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R. Shawn Majette

Retired Partner

A trailblazer in the practice of elder law in Virginia

Shawn Majette has always savored the moment of profound understanding and relief that his clients experience when he explains to them how the law can come to their aid.

He finds the greatest satisfaction in his work when he can help someone who is struggling and desperate see how the law can be applied to their case to make their lives better.

“When they see that the law can help them, it’s a special feeling,” Shawn says. “I see people who have been suffering, people whose sons or daughters or spouses have been struggling with their mental health. They often have crushing bills and they’re trying to find a solution. Sometimes they’re even getting ready to sell their house. But then I show them how they can get some help and that things can get better for them and I watch the scales fall from their eyes. That’s just about the best thing that there is.”

Shawn began his career at ThompsonMcMullan in 1997 and practiced at the firm for over 25 years until his retirement in March 2024. While with ThompsonMcMullan, Shawn spearheaded the firm’s elder law practice and was especially active in the voluntary and involuntary management of legal, medical, and financial affairs of incapacitated adults. He often tackled questions of how to protect mentally and physically impaired people from others, how clients can qualify for Medicaid and other entitlements, and how to preserve personal injury proceeds from health care costs and unscrupulous third parties. He and others in the firm’s elder law practice employ trusts, powers of attorney, advance medical directives and, when necessary, guardianship proceedings to protect and preserve assets. Hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other corporate clients often consulted Shawn for innovative, efficient solutions to discharge and Medicaid problems.

Shawn took pride in the creative approach to cases that he and his colleagues take.

“We do a lot of very innovative things to come up with solutions,” he says. “We’re often presented with very complex problems, but we find ways of making things work.”

Shawn first started practicing elder law as a favor in 1984 when a city attorney asked him to take on a tough case. The client would not be able to pay. Shawn took the case, teaching himself the fundamentals of the issues at play – “I had to learn it pretty much from the ground up,” he says. He would soon discover that elder law was his calling, and eventually he would allow it to push aside his practices in criminal defense and personal injury. When he started in the area, few peers in the state or even across the country focused on elder law.

As the practice grew more popular, Shawn served as a leader both locally and nationally in the field’s evolution and intellectual maturation. He was the founding chairperson of the Virginia Bar Association Elder Law Section, serving in that position from 1993 to 1996, and for many years Shawn has served as chair of the section’s legislative affairs subcommittee. He assisted in drafting several current Virginia statutes relating to guardianship, conservatorship, and behavioral health, including revisions to the law of civil commitment, emergency medical consent, guardianship, and the prevention of financial abuse of incapacitated adults under durable powers of attorney. He also has published and lectured widely on elder law topics.

“It’s been great to be a part of the start of a practice area and then make some mark one way or another on the way that the practice develops throughout the Commonwealth,” Shawn says. “That’s been rewarding.”

Shawn’s comprehensive knowledge of the intricacies of the field gave him a reputation as “a lawyer’s lawyer” – someone other lawyers could approach with questions about their clients’ circumstances. Shawn compared his fondness for his work to his love of a particular math class in high school.

“Geometry was absolutely beautiful and all I had to know were a few fundamental rules. Once I knew those rules everything else fell into place,” Shawn says. “And that’s what I like about the practice of law. If you know the rules, then you can make the proofs and everything else falls into place. And I just love having things fall into place.”

Representative Experience

  • Guardianships and conservatorships of incapacitated persons
  • Evaluating and establishing eligibility for public assistance benefits, such as Medicaid
  • Resolving estate and trust administration issues
  • Compel accounts from attorneys-in-fact
  • Estate planning and administration
  • Preserving personal injury proceeds from health care costs and third parties

Recognition

  • AV Peer Review Rated in Martindale-Hubbell
  • Awarded the Pioneers and Advocates for Guardianship Law and Public Guardianship from the Virginia Public Guardian and Conservator Program (2014)
  • Affiliate Assistant Professor, VCU School of Medicine
  • Virginia CLE Faculty Member (2015)
  • Selected to the Super Lawyers Virginia list Elder Law category (2006-2023); Top 10 Lawyer in the State and Top 50 in Richmond (2015), Virginia Top 100 (2022)
  • Selected as “Lawyer of the Year” by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in the field of Elder Law (2012-2013, 2016, 2024)
  • Selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in the field of Elder Law (2007-2024)
  • Virginia Business Magazine’s “Legal Elite,” Taxes/Estates/Trusts and Elder Law categories (2009-2023)
  • Virginia Lawyer’s Weekly “Leader in the Law” (2010)
  • Author, Virginia Long Term Care Medicaid Planning Highlights Citations to the Virginia Medicaid Manual Through Transmittal #DMAS-22
  • Selected to the Class of 2023 Hall of Fame, Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Education

  • College of William and Mary, J.D., 1979
  • University of Richmond, B.A., English and Economics, magna cum laude
    • National Economics Honor Fraternity
    • Editor, the Richmond College literary magazine
    • 1976 Charles T. Norman Award in English (Endowed by Mr. Norman in 1922, the University awards two gold medals annually to the best Richmond College graduate in English and in Business Administration)

Admissions

  • All Virginia Courts including the Supreme Court of Virginia
  • U.S Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Affiliations

  • Virginia State Bar
  • Virginia Bar Association
  • Richmond Bar Association
  • National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys
  • Virginia Academy of Elder Law Attorneys
  • Special Needs Alliance
  • Deacon and Sunday School Teacher Emeritus, Chamberlayne Baptist Church
  • Lay Missionary to Haiti (2011-2014)
  • Amateur magician, ca. (1960-present)
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