Conrad M. Shumadine has practiced in the First Amendment area for more than 35 years. He is listed among The Best Lawyers of America in the areas of First Amendment, Antitrust, Financial Institutions and Transactions, and Business Litigation. He has argued First Amendment matters before the United States Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Virginia, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and numerous lower courts.
Conrad is a permanent member of the faculty of the Practising Law Institute Communications Law Seminars, a yearly seminar for communications lawyers. He has lectured at seven Practising Law Institute national libel seminars. In addition, he regularly lectures at state CLE programs and to media groups throughout the United States.
In addition to practicing First Amendment law, Conrad has an active commercial litigation practice with special expertise in antitrust matters. He serves as special antitrust counsel to eight media companies. In addition to representing media companies, he has represented firms and industries varying from toys to shoes to health care.
Conrad graduated from Harvard Law School in 1967 and has an undergraduate degree from Davidson College. He is a permanent member of the Judicial Conference of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. In 2000, he served as Chairman of the Merit Selection Panel for the United States Magistrate Judge vacancy and was appointed to the 1995-96 Civil Justice Advisory Group for the United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia. He is Past President of the Norfolk-Portsmouth Bar Association and served on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Silver Star Foundation and the Virginia Public Safety Foundation.
Conrad is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Bar Foundation and the Virginia Law Foundation.
Practice Areas
Experience
- Assisted a small publisher in Arkansas in preventing two of its competitors from being acquired by a national media conglomerate or its agent.
- Successfully defended McClatchy Newspapers, Inc. from a challenge made to its $300 million acquisition of the News & Observer Publishing Company in Raleigh, North Carolina.
- Successfully represented the News & Observer Publishing Company (publisher of the Raleigh News & Observer) in obtaining summary judgment in a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by AD/SAT, Inc. alleging that the News & Observer participated with the Associated Press and others in a conspiracy to monopolize the market for satellite advertising distribution.
- Represented a joint venture composed of major New York Stock Exchange and private companies registered under the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993 on how the joint venture should operate to avoid antitrust difficulties.
- Continued to assist in the representation of a major chemical company in defending the company in connection with a price fixing investigation undertaken by the United States Department of Justice.
- Assisted another New York Stock Exchange company in completing a major acquisition involving pre-merger notification pursuant to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.
- Continued to provide ongoing antitrust counseling, including antitrust compliance seminars, to a whole series of clients.
- Obtained Justice Department clearance for The Arkansas Democrat to acquire its direct competitor, The Arkansas Gazette.
- Represented The Anchorage Times in the sale of substantially all of its assets to The Anchorage Daily News.
- Obtained a directed verdict in favor of a nationwide toy manufacturer accused of discriminatory pricing and monopolization.
- Obtained a directed verdict on discriminatory pricing and promotion claims brought against a foreign automobile manufacturer.
- Defended the president of a national soft drink company against criminal price fixing charges and a class action lawsuit.
- Represented the only defendant to obtain summary judgment on price fixing and horizontal market division claims brought against four dairy companies by the Virginia Attorney General.
- Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a nationwide newspaper chain in an antitrust action brought in the Northern District of Mississippi. The case involved claims of discriminatory pricing and predatory pricing.
- Obtained summary judgment on exclusive dealing, monopolization and market division claims brought against a nationwide newspaper chain in Greensboro, North Carolina.
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Obtained a substantial settlement and a consent decree governing future competition for a western Virginia newspaper in danger of being run out of business by its competitor's predatory pricing.
News / Publications
News
- Attorneys Named in 2020 Virginia Super Lawyers & Rising Stars
- Willcox Savage Attorneys Recognized as Virginia's 2019 Legal Elite
- Attorneys Named in 2019 Virginia Super Lawyers & Rising Stars
- Willcox Savage Attorneys Recognized as Virginia's 2018 Legal Elite
- Chambers USA Recognizes Willcox Savage in 2018 Edition
- Conrad Shumadine Named to 'Virginia Lawyers Hall of Fame'
- Attorneys Named in 2018 Virginia Super Lawyers & Rising Stars
- Twenty-Five Attorneys Named as Virginia's "2017 Legal Elite"
- Judge throws out defamation case brought against Style Weekly by Hanover supervisor
- Chambers USA Recognizes Willcox Savage in 2017 Edition
- Attorneys Named in 2017 Virginia Super Lawyers & Rising Stars
- Twenty-Five Attorneys Named as Virginia's "2016 Legal Elite"
- Chambers USA Recognizes Willcox Savage in 2016 Edition
- Attorneys Named in 2016 Virginia Super Lawyers & Rising Stars
- Twenty-Nine Attorneys Named as Virginia's "2015 Legal Elite"
- Twenty-Five Attorneys Named Best Lawyers in America 2016
- Chambers USA Recognizes Willcox Savage in 2015 Edition
- Attorneys Named in 2015 Virginia Super Lawyers & Rising Stars
- Twenty-Four Attorneys Named as Virginia's "2014 Legal Elite"
- Twenty-Five Attorneys Named Best Lawyers in America 2015
- Willcox Savage Attorneys Recognized by Virginia Super Lawyers
- Chambers USA Recognizes Willcox Savage in 2014 Edition
- Twenty-One Attorneys Named as Virginia's "2013 Legal Elite"
- Twenty-Five Attorneys Named "Best Lawyers in America 2014"
- Willcox Savage Lawyers Named 2014 Best Lawyers in America "Norfolk Lawyers of the Year"
- Willcox Savage Attorneys Recognized by Virginia Super Lawyers
- Chambers USA Recognizes Willcox Savage in 2013 Edition
- Twenty-Eight Attorneys Named as Virginia's "2012 Legal Elite"
- Attorneys Recognized by Benchmark Litigation
- Twenty-Four Attorneys Named "Best Lawyers in America 2013"
- Attorneys Named in 2012 Virginia Super Lawyers & Rising Stars
- Willcox Savage Partners Recognized in "Virginia Top 100" by Super Lawyers
- Chambers USA Recognizes Willcox Savage in 2012 Edition
- Twenty-Seven Attorneys Named as Virginia's "2011 Legal Elite"
- Attorney Named "Appellate Practice Lawyer of the Year" for 2012
- Attorneys Recognized by Benchmark Litigation
- Willcox Savage Lawyers Recognized as Virginia's "Top 50"
- Chambers USA Recognizes Willcox Savage in 2011 Edition
- Twenty-Six Attorneys Named as 2010 Legal Elite
- Twenty-Five Attorneys Named Best Lawyers in America 2011
- Willcox Savage Lawyers Named "Top 50" in Virginia
- Chambers USA Recognizes Willcox Savage in 2010 Edition
- Twenty Attorneys Named as 2009 Legal Elite
- Twenty-Seven Attorneys Named Best Lawyers in America 2010
- Chambers USA Recognizes Firm in 2009 Edition
- Litigators Recognized in Super Lawyers Corporate Counsel Edition