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• Rich, Rosenthal, Manitta, Dzubin, Et Al

Law Firm Overview

Rich Rosenthal Manitta Dzubin & Kroeger, LLP is a full service law firm concentrating in several different fields of law. Conveniently located in the historic Torpedo Factory office building in Old Town, Alexandria, the firm provides high quality, yet cost-effective, legal advice and representation to individuals and businesses throughout Northern Virginia.

Attorneys:

Lonnie C. Rich began his legal career at the United States Department of Agriculture. During these early years of practice, he represented the Department of Agriculture, handling a wide range of personnel matters (grievances, adverse action, equal employment opportunity (EEO) complaints at the administrative and judicial level). Almost every case involved issues of sovereign and/or official immunity as well as exhaustion of administrative remedies, exclusive remedies, proper parties, and other "technical" defenses. He represented the government in administrative proceedings to terminate federal assistance under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act; he was almost solely responsible for drafting proposed and final regulations under Title IX of the Education Amendments (prohibiting sex discrimination in federally assisted education programs).

He entered private practice in the City of Alexandria in 1981 and joined the existing firm of Rosenthal, Grimaldi & Guggenheim. In 1998, the firm reorganized and became Rich Greenberg Rosenthal & Costle, LLP. Mr. Rich remained a principal with this firm until he formed Rich Rosenthal Manitta Dzubin & Kroeger, LLP in 2008.

Over the past two decades, Mr. Rich's practice has concentrated on wills, trusts, estate planning, estate administration, real estate, and business matters. Many clients have been provided significant family and/or estate planning because of substantial assets and/or because of blended families or other complicated family relationships.

His real estate corporate work has involved setting up corporations and LLCs, various transactional work, and land use matters. Mr. Rich has represented auto dealers, body shops, and restaurants seeking special use permits from local government.

Additionally, he has represented numerous companies in drafting shareholder agreements, employment agreements, and agreements to sell or buy a business.

Edward S. Rosenthal received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College as an Independent Scholar in 1973. In 1976, he graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, and has been engaged in the private practice of law with offices in the City of Alexandria, Virginia, ever since.

Mr. Rosenthal has enjoyed notable accomplishments at both the trial and appellate levels. At the trial level, his achievements have included the successful defense of a notorious capital murder prosecution; six- and seven-figure awards and settlements in complex personal injury and product liability cases; a writ of mandamus entered against a local City Manager in a police officer's pension dispute; jury verdicts in excess of $350,000 for compensatory and punitive damages following a 3-week trade secrets trial; and the establishment, following a 3-month trial against Nissan Motors, of a design defect in the seating configuration of the 1982 Nissan 200SX, which resulted in a lifetime, structured settlement on behalf of a quadriplegic client. In the appellate courts, Mr. Rosenthal has briefed and argued successful appeals resulting in appellate decisions establishing limits on the introduction of reputation evidence and hearsay opinion testimony under the Federal Rules of Evidence; requiring the testimony of patients to support each instance for which a physician may be prosecuted for issuing illegitimate drug prescriptions; refining the "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine under the Fourth Amendment; vindicating the rights of state prisoners to a drug- and weapon-free environment at the Virginia State Penitentiary; requiring insurance carriers paying infant settlements to see to the proper application of proceeds disbursed on behalf of an infant plaintiff; and providing clear and definite trial court procedures for evaluating and honoring an accused's Sixth Amendment request to represent himself.

