Rebecca Janet Wade
Partner
703-836-9030 Email
Office: 500 Montgomery St., Suite 575, Alexandria, VA 22314
Rebecca Janet Wade is an Alexandria, Virginia native and partner with Wade, Grimes, Friedman, Meinken & Leischner PLLC. Ms. Wade practices both family law and criminal defense. After graduating from the University of Richmond School of Law, Ms. Wade worked for more than five years at the Public Defender’s Office for Fauquier and Rappahannock Counties. There, she represented clients charged with a wide range of offenses from traffic offenses to serious felonies, such as aggravated malicious wounding, drug distribution and sex crimes. Ms. Wade has tried over two dozen jury trials and hundreds of bench trials. Additionally, Ms. Wade has experience handling appeals and has appeared numerous times at the Court of Appeals of Virginia and the Supreme Court of Virginia, earning victories in both Courts.
Since leaving the Public Defender’s Office, Ms. Wade has also focused her attention on family law. She represents in cases of divorce, child custody and visitation, child support, and alimony. Her work defending the mother of a young child left in a hot car seat received considerable media attention.
Ms. Wade is also passionate about defending those charged with and representing victims of domestic violence in both the criminal and civil arenas. In that area, she has extensive experience focusing on the laws involving physical abuse, assault, and injury, emotional abuse, threats of violence and more.
Ms. Wade volunteers with the Legal Aid Justice Center as a Pro Bono Lawyer representing children in juvenile court petitioning for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.
She speaks fluent Spanish and has represented over 100 native Spanish speakers, helping them through the legal process in their native language and is knowledgeable about the immigration consequences of any criminal convictions.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
- Alexandria Bar Association, Director
- Fairfax Bar Association
- National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
- Virginia Trial Lawyers Association
REPRESENTATIVE CASES
- Jarvis v. Commonwealth, Supreme Court Record No. 100999 (2010)
- Quintanilla v. Commonwealth, Supreme Court Record No. 101298 (2010)
- Dawson v. Commonwealth, Court of Appeals Record No. 0220-11-4 (2011)
- Nealey v. Commonwealth, Supreme Court Record No. 111305 (2012)
- Melara v. Commonwealth, Supreme Court Record No. 120134 (2012)
- Commonwealth v. Jefferson, 60 Va. App. 749 (Court of Appeals of Virginia 2012)
HONORS AND AWARDS
- Recognized in the 2018 The Best Lawyers in America©
- 2016-18 Super Lawyers Rising Star in Northern Virginia and Washington D.C.
- Lawline’s Top 20 Women Faculty of 2016, Above The Law
FEATURED VIDEOS
AREAS OF PRACTICE
25% Family Law 25% Divorce and Separation 25% Domestic Violence 25% Criminal Defense
LANGUAGES
Spanish Portuguese French
BAR ADMISSIONS
Virginia, 2007 Virginia Supreme Court, 2007 U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, 2013 U.S. Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Virginia, 2013
EDUCATION
University of Richmond J.D. magna cum laude - 2007 McGill University B.A. - 2004 Honors: With Honors Major: Honours Economics Minor: Hispanic Languages
PAST EMPLOYMENT POSITIONS
Office of the Public Defender, Assistant Public Defender, 2007 - 2013 Wade, Friedman & Sutter, P.C., 2013 - 2015