Cullen D. Seltzer
Shareholder
Experience
Practices
“I love the creativity in our work. I love helping people when they’re starting a new adventure. I want to help people when they’re in a jam.”
Cullen Seltzer
About
Biography
With over 20 years of experience in serious, complex litigation involving business, criminal, insurance, and mass tort case, Cullen Seltzer works to support your complete legal needs. His individual strengths — paired with the firm’s collaborative community — can help you look forward, stay on track, and come out ahead.
Cullen practices in two major areas, amongst others: traditional business litigation and mass tort and large area claim. In both instances, Cullen brings ingenuity, honesty, and in-depth knowledge to support his client’s success. When helping them navigate difficult litigation, Cullen listens and guides with honesty and genuine care for their well-being. His significant experience and his love of the law have helped him create original, forward-thinking solutions to address his clients’ specific goals.
In every step, he serves his client’s needs with expediency and clarity. With mass torts and large area claims, Cullen supports administrators and settlement trustees when implementing large-scale settlements or court-ordered dispute resolutions. Cullen believes in cultivating clear lines of communication, discussion, and trust.
Cullen draws on all aspects of his experience to serve as an ally for your business and legal needs. He represents businesses and individuals in white-collar criminal defense matters and government investigations and litigates trust and estate disputes and related claims.
When he’s not in the office, Cullen enjoys running, reading, and traveling with family and friends.
Professional Highlights
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Represented claims administrators and trustees in drug and medical device litigation in class action settlements, and in private settlements involving thousands of claimants and billions of dollars
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Served as Law Clerk to the Hon. James W. Benton, Jr. in the Virginia Court of Appeals Richmond, Virginia, 1993 - 1994
Recognition
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Best Lawyers in America® in Mass Tort Litigation, 2011-2024
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Virginia Business magazine “Legal Elite” in Appellate Law, Civil Litigation, 2011 - 2022
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Leader in the Law, Virginia Lawyer's Media
2016 -
Super Lawyers®, Rising Star, 2008
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Super Lawyers®, Civil Litigation: Defense
2009 - 2023
Favorite Book
- I really liked Shelby Foote's History of the Civil War and just finished Graham Greene's The Quiet American. Tom Robbins is great. So is Douglas Adams. Sam Harris and Chris Hitchens make me read and worry. Phillip Roth and Bernard Malamud are great. Picking a favorite book is like picking a favorite kid - sucker's bet.
Background
Education
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University of Richmond
J.D., T.C. Williams School of Law, 1993 -
Mary Washington College
B.A., cum laude, International Affairs, Pi Gamma Mu, Pi Sigma Alpha 1990
Admissions
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Virginia
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Supreme Court of the United States
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U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
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U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
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U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
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U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
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U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
Involvement
Speaking Engagements
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Virginia Conflict of Interests Act (Seminar for Newly Elected Members of Local Government – Sands Anderson – December 4, 2015)
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Case Law Developments Affecting Local Governments (LGA Conference – Sept. 20, 2014)
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Affirmative Use of Virginia Public Records Act in FOIA Cases (LGA Conference - June 27, 2014)
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Creating a Board that Delivers (Virginia League of Social Services Executives - May 9, 2013)
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Professionalism in the Practice of Law (Carrico Professionalism Course – 2011)
Professional Affiliations
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Governor's Executive Branch Ethics Commission (2014 - 2016)
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Virginia State Bar, Harry Carrico Professionalism Course Faculty (2008 - 2011)
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American Bar Association (2000 to 2009) Litigation Section, Mass Torts Subcommittee
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Richmond Bar Association (1999 - present)
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John Marshall Inn of Court (1997 - 2009), Past President (2005 - 2006)
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University of Richmond School of Law, Adjunct Faculty (2001 - present) (Appellate Advocacy, Ethics in Criminal Litigation, Ethics in Civil Litigation)
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The Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council
2016-2020, 2020-Present
Community Service
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Weinstein Jewish Community Center
Board member 2010-2016 President/Chairman 2013 - 2016 -
Jewish Community Federation of Richmond
Enterprise Circle Steering Committee Chairman, (2012 - 2016)
Board Member (2008 - 2012) -
Virginia Capital Trail Foundation
Board of Directors (2009 - 2015)
Past-Chairman, General Counsel -
Congregation Beth Ahabah
Board of Managers (2014 - 2016) -
Grove-Crest Colonial Place Neighborhood Association
President (1998 - 2002) -
Carrico Center for Pro Bono Service
Volunteer attorney representing indigents on appeal (2009 - present)
Publications
Publications by Cullen D. Seltzer
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Google Knows Where You've Been. Should It Tell the Police?
Slate, May 2022 -
The Emmett Till Antilynching Act doesn’t change the law very much. That’s OK.
