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Serving the Commonwealth since 1997
Reckless driving, DUI, and license defense across the Commonwealth.
Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. has represented drivers in Virginia courts since 1997. If a Virginia Uniform Summons has put you on a court docket, the firm's attorneys can review the charging statute, the evidence, and the exposure before your date arrives.
Virginia hands you the same summons either way. What separates a payable infraction from a Class 1 misdemeanor is the code section printed in the box — and most drivers never read it.
Three of the most common charges in the Commonwealth are crimes, not tickets. Reckless driving is a crime. Driving under the influence is a crime. Driving on a suspended license is a crime. None of the three can be prepaid, each requires an appearance in a Virginia General District Court, and each leaves a permanent criminal record on conviction.
Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. practices in Virginia traffic and criminal defense from five locations across the Commonwealth. The work starts with the summons: which subsection was charged, what the Commonwealth has to prove under it, and whether the evidence in the file actually gets there.
Before your court date
A person is guilty of reckless driving who drives at 20 miles per hour or more above the applicable maximum speed limit, or in excess of 85 miles per hour regardless of the limit — Va. Code § 46.2-862. On a 70 mph interstate, the second trigger reaches drivers who were not speeding by any margin that feels criminal.
Prepayment enters a conviction on your Virginia DMV record and generates demerit points. It cannot be undone afterward by explaining that you did not realize what prepayment meant.
Virginia belongs to the Driver License Compact. A Virginia conviction is reported to your home state's licensing agency, which then applies its own points and its own suspension rules on its own schedule.
Commercial driver disqualification reaches convictions incurred off the clock, in your own car. The thresholds are lower than the ones applied to everyone else, and the deferral options other drivers rely on are frequently unavailable to a commercial licensee.
Demerit points and the conviction record run on different clocks. The points come off first. The conviction stays on the driving record considerably longer, and a criminal conviction stays on the criminal record until something is done about it.
Read the code section on your summons before you decide anything.
Call (888) 437-7747 →Results may vary.
Practice areas
Every matter begins with the charging statute — which subsection was charged, what the Commonwealth must prove under it, and whether the file supports it.
Va. Code § 46.2-852
Virginia's reckless driving law reaches well past speed. The general provision covers driving in a manner that endangers life, limb, or property, and the surrounding sections add passing a stopped school bus, failing to signal, faulty brakes, racing, and driving with an obstructed view. All of it is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
The defense is evidentiary before it is anything else. How was the speed captured — RADAR, LiDAR, or pacing? When was that instrument last calibrated, and does the certificate exist? Where the record and the law support it, a reckless charge may be resolvable to improper driving under Va. Code § 46.2-869, which is an infraction rather than a criminal conviction. Whether that is available turns on the charge, the driving record, the court, and the Commonwealth's position on the day.
Results may vary.
Va. Code § 46.2-862
Two independent triggers — 20 mph or more above the posted limit, or any speed in excess of 85 mph. Neither requires the Commonwealth to prove you knew how fast you were going.
Va. Code § 18.2-266
A first offense is a Class 1 misdemeanor carrying a mandatory minimum fine, license revocation, VASAP enrollment, and ignition interlock conditions on any restricted license that follows. An arrest opens two proceedings on two different clocks: the criminal case in General District Court, and the administrative license action at the Virginia DMV. Winning one does not resolve the other. The firm's attorneys examine the basis for the stop, the administration of any field sobriety testing, the observation period before a breath test, the instrument's certification, and the chain of custody on a blood draw.
Results may vary.
Virginia elevates driving under the influence to a felony on a third offense within a defined period and where certain aggravating facts are alleged. Felony exposure changes the court, the sentencing range, and the collateral consequences — including firearm rights and, for non-citizens, immigration consequences that should be assessed before any plea is entered.
Refusal is charged separately from the underlying DUI and defended alongside it. A refusal finding can suspend a license even where the DUI does not survive, which is why the two are worked as one file rather than two.
Infractions are not criminal, which is not the same as harmless. They carry demerit points, they can trigger a mandatory driver improvement clinic, and for a driver already carrying points they can be the citation that produces a suspension. Following too closely, improper passing, failure to yield, and disregarding a traffic control device each carry their own assessment.
Virginia imposes affirmative duties on a driver involved in a collision — stopping, identifying, reporting. Depending on the damage and whether anyone was hurt, leaving the scene is charged as a misdemeanor or as a felony. A great many of these cases turn on a single question: did the driver know a collision had occurred?
Va. Code § 46.2-301
A criminal misdemeanor, and repeat convictions carry mandatory jail and additional administrative suspension that stacks onto the original. The first question is almost always notice — whether the DMV's suspension notice was properly served on the driver at all.
Suspension arrives from several directions: accumulated points, a DUI conviction, a refusal finding, unpaid fines, a failure to appear. Each has its own reinstatement path, and several allow a petition for a restricted operator's license permitting travel for work, medical treatment, education, and court-ordered programs. Drivers still carrying a revocation from Virginia's former habitual offender scheme, repealed in 1999, may be able to petition for restoration.
Results may vary.
Commercial drivers are held to a separate, stricter standard: a lower blood alcohol threshold, a defined set of serious traffic violations that disqualify on accumulation, and a prohibition on masking a commercial driver's conviction. For a commercial licensee the case has never really been about the fine.
Where a collision results in a death, Virginia can charge involuntary manslaughter, with substantially enhanced exposure where intoxication is alleged. These are felony matters, and they usually require accident reconstruction review, medical examiner review, and independent expert work.
