Winthrop A. Short Jr.
Biography
Win has been a trial attorney with Kaufman & Canoles since 1980. AV® Rated by Martindale-Hubbell, his practice includes a broad range of commercial and real estate civil litigation, with an emphasis on environmental disputes, real estate transaction and title disputes, disputes concerning wills and trusts, and lending and banking disputes.
Representative Matters
- Superfund: Representation of potentially responsible parties, beginning in the late 1980s
- Counsel for PRP group carrying out remediation of Superfund Site leading very successful effort to recover response costs/contribution from hundreds of non-settling PRPs
- Currently lead counsel for national chemical company in Superfund case (potentially involving a $20 million cleanup) raising cutting-edge issues post Burlington Northern v. United States, United States v. Atlantic Research Corp., and Cooper Industries, Inc. v. Aviall Services, Inc.
- Conservation Easements: Representation of donors and purchasers of tax credits and/or deductions in challenges by IRS to value of conservation easements
- Currently lead counsel for donor in litigation against Virginia Department of Taxation concerning value of conservation easement, with over $15 million in dispute
- Retained by major title insurance companies doing business in Virginia to represent insureds in high stakes title disputes
- Lead counsel for a major title insurance company addressing claims in the tens of millions of dollars based on a huge exposure
- Representation of large national liability insurer, only in cases where insurance company itself faces major exposure
- Representation of defendants and plaintiffs (including FDIC) in professional liability suits alleging negligence on the part of bank or corporate officers and/or directors, attorneys and accountants
- Representation of defendants and plaintiffs in high stakes disputes concerning wills and trusts
Recognition & Honors
- Virginia’s Legal Elite; Virginia Business Magazine, 2011-2013, 2017, 2019-2020
Associations
- WHRO; Board of Directors
- Business Consortium for the Arts Support; Board of Directors, Former President; Board of Directors, Former Member
- Virginia Symphony Foundation; President, Board of Directors
- Princeton University; Schools Committee at National and Local Levels
- CIVIC Leadership Institute; Former Member, Board of Directors
- Virginia Symphony Orchestra; Former Chair, Board of Directors
- American Heart Association; Former Chair, Local Council
- Virginia Bar Association
- Virginia State Bar
- Newport News Bar Association
- Norfolk-Portsmouth Bar Association; Former Member of Executive Committee
- Norfolk Law Library Foundation; Former President of Board of Directors
Court Admissions
- United States Supreme Court
- Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
- All Federal District Courts and Bankruptcy Courts in Virginia
Education
- Princeton University; A.B., Economics, cum laude, 1968
- Boston College Law School; J.D., cum laude, 1980
Press & Publications
- 53 Kaufman & Canoles Attorneys Named to Virginia Business Magazine’s “Legal Elite” 2020
- 48 Kaufman & Canoles Attorneys Named Virginia Business Magazine’s “Legal Elite” 2019
- 48 Kaufman & Canoles Attorneys Named Virginia Business Magazine’s Legal Elite 2017
- Private Client Services Update – All is Not Lost When a Will is Lost – Redux
- 54 Kaufman & Canoles Attorneys Named to Virginia Business Magazine’s Legal Elite 2013
- 55 Kaufman & Canoles Attorneys Named to Virginia Business Magazine’s Legal Elite 2012
- 53 Kaufman & Canoles Attorneys Named Virginia Business Magazine’s Legal Elite 2011