Virginia Mercury, April 2022 -
Citizen’s Arrest in Virginia: Legal but Risky
Westlaw Today powered by Reuters, November 2021 -
Irony is Dead: Woman Depicting Peace Triumphing Over Tyranny Jailed for Indecent Exposure
ACLU of Virginia, March 2019 -
You Can’t Buy the “Raspberry Beret” MP3 at the Secondhand Store
Slate, December 2018 -
The End of the Unpaid Internship
Slate, June 2013 -
Lessons Learned from Implementing a Class Action Settlement
Mass Torts, Volume 8, Number 3, Spring 2010
News by Cullen D. Seltzer
- Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Application of Attorney-Client Privilege
- Not Reading the Signs: Supreme Court Examines Outdoor Signs (Again)
- To Arbitrate or Not to Arbitrate? “Where?” is the Question
- Supreme Court to Politicians: Toughen Up, Buttercup!
- Can Appellate Courts Take Judicial Notice of Facts Not Otherwise in the Record? Sometimes.
- The Standard of Review on Appeal: Court of Appeals Provides Example of How It Determines the Outcome of Appeals
- A Trap for the Unwary: Defaulting Related, but Different, Issues on Appeal
- Fixing the Appellate Record When It’s Broken: Undoing Clerical Errors
- Your Final Judgment Ain’t Necessarily So if You Forgot the Necessaries
- Confessed Judgments May Not Be the Gifts to Plaintiffs That They Imagine
- Citizen’s Arrest in Virginia: Legal But Risky
- Tracking Virginia Supreme Court Judicial Emergency Orders
- Supreme Court Closes the Door, Mostly, to Class Action Arbitrations
- Wrongfully Convicted Man Threads the Needle: Virginia High Court Grants Writ of Actual Innocence
- The One Fingered Salute: It’s Rude, But It’s Not Probable Cause To Arrest
- You Can’t Buy the “Raspberry Beret” MP3 at the Second Hand Store: Court Nixes Site for Re-Selling Digital Music
- Once More Into the Breach: Partisan Gerrymandering Struck Down One More Time (For Now)
- Experts and Defenses in Legal Malpractice Cases: Virginia Supreme Court Sheds Some Important Light
- Supreme Court Leaves Big Partisan Gerrymandering Questions Undecided: Some Clues About What Happens Next
- Discriminating on the Basis of Religious Belief: Limited Lessons for Governments and Businesses from Masterpiece Cakeshop
- Virginia Supreme Court Revisits Meaning of “Criminal Negligence” and “Gross Negligence”
- Supreme Court: Police Had “Qualified Immunity” in Shooting Woman With Knife
- Reading Tea Leaves from Arguments in Gill v. Whitford: 5 Lessons from an Election Law Revolution
- Sarah Palin v. The New York Times – Six Lessons for Public Figures in Defamation Cases
- A Revolution Brewing: Partisan Gerrymandering May be Unconstitutional
- Sweeping Changes Proposed to Virginia Lawyer Advertising Rules
- Policing Social Media Policies
- Legislature to Litigants: “Can’t Touch This!” – Virginia Supreme Court Recognizes Legislative Privilege
- Leading a Briber On Isn’t the Same as Accepting a Bribe: How Gov. McDonnell Beat His Corruption Rap
- Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins: the Constitution Requires Proof of Concrete Injury
- Tasing is for Safety, Not Punishment: Even Non-Lethal Force Can be Deadly
- Google is Reimagining Writing and Publishing (if the Supreme Court Will Let It)
- Re-Districting After Shelby County v. Alabama: a Volatile Mix of Race and Politics
- Signs Signs, Everywhere a Sign: U.S. Supreme Court Decides Reed v. Town of Gilbert
- Kingsley v. Hendrickson: Excessive Force is in the Eye of the Objective Beholder
News About Cullen D. Seltzer
- Twenty-Seven Sands Anderson Attorneys Recognized by Best Lawyers in America®
- 17 Sands Anderson Attorneys Named to 2023 Virginia Super Lawyers®
- Forty-Four Sands Anderson Lawyers Named to 2022 Virginia Business Legal Elite
- Twenty-Three Sands Anderson Attorneys Recognized by Best Lawyers in America®
- Twenty-One Sands Anderson Attorneys Named to 2022 Virginia Super Lawyers®
- Twenty-One Sands Anderson Attorneys Named as 2022 Best Lawyers in America®
- Nineteen Sands Anderson Attorneys Named to 2021 Virginia Super Lawyers®
- Forty Sands Anderson Lawyers Named to 2020 Virginia Business Legal Elite
- Cullen Seltzer Reappointed to The Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council
- Twenty-One Sands Anderson attorneys named to 2021 Best Lawyers® List