Kyle McNew

yle’s practice is split between (1) appeals and critical motions and (2) representing plaintiffs in personal injury and products liability cases.  He has successfully argued complex issues before the Supreme Court of Virginia, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the Court of Appeals of Virginia, federal district courts throughout Virginia, and the Virginia circuit courts. He has built a state-wide reputation for his legal knowledge and advocacy, and has been recognized as a “Best Lawyer” in Virginia’s appellate bar since 2016.  In addition to his own appellate practice, Kyle also teaches Appellate Advocacy as an adjunct professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law.

The other half of Kyle’s practice is devoted to representing individuals who have suffered serious injury or the families of someone who has died as a result of the negligence of others.  Though he has handled virtually all types of injury cases, he has particularly deep experience with cases involving tractor trailers or other commercial motor vehicles and cases involving workplace injuries or death that fall outside the worker’s compensation system, either because it was due to a defective product or because there was a contractor relationship involved.  Other attorneys frequently consult with Kyle and bring him into their high-value cases to handle discrete, complex legal or evidentiary issues.

Kyle is an active leader in various statewide legal organizations. He is a member of the Boyd-Graves Conference. Kyle has chaired the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association’s amicus curiae committee, and has authored several amicus briefs on behalf of VTLA. He is a member of the VTLA Board of Governors, as well as a former member of the Board of Governors for the Litigation Section of the Virginia State Bar and the Judicial Candidate Evaluation Committee of the Virginia State Bar.  His peers frequently call upon him to present at seminars and CLE courses on appellate advocacy and legal issues arising in civil litigation.

Before joining MichieHamlett, Kyle clerked for the Honorable Boyce F. Martin, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  Prior to that clerkship, Kyle practiced complex litigation with Troutman Sanders (now Troutman Pepper) and clerked for the Honorable Walter D. Kelley, Jr., of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.  A lifelong Virginia resident, Kyle lives in the Ivy region of Albemarle County with his wife and two sons. In his free time, he enjoys scuba diving, helping coach his sons’ sports teams, hunting, fishing, and physical fitness.

• College of William and Mary, B.A. 2003
• Washington and Lee University School of Law, J.D. magna cum laude 2006

• Boyd-Graves Conference
• Virginia State Bar
  • Litigation Section Board of Governors
  • Judicial Candidate Evaluation Committee
• Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, Board of Governors
• Best Lawyers in America: Appellate Practice, 2016 – 2025
• Executive Editor, Washington & Lee University Law Review
• Super Lawyers 2022, 2023, 2024

• Virginia State Bar
• United States Court of Appeals – Fourth and Sixth Circuit
• United States District Court – Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia

Federal Court

• Medical Mutual Insurance Co. of N.C. v. Littaua, 35 F.4th 204 (4th Cir. 2022) (affirming district court’s abstention in declaratory judgment action)
• Hodges v. Federal-Mogul Corp., 621 F. App’x 735 (4th Cir. 2015) (reversing grant of summary judgment in industrial explosion products liability case)
• Lord v. Senex Law, P.C., No. 7:20-cv-541, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 153852 (W.D. Va. Aug. 16, 2021) (denying majority of motion to dismiss FDCPA claims against debt collection law firm)
• Medical Mutual Ins. Co. v. Littaua, No. 3:20-cv-822, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30293 (E.D. Va. Feb. 17, 2021) (dismissing insurance declaratory judgment due to federalism and ripeness issues)
• Green v. Hudson Ins. Co., No. 5:20-cv-52, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15393 (W.D. Va. Jan. 27, 2021) (remanding insurance declaratory judgment action to state court)
• Crawford v. Senex Law, P.C., 259 F. Supp. 3d 464 (W.D. Va. 2017) (denying motion to dismiss in FDCPA case against debt collection law firm)
• Turner v. Syfan Logistics, Inc., No. 5:15-cv-81, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51460 (W.D. Va. Apr. 18, 2016) (denying motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim and for lack of personal jurisdiction in wrongful death case against interstate trucking broker)

Supreme Court of Virginia

• Burke v. Young, Record No. 200095, 2020 Va. Unpub. LEXIS 30 (Va. Dec. 10, 2020) (reversing grant of summary judgment in prisoner civil rights claim) (pro bono appointed counsel)
• Green v. Diagnostic Imaging Assocs., P.C., 299 Va. 1 (2020) (reversing grant of motion to dismiss in medical malpractice wrongful death matter)
• Cline v. Commonwealth, Record No. 151037, 2016 Va. Unpub. LEXIS 20 (Va. Sept. 8, 2016) (reversing plea of sovereign immunity)
• Pinto v. Morningside of Charlottesville, LLC, Record No. 120202, 2012 Va. LEXIS 182 (Va. Oct. 5, 2012) (affirming trial court’s judgment in contract case)
• Gibbs v. Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., 284 Va. 677 (2012) (reversing grant of plea in bar due to worker’s compensation exclusivity in asbestos wrongful death matter)

• Kyle McNew, Tribute to Professor, Not Doug, Rendleman, 78 Wash. & Lee. L. Rev. 35 (2021)
• E. Kyle McNew, In Search of a Unified Theory of the Duties Flowing from Property Ownership in Virginia: A Response to McElhaney’s If a Tree Falls, 76 Wash. & Lee. L. Rev. 555 (2019)
• E. Kyle McNew, Recalibrating How We Think About Gross Negligence and Willful and Wanton Conduct After Elliott v. Carter, The Journal of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, Vol. 26, No. 4 (2017)
• E. Kyle McNew, The Price of Silence: Legal and Ethical Issues Arising from Confidentiality Provisions in Settlement Agreements, Virginia State Bar Litigation News, Vol. XVIII, No. 1 (May 2017)
• E. Kyle McNew, A Rule Without Reason: Applying the Rule on Witness Sequestration to Experts, The Journal of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, Vol. 23, No. 4 (2012)
• Note, Are Rules Just Meant to be Broken? The One-Year Two-Step in Tedford v. Warner-Lambert Co., 62 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1315 (2005)