Welcome to the Family Law Section

family law section logoThe Family Law Section works to improve the quality of family law practice in Virginia by sponsoring the Annual Family Law Seminar and the Annual Advanced Family Law Seminar, and by publishing a newsletter, the Virginia Family Law Quarterly.

The section provides information regarding family law to the public through its website and its publications (including Children and Divorce, Marriage in Virginia, Divorce in Virginia, Spare the Child, and Financial Issues in Divorce). The Virginia legislature periodically seeks and obtains information from the section, but because the Virginia State Bar is a state agency, the section does not engage in legislative advocacy.

The Family Law Section offers exclusive content for members. Ensure that you can read all the great information from the section with no delay by paying your annual section dues on July 1 every year. 

Join the Section

Sign in to your Member Portal from the top right corner of any VSB webpage to join any VSB section through your Member Participation tab.

Section Liaison

Dolly Shaffner
[email protected]
(804) 775-0518

Upcoming Events

DateTitleLocation
May 01   |VSB-Sponsored Free and Low-cost CLE Webinars - ongoingVarious, VAWEB12345
May 29   |2024 VSB Annual MeetingVirginia Beach, VA053024AM
Oct 09   |43rd Annual Family Law SeminarFairfax, VA100924AFL
Oct 23   |43rd Annual Family Law SeminarRichmond (Glen Allen), VA102324AFL
Oct 30   |43rd Annual Family Law SeminarVirginia Beach, VA103024AFL

What's New?

2024 Annual Meeting Registration Is Open

Posted on 3/15/2024
Online registration is open for the 2024 Annual Meeting. The meeting will be in Virginia Beach May 29 – June 1. We hope to see you there!

Charles E. Powers Receives Family Law Service Award

Posted on 3/8/2024
Charles E. Powers, a shareholder in the Richmond firm of Stiles Ewing Powers PC, has been awarded the Family Law Service Award by the Virginia State Bar Family Law Section Board of Governors.

James Cottrell Receives the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award

Posted on 3/8/2024
James Ray Cottrell, founder of Cottrell Fletcher Cottrell PC in Alexandria has been awarded the Virginia State Bar Family Law Section’s highest accolade, the Betty Ann Thompson Lifetime Achievement Award.

Family Law Section Announces Third Annual Writing Competition

Posted on 11/8/2023
The Virginia State Bar Family Law Section is sponsoring the third annual writing competition open to second and third year law students attending Virginia and Washington, D.C. law schools.

Welcome to the New VSB Website and Member Portal

Posted on 4/3/2023
The Virginia State Bar has just launched a new website and member portal to improve services and access to information for Virginia lawyers and the public. Sign in instructions for the new site included.