George Holton Yates
& Associates, P.C.

Yates is a former Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Virginia Beach (1985-1989) and has been certified as a Criminal Trail Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in April of 1997 and recertified again in 2002 and 2007.

Mr. Yates is a graduate of Wake Forest Law School. He completed law school in 1982, and was admitted to the Virginia Bar just days after. Mr. Yates worked initially in Tampa, Florida, for Salem, Musial and Morse, P.A. and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1983, before returning to his native Virginia Beach in 1984 and working for former Congressman Owen Pickett's law firm, Pickett, Lyle, Siegal, Drescher and Croshaw, P.C.

In 1985 Mr. Yates was appointed Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney in the Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Virginia Beach. From 1985 to 1989, as an Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney, he tried hundreds of jury and judge trials of every kind of criminal case, from child sex abuse to DUI to murder. He successfully prosecuted the first criminal trial ever televised in Virginia, Commonwealth v. Wilmoth in 1988, in addition to many other highly publicized cases.

During his time with the Commonwealth's Attorney office, he became more aware of the special needs of criminal defendants, and how poorly some of them were represented by their lawyers. There were many times during those years as a prosecuting attorney that he observed defense lawyers failing to make critical arguments for their clients. He often found himself making those arguments for the defense simply to make sure those defendants were treated fairly by the judge or jury.

Mr. Yates left the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office in 1989 and started this firm. Later in 1989, Mr. Yates was appointed Special Prosecuting Attorney for about 40 felony criminal cases, and continued to prosecute as well as defend criminal cases for another two years. From 1989 to 1995, he did every kind of law: criminal defense, personal injury, civil and construction litigation, domestic relations, wills and trusts, real estate, even some business law. He taught a business law class for the City of Virginia Beach and continued to serve as a commercial law arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association. All through those early years, however, he concentrated his practice in the area of criminal defense.

In recent years, Mr. Yates has devoted his practice almost exclusively to criminal defense, and has developed a considerable reputation for successfully defending sex and computer crimes, DUI, and all types of criminal matters. Go to our Recent Cases section for examples of our firm's experience.