Samuel W. Meekins Jr.

Samuel W. Meekins, Jr.

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Samuel W. Meekins Jr. has been selected for inclusion in 2010 and 2011 “Virginia Super Lawyer” and in the 2007 “Legal Elite” for Civil Litigation He is a Martindale Hubbell AV rated attorney.  Since 2010, Mr. Meekins helped his clients successfully conclude numerous cases including will contests, wrongful death cases, serious personal injury cases, injunction suits, a debarment proceeding, commercial lease disputes, covenant not to compete and contempt proceedings, lender litigation, arbitration over a commercial construction contract and participation in a mock trial on behalf of a Fortune 500 company.

My approach to helping clients:

“If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail”. Think about that when you have a problem that merits the time and expense of hiring a lawyer. If the lawyer is a “litigator” the first solution offered is likely to file suit. Sometimes that is the right choice but not always. Litigation is time consuming, expensive and risky and frequently, at the end, you have made an enemy for life.

I have spent thirty years in the dispute resolution business. I can litigate. I am a former prosecutor and I have been named, among other honors, a “Legal Elite” in civil litigation. I have done trials where the ultimate result could have been death for my client and I have done trials where the ultimate result could have been a twenty million dollar verdict against my client. Believe me, in those kinds of cases you emotionally buy-in. It takes courage. But, it takes as much courage to look a client in the eye and tell him to take a deal that he really doesn’t like.

There are other ways to resolve issues than litigation. There is negotiation. There is mediation. There is arbitration. Each of these have merit and can be effective in the right circumstances. The issue is to know when to use these tools and to find someone adept at each of these processes to help you decide the best course of action to solve your problem. A good litigator can litigate but also has more tools that just a hammer.
These lessons are not taught in law school. They come from years of experience in many different settings. I learned valuable life lessons as a litigator, as a Viet Nam war veteran, as Chairman of the Virginia Beach City School Board, as Chairman of the Litigation Section of the Virginia State Bar, As President of my firm, as President of The Central Business District Association, as Candidate for House of Delegates, and as a husband of forty years and father of four now grown children.

Representative Cases 

Hegwood v. Virginia Natural Gas, 256 Va. 362, 505 S.E.2d 372 (1998)
Favinger v. Ford Motor Co., 275 Va. 83, 654 S.E.2d 575 (2008)
Florence v. Roberts, 233 Va. 297, 355 S.E.2d 316 (1987)
United States v. Walker, 796 F.2d 43, 1986 (4th Cir. 1986)
Chase v. City of Portsmouth, 428 F.Supp. 2d 487 (E.D. Va. 2006)
Pitt, et al. v. City of Portsmouth. Virginia, et al. v. United States Department of Housing, 221 F.R.D. 438, (U.S. Dist. 2004)