Tangier Family Lawyers

Jim Gochenour grew up in the Fredericksburg area and Westmoreland County, Virginia. He graduated from the preparatory school Woodberry Forrest, received his Bachelor of Arts degree from The College of William and Mary in 1984 and his law degree from the University of Richmond’s T.C. Williams School of Law in 1987. He began practicing law in a small general practice as an associate, then as partner in a firm and then as a solo practitioner. In 1992, Jim was introduced to criminal law from the perspective of the prosecutor when the judges of the 15th Judical Court appointed him...

I have been practicing law for over forty years. I have been listed in Who's Who in American Law and in Who's Who in America. I was on the boards of the the Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board and its property company for over a combined twenty-five years. I participated in a Peninsula Legal Aid program to help deserving people with legal assistance they were unable to afford. I have had the privilege of helping a lot of people. I am only licensed in Virginia, so I will only be able to help with Virginia...

Van Smith focuses his practice on family law and estate planning, including divorce, custody and support matters. He is the sole owner of SMITH | STRONG, PLC, with offices in Richmond and Williamsburg, Virginia. Van’s family law practice resolves complex divorce, related tax and business issues, custody and support plans, property distribution, integrated solutions for wealth preservation and management post-separation, civil litigation, defense of juvenile and domestic relations court criminal matters, and estate planning. He also practices elder law, assisting families with planning effectively for nursing home costs. We recognize many of our family law clients are in...

Sara Leiner Schuler is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), and practices all aspects of family law in the Northern Virginia area, including Divorce, Child Custody, Child Support, Spousal Support and Alimony, Prenuptial Agreements, Step-Parent Adoptions (including Same-Sex Step-Parent Adoptions), Uncontested Divorces, and Enforcement Issues. Ms. Schuler also represents clients in the Collaborative Divorce process, a voluntary team-based approach in which a couple chooses to divorce without contested litigation to best meet their respective individual needs and the needs of any minor children.

Ms. Schuler practices family law in both the Circuit and Juvenile and Domestic Relations...

STEPHEN V. SOMMERS (licensed in Virginia 1999, Texas (1997), Maryland (1996)), was born at Camp Pendleton, CA, October 4, 1956 and educated at Troy State University (B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1981), Golden Gate University (M.A., 1986) and American University (Juris Doctor, 1995). Mr. Sommers retired from the United States Air Force at the rank of Major after 22 years flying fighter aircraft. Mr. Sommers has been admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Fourth Circuit and the Tenth Circuit and all Virginia Courts. He is a member of the American Trial Lawyers Association, the...

Michael graduated from the University of South Carolina Pettigrew School of Law in 1969 with a Juris Doctor. He was a finalist in the Prince Competition, where he demonstrated exceptional ability in appellate advocacy. He was a recipient of the American Jurisprudence Award in Conflicts. While in law school, he was selected by the NAACP to travel to Memphis, Tennessee. There, he helped investigate police brutality in connection with the Memphis riots that followed the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. He was a member of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity. Among lawyer associations, Michael was admitted to both...