Biglaw, Crime, Lawyer of the Day, Violence

Ex-Biglaw Associate Accused In Bizarre Break-In And Assault

What could have prompted an alleged assault by a Yale grad and former Biglaw associate?

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Sometimes the people we write about have reached a point in their lives when their cords to reality have snapped. It wasn’t always like this. They once had the capacity to attend and graduate from Ivy League schools and hold down employment at some of the most elite law firms on the planet. Their résumés were gleaming, as were their personalities. Now, they’re the subjects of criminal investigations.

Take, for example, the case of Claire Kennedy Ogilvie. She attended Yale University and George Washington Law, and then snagged a position as a patent attorney at Foley & Lardner. Once she decided she’d had enough of her litigious lifestyle, she quit and became a teacher.

And then, something happened. Ogilvie is currently being held without bond at the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail on charges of burglary, abduction, and malicious wounding, all felonies, after allegedly breaking into a married man’s house and attacking his wife. Did we mention that this man is a major political player in Virginia?

Former Biglaw attorneys do the darndest things….

According to a police report, Ogilvie was arrested on February 24, after forcing her way into Virginia House of Delegates Democratic Leader David Toscano’s home. Here’s more from the local NBC affiliate:

Toscano says Ogilvie hit his wife, [Nancy Tramontin,] several times in the head after breaking into their home along Evergreen Avenue. His wife never lost consciousness but was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, was treated and released. Toscano and his son were not home at the time of the incident.

Police won’t comment on what type of weapon, if any, might have been used.

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In a statement, Toscano described Ogilvie as “a person who we knew but had not seen for over a year.” The pair met in 2010, during a Semester at Sea program sponsored by the University of Virginia. While aboard the ship, Toscano taught sociology and Ogilvie allegedly took part on the same voyage. Did the young science teacher try to test her “chemistry” with the Virginia delegate as they sailed the high seas?

In an interview with the Daily Progress, Ogilvie’s neighbor said this was out of character for the young woman, remarking that “[s]he could not have been in her right mind if she did something like that.” From Ogilvie’s own commentary about herself, she seems pretty normal. Here’s her bio from her school website:

Before I became a teacher, I was a practicing attorney in Washington, DC. Although I enjoyed the patents with which I worked, the actual practice of being a litigator was rather boring, so I left it behind to do something a little more fun and a lot more rewarding. Teaching is more spiritually rewarding, if not financially!

Ogilvie was once a contestant on “Jeopardy!” and “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” and she was looking for additional TV appearance opportunities. Get it, girl, because now you’re a celebrity on the local news.

Teacher charged in assault on Toscano’s wife [Daily Progress]
Police arrest Charlottesville woman for abduction, assault of wife of Delegate David Toscano
[C-Ville Weekly]
Police Investigate Reported Assault, Burglary at Toscano Home [NBC29 WVIR]

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