Super Lawyers - Virginia 2011

WHICH HISTORIC FIGURE WOULD YOU LIKE TO
HAVE LUNCH WITH, AND WHY? AS TOLD TO ADRIENNE SCHOFHAUSER

Neville Chamberlain
I’d like to ask him what his thinking was
surrounding the events just prior to World
War II—to understand why he did some of
the things that he did, [such as] making an
agreement with Germany regarding the
Sudetenland, and why he felt that that would
satisfy the German government at the time.

I do sort of enjoy the psychology of why people do what they do and what their thinking is at the time, as opposed to looking at things after the fact—which is what I do in a professional malpractice case.

MICHELE MULLIGAN / OF COUNSEL, MERCERTRIGIANI, RICHMOND, PROFESSIONAL MALPRACTICE

Franklin Roosevelt
One, because he was disabled and was
able to overcome that, and really didn’t let the
disability deter him from his ambitions and
goals. And the other reason is because he was
able to bring the country out of the Depression
with some very creative legislation that was
passed by the House and the Senate—at
a time when America was really financially
in distress even more so than we were the
last year or two. He was able to, through a
combination of intelligence and politicking and
creativity … get us out of it in a way that really
was quite beneficial for years to come.

ARLENE STARACE / PARTNER, GRENADIER, ANDERSON, STARACE & DUFFETT, RESTON, FAMILY LAW

Thomas Jefferson
Because I was a graduate of the University
of Virginia. What I’d really like to ask him
is: “Was it really the way they tell the
story?” [Laughs] I’d be really interested in
discussing with him the architectural aspects
of Monticello and the university because
I fell in love with it, being there. Virginia
obviously has a lot of history going back
to the beginning of the United States, but
Jefferson predates that, and it’s just amazing
the influence that he has around here in
government and the law and architecture.
He’s the typical Renaissance man.