ABOUT THE FIRM

George Holton Yates & Associates is a Criminal Defense law firm with offices located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. We specialize in criminal defense. We are experienced, dedicated, hard-working, and committed to getting the absolute best possible result in your criminal case.  We fight  and we win.   

Fighting for a client  takes many different types of skills. Winning  takes many different forms. Sometimes it means a jury trial .  Fight for an acquittal.  We"ve had plenty of those. Other times it means fighting for a reduced charge or for probation.  Judge trials, plea agreements with Prosecutors, dismissals,deferred findings. You name it, we're doing it every day. And we've been doing it for a long time.  ( See our "Recent Cases" section).

Whatever the facts of the case and the needs of each individual client, we fight for the best possible  result.  And we don't ever forget that  you are going  through the most terrible ordeal of your life.

  We cannot  guarantee  what  the result of your case will be, but we can guarantee that you will feel  a whole lot better  about your case after you have spoken with us.

Call 757-491-8800 24/7 for a free office consultation about your case.

Mr. Yates has 26 years experience as lead counsel in thousands of criminal cases, to judges and juries in  every city and county in the Greater Hampton Roads region. He has also defended in North Carolina, West Virginia, and Florida.

Mr. Yates is a former Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Virginia Beach (1985-1989) and has been certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a Criminal Trial Specialist (1987, 2002, and re-certified in 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. He 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, Mr. Yates 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 ourRecent Cases section for examples of  our firm's experience.