Lorna Rhoades

Lorna Cobb Rhoades, a native of Poughkeepsie, New York, came back to Hofheimer Family Law after an internship here in 2008. She met our founder, Charlie Hofheimer, and his daughter, Kristen Hofheimer, through an old family connection. Her parents adopted a total of six children (in addition to four biological children, of whom Lorna is the eldest). One child was adopted from Korea, another through Catholic Charities, and the remaining four through the foster care system through an attorney in Pennsylvania.

Lorna went to law school at the University of Florida, and connected with her family’s lawyer friend, who referred her to Hofheimer Family Law. Our work with Protective Moms groups, and Charlie and his wife Diane’s work with Champions for Children (formerly Prevent Child Abuse Hampton Roads) led Lorna to our doors. A staunch advocate for children, after seeing firsthand what kind of neglectful and abusive situations came out of the foster care system, Lorna always knew she wanted to be an advocate for children. Interested in both adoption and custody work, Lorna knew that family law was the avenue she wanted to pursue.

Lorna has a wealth of experience, too, which she brings to her practice of family law. Her husband, Mick, a flight officer in the Navy, has been stationed in a number of difference places during Lorna’s years in practice. After law school, she practiced in Georgia, where she accepted a prestigious position as a law clerk for Senior Judge Hugh Lawson, a United States District Judge in the Middle District of Georgia, and then as an attorney practicing employee benefits law at a private law firm in Atlanta, Georgia. She then moved to Arizona, where she worked in the Pima County Attorney’s Office, Civil Division. She returned to Virginia in 2017 and started practicing family law in another local family law attorney’s office, but couldn’t resist the opportunity to return to Hofheimer Family Law.

Lorna’s experience touches on a number of issues important to Hampton Roads women – as a Navy wife, she’s intimately acquainted with the specific issues military spouses face, and is comfortable navigating the tricky territory associated with military divorce law. In her work in the Pima County Attorney’s office, she worked in the mental health area (specifically authorizing involuntary commitments, and so on), which makes her particularly well informed when it comes to husbands with unique mental health issues. Obviously, too, her personal experience with adoption her legal experience with divorce and custody cases brings an interesting and valuable perspective.

An ardent advocate for moms in the courtroom, Lorna is also clever, quick, and comfortable in negotiations. Serving her client’s best interests is her first priority, and she does so with zeal, professionalism, and confidence.

The mother of two children, Gracie and Callan, who keep her pretty busy, Lorna also loves to work out (particularly Zumba) and play the French horn. Lorna and Mick live in Chesapeake, where her family lives nearby.