Mr. Rosenthal is the author of The Bill of Rights in Its 200th Year: A Casualty of the War on Drugs? which was featured in the 1992 edition of George Mason University's Civil Rights Law Journal. He is an occasional lecturer on the constitution and criminal law at schools and universities. Mr. Rosenthal has testified on the constitutionality of proposed legislation before the Courts of Justice Committee of the Virginia House of Delegates. As the former chair of the Alexandria Bar Association's Legislative Affairs Committee, Mr. Rosenthal contributed to the successful effort to establish a Public Defender's Office for the City of Alexandria, one of the first such offices in Virginia. He has frequently served as an evaluator in the D.C. Street Law Mock Trial Program, sponsored by Georgetown University. Under the auspices of the Federal Judicial Training Center, Mr. Rosenthal has participated in the training of new federal trial judges. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the ACLU of Virginia and an active member of the statewide Legal Panel, which helps select those cases that the ACLU of Virginia will support. Mr. Rosenthal is also a Master of the George Mason University Chapter of the American Inns of Court, and he has assisted a number of area law firms and sole practitioners with matters of law office technology.

Since Lana M. Manitta's admission to the Virginia State Bar in 1998, she has concentrated on family law and criminal defense litigation in both state and federal courts. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Manitta was senior associate with Rich Greenberg Rosenthal & Costle, LLP and previously with Martin & Arif in Fairfax County.

In recent years, Ms. Manitta has served as co-lead defense counsel in a series of major felony as well as capital murder cases before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. A recent highlight was the defense of an innocent client who, if convicted, faced a mandatory life sentence with no possibility of parole. Of six co-conspirators and three defendants, her client alone won acquittal. Ms. Manitta has also been able to assist clients with complex custody matters before the Juvenile and Domestic as well as Circuit Courts throughout Northern Virginia.

In eight years of practicing law, Rick Dzubin has accumulated diverse experience in all manner of litigation on behalf of clients large and small. He has first-chaired over a dozen cases to verdict in matters ranging from simple landlord-tenant disputes to federal criminal charges to sophisticated business and government contract litigation. Mr. Dzubin also has extensive experience in the use of alternative dispute resolution ("ADR") mechanisms such as mediation and arbitration. His primary areas of practice are commercial litigation and personal injury. Previously, Mr. Dzubin was associated with Rich Greenberg Rosenthal & Costle, LLP in Alexandria and with Bowman and Brooke LLP in Richmond. While in law school, he interned with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Richmond, Virginia, prosecuting cases in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and handling appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Shannon L. Kroeger concentrates in the area of domestic relations matters. Prior to joining the firm, Shannon was an associate with Schargorodski & Associates, PLC in Fairfax, Virginia where her practice was devoted entirely to family law and domestic relations cases.
Ms. Kroeger has led continuing legal education in domestic relations (Fairfax Bar Association 4th Edition Fairfax Juvenile & Domestic Relations Practice Manual CLE, 2006, Protective Orders) and is an active member of the Virginia State Bar and the Fairfax Bar Associations. She is a volunteer conciliator in the Fairfax County Circuit and Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts.

In 2004, Jonathan Simms began his legal career as a prosecutor in the District Attorney's Office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Assigned to the Major Trials Division, Mr. Simms was responsible for serious trials involving charges of Aggravated Assault, Attempted Murder, Drug Trafficking, Burglary, and DUI. He litigated several jury trials and over 500 bench trials. Following his tenure in Philadelphia, Mr. Simms worked with the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia handling cases involving serious and habitual juvenile offenders. In August 2008, Mr. Simms joined Rich Rosenthal Manitta Dzubin & Kroeger, LLP, as a litigation associate.

Areas of Practice

• Business & Commercial Law
• Contracts
• Civil Rights
• Constitutional Law
• White Collar Crimes
• Employment Law -- Employee
• Employment Law -- Employer
• Estate Planning
• Wills
• Family Law
• Child Support
• Custody & Visitation
• Divorce
• Personal Injury -- Plaintiff
• Motor Vehicle Accidents -- Plaintiff
• Probate & Estate Administration
• Trusts

West Practice Categories

Business & Commercial Law, Contracts, Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, White Collar Crimes, Employment Law -- Employee, Employment Law -- Employer, Estate Planning, Wills, Family Law, Child Support, Custody & Visitation, Divorce, Personal Injury -- Plaintiff, Motor Vehicle Accidents -- Plaintiff, Probate & Estate Administration, Trusts