Roger received his undergraduate degree in 1976 from the College of William & Mary, and his law degree in 1982 from the University of Virginia School of Law where he served on the Law Review and graduated with honors. The Virginia Law Review published an extensive scholarly work which Roger wrote on an evidence law issue while in law school.
After working at the National Legal Research Group in Charlottesville, Roger joined Marks & Harrison in 1997, and worked in our Richmond office until 2008 when he left to start his own law practice. From 2008 through 2022, Roger continued to collaborate with Marks & Harrison by serving as co-counsel and research/litigation consultant on some of Marks & Harrison’s cases. He also served as co-counsel and research litigation consultant with many other leading plaintiffs’ lawyers throughout Virginia. At the beginning of 2023 Roger rejoined Marks & Harrison.
Among his many significant professional accomplishments and accolades, Roger is the only lawyer honored by the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association (VTLA) with its two most prestigious awards: the Courageous Advocate Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Virginia Lawyers Weekly, the newspaper for Virginia lawyers, has twice honored Roger — in 2014 with its Leaders in the Law Award and in 2024 with its Hall of Fame Award.
Roger has played important roles in all of Virginia’s statewide legal professional organizations. He was a member of the Virginia State Bar’s governing body (the Bar Council) for 3 years and its ethics committee for 5 years, has been a leading member of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association since 1997, was an active member of the Boyd-Graves Conference for over a decade, and has served on the Litigation Section of the Virginia Bar Association. Throughout his career, Roger has published many articles and lectured on cutting-edge legal topics at legal seminars throughout the state.
Roger has achieved major recoveries (both by jury verdicts and settlements) for clients injured in many different types of settings including tractor-trailer crashes, falls from balconies, falls on walkways and stairs, crashes caused by high-speed police driving, motorcycle crashes, and falling merchandise in stores.
Roger has also played an important role in many Virginia appellate decisions. During the early years of his work with Marks & Harrison, Roger (together with attorney Burle U. Stromberg of Portsmouth) led the VTLA’s comprehensive opposition to a major challenge to Virginia’s Collateral Source Rule which had traditionally allowed injured people to recover the full amount of their medical bills from the wrongdoers who caused their injury. In the late 1990s, insurance carriers and insurance defense lawyers successfully mounted an attack on the Rule which reduced plaintiffs’ recoverable medical expenses by one-third (or more) in many trial courts. Based upon the legal analysis and reasoning set forth in Amicus Curiae briefs authored and filed by Roger (and other VTLA co-authors), the Supreme Court of Virginia resoundingly rejected the defense arguments in two landmark appellate decisions. See Acuar v. Letourneau, 260 Va. 180, 531 S.E. 2d 316 (2000) and Radvany v. Davis, 262 Va. 308, 551 S.E.2d 347 (2001). The opinions in Acuar and Radvany have, in turn, influenced the development of the common law in other states.
In another important case, Roger played the leading role in an appeal which overturned a verdict which a Chesterfield County jury had rendered in favor of manufacturer Honeywell International, Inc. after a two-week-long trial. On appeal, Roger asserted that the trial court had erred in five respects during the trial of the case brought by the families of a father and a son who both died in the crash of an airplane that used a Honeywell autopilot system. The Supreme Court of Virginia, in an important published opinion, agreed with three of the assigned errors, set aside the defense verdict, and granted the plaintiffs a new trial. See Harman v. Honewell Int’l, Inc., 288 Va. 84, 758 S.E.2d 515 (2014). Over the course of his career, Roger has appeared as counsel in 25 cases that have resulted in reported appellate and trial court opinions.
In 2001 the VTLA bestowed the Courageous Advocate Award on Roger in 2001 for his “exceptional work” in defense of the Collateral Source Rule. The VTLA declared that Roger’s “pursuit of justice was accomplished with courage, skill, perseverance, and faithful dedication to his clients, his colleagues, and the law.” It was the first time the VTLA had given the Courageous Advocate Award in 17 years.
Twenty years later in 2021 the VTLA once again honored Roger, this time with its Lifetime Achievement Award. The VTLA commended Roger for his expertise, intellect and passion throughout his career and declared that the “trial bar has certainly been the beneficiary of his remarkable efforts, but even more so, the thousands of clients he has impacted through his work with attorneys from across the Commonwealth.”
Significant Verdicts & Settlements
Served As Co-Counsel In These Cases With Leading Virginia Personal Injury Lawyers Including Barbara S. Williams, Thomas J. Curcio, John C. Shea, Donald Gee, Edward E. Scher, Stephen C. Swain, Stephen M. Smith, and others:
- 2020 — $7 million settlement — Two children killed while crossing road to school bus.
- 2019 — $4 million settlement — Fall at apartment building leaves man a paraplegic.
- 2018 — $1 million settlement — Man lived one day after burning from explosion.
- 2018 — $1.5 million settlement — Man died after 90 percent burns in flash fire.
- 2017 — $250,000.00 settlement — Nursing home patient dropped by transport workers.
- 2016 — $2.5 million settlement — Defense admitted negligence, but claimed cell phone use by plaintiff.
- 2016 — $1.4 million settlement — Doctors never advised patient to follow up after lung nodule discovered.
- 2015 — $3 million settlement — Amateur race car driver crashed vehicle at public speedway event.
- 2015 — $1.5 million settlement — Child died after falling through railing of hotel balcony.
- 2014 — $450,000 settlement — Semi-truck making U-turn blocks highway causing collision.
- 2014 — $700,000 settlement — Auto accident complicated prior cervical injuries.
- 2013 — $2.4 million settlement — Defense ‘injury causation’ testimony contested in TBI case.
- 2013 — $500,000 verdict — Tractor-trailer pulled into path of oncoming motorcycle.
- 2012 — $1.75 million settlement — T-Bone car wreck settles.
- 2011 — $11 million settlement — Passenger suffers hip, brain injuries in collision.
- 2010 — $3 million verdict — Woman suffers rectal injuries during surgery in Winchester.
- 2010 — $1.5 million settlement — Teacher’s aide killed in collision with police car.
- 2007 — $12 million settlement — Trash truck collision.
- 2005 — $2.5 million verdict — Female trucker with crushed foot wins federal court verdict.
- 1996 — $10 million verdict — $10M for boxcar accident ties Richmond personal injury record.
