases films and stages concerts and theatrical performances year-round. A cherished local gem, it offers affordable family entertainment, classic movie screenings, excellent acoustics, and a captivating ambiance. Indulge in their daily selection of sold Italian gelato while immersing yourself in the nostalgic charm of traditional American cinema.
Old Appalachia’s Heartbeat
Mercer County, West Virginia, offers an escape from the usual routine. With its untouched natural beauty, diverse outdoor activities, and rich historical background, it attracts those looking to unwind. Whether it’s outdoor adventures, local cuisine, or exploring history, Mercer County guarantees an authentic experience that sticks with visitors.
For those seeking a break from chaos and a chance to reconnect with nature and small-town life, Mercer County embodies the enduring appeal of Appalachia.