News
Flora Pettit announced that Lesley A.Z. Rigney has joined the firm as an attorney in its Charlottesville office. Rigney brings more than a decade of legal experience in real estate, land use, community association, corporate, and business law. She previously served as Director of Legal & Policy Services at the Virginia School Boards Association and has taught law as an adjunct professor.
Jennifer E. Shirkey, President of Flora Pettit, noted that Rigney’s “breadth of real estate knowledge will have an immediate beneficial impact on our clients.”
Flora Pettit welcomes Stephen N. Shashy to its Charlottesville office, where he will focus on tax planning, compliance, and controversies for individuals, businesses, trusts and estates, and nonprofits. Shashy brings experience from a global law firm and as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division, litigating matters in U.S. Tax Court, District Courts, and state courts. A graduate of Amherst College and the University of Virginia School of Law, he led the Virginia Tax Review and received the Edwin S. Cohen Tax Prize. Named a Virginia Rising Star by Super Lawyers, he strengthens Flora Pettit’s established tax practice serving clients across Virginia.
John Flora was recently recognized by Virginia Lawyers Weekly in its “Virginia’s Go To Lawyers for Tax Law 2025” list published on August 25, 2025. Virginia Lawyers Weekly’s “Go To Lawyers” lists are intended to recognize leading lawyers in a particular field who are: “(a) a senior expert in his or her field, well-versed in case law, statutes and regulations; (b) experienced, with a record of success; (c) a lawyer to whom other lawyers make referrals because of his or her expertise and accomplishments; and (d) a lawyer who can think creatively and identify all options for a client.” The featured attorneys were nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from Virginia Lawyers Weekly.
Flora Pettit announces that eight of its lawyers were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2026 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. The attorneys listed include Michael E. Derdeyn, John W. Flora, Richard H. Howard-Smith, Donald D. Long, Marc A. Peritz, Jennifer E. Shirkey, Cathleen P. Welsh, and J. Page Williams.
Seth J. Ragosta was recently elected as a Board of Governors Member of the Family Law Section of the Virginia State Bar. 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.