A large share of Virginia traffic charges are brought against people who do not live here. Two questions follow. Must you appear personally? And what will your home state do with the conviction? Virginia permits counsel to appear on a defendant's behalf in some matters and requires the defendant's presence in others. That determination should be made early — a missed court date creates a second charge on top of the first.
The three tracks
Every traffic charge, infraction or misdemeanor, starts in the General District Court for the county or city where the offense is alleged. There is no jury. The Commonwealth puts on its evidence, the defense may move to strike at the close of that case, and the judge rules.
A defendant convicted in General District Court has an appeal of right, heard de novo — an entirely new trial, with the option of a jury. The appeal must be noted within a short statutory window. This structural feature shapes strategy in the lower court, and it is the single most useful thing a driver can understand about Virginia practice.
Administrative license action runs independently. A courtroom dismissal does not automatically lift an administrative suspension, and an administrative outcome does not resolve the criminal charge.
Attorneys
Matters are assigned to a named attorney admitted in the bar where the case sits, based on the charge, the court, and the attorney's background.
Owner and Founder · Former Prosecutor
Admitted in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York. Traffic defense · DUI defense · criminal defense.
A former prosecutor who founded the practice in 1997 and has appeared in Virginia trial courts continuously since. In 2019 he testified before the Virginia House Courts of Justice Committee in support of HB 635, chief patron Delegate David Bulova.
Of Counsel
Admitted in Virginia. Traffic defense · DUI defense · criminal defense.
Served fifteen years as a Virginia State Trooper before entering practice. J.D., University of Richmond, 2003. He reads a traffic file the way the officer who wrote it does — which is a useful thing to have on the other side of the table when calibration records, pacing method, and stop justification are in dispute.
Of Counsel
Admitted in Maryland and Virginia. Traffic defense · personal injury.
A Former Maryland Assistant State's Attorney, with the firm since 2010. J.D., Rutgers School of Law, 2004. She handles traffic matters and the injury claims that arise out of the same collisions.
Every attorney other than Mr. Sris is Of Counsel to Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. and contracts directly with the firm. Individual attorneys are admitted in specific jurisdictions; not all attorneys are licensed in all states. Attorneys do not offer legal services in jurisdictions where they are not admitted.
Virginia locations
By appointment only at every location. Intake is handled at the toll-free number, (888) 437-7747.
Headquarters
4008 Williamsburg Court, Fairfax, VA 22032
7400 Beaufont Springs Drive, Suite 300, Room 395, Richmond, VA 23225
20130 Lakeview Center Plaza, Room 403, Ashburn, VA 20147
1655 Fort Myer Dr, Suite 700, Room 719, Arlington, VA 22209
505 N Main St, Suite 103, Woodstock, VA 22664
Not every matter in every locality can be accepted; availability depends on the charge, the court date, and existing commitments.
Frequently asked
Fees vary with the charge, the court, the offense number, and whether the matter is likely to be contested at trial. Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. quotes a fee after reviewing the summons and the charging statute.
Most first-offense misdemeanor matters resolve in the General District Court within a few months of arraignment, though continuances for discovery, expert review, or blood-analysis results extend that. Felony matters and appeals to Circuit Court take longer.
Virginia permits a court to issue a restricted operator's license in defined circumstances, subject to ignition interlock conditions. Eligibility depends on the offense number, the blood alcohol level found, and the driving record. It is not automatic, and it is not available in every case. Results may vary.
The court advises you of the charge and the maximum penalty, addresses your right to counsel, sets bond conditions if they are not already set, and schedules the trial date. It is not the trial, and nothing is decided there.
Dismissal is possible where the Commonwealth cannot establish an element of the offense — where the stop lacked reasonable suspicion, where the arrest lacked probable cause, or where breath or blood evidence was obtained outside the statutory procedure. Whether any of that applies depends entirely on the facts of the case. Results may vary.
Yes. It is a Class 1 misdemeanor — the same classification as a first-offense DUI — and a conviction produces a permanent criminal record.
Generally, yes. Virginia reports convictions to the licensing agency of the driver's home state through the Driver License Compact, and the home state applies its own point and suspension rules.
It depends on the charge and the court. For some infractions counsel may appear on your behalf; for criminal charges courts commonly require the defendant's presence. Make the determination before the court date, because a failure to appear generates a separate charge.
Read the summons and find three things: the code section charged, the court, and the date. Do not prepay a charge you intend to contest. Preserve what may matter later — dash camera footage, GPS records, vehicle service records, and the names of anyone who was in the car.
Call (888) 437-7747 to request a consultation. Intake line staffed 24/7/365 · Attorney consultations scheduled by appointment. Consultations are available in English, Spanish, Tamil, French, and Portuguese.
Please do not include confidential details in any web form.
4008 Williamsburg Court
Fairfax, VA 22032
Intake line staffed 24/7/365 · Attorney consultations scheduled by appointment.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Case results depend on a variety of factors unique to each case. The information on this website is general information about New York law and is not legal advice for any specific matter. Viewing this site, sending a message through this site, or calling the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship. An attorney-client relationship is formed only by a written agreement signed by both you and the firm. Do not send confidential information through this website until a conflicts check is completed and a written engagement is in place.
Attorney responsible for this advertising: Atchuthan Sriskandarajah, Esq., admitted in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C., 50 Fountain Plaza, Suite 1400, Buffalo, NY 14202. Telephone (888) 437-7747.
