Meet Your Instructors

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Northern Virginia Association of REALTORS®

The Voice for Real Estate in Northern Virginia

Instructors

RRG Instuctors
Mikhael D. Charnoff Mikhael D. Charnoff is a member of the Business and Professional Litigation and Healthcare Practice Groups. His practice focuses on general civil litigation including medical malpractice defense, professional liability defense, and professional licensure defense before Virginia administrative boards, varied real estate litigation and business litigation. Mike works in the D. C. Regional Office located in McLean, Virginia. Mike’s clients include institutional health care providers, dentists, endodontists, real estate agents and brokers, escrow agents, real estate purchasers and sellers, builders and small businesses. Mike worked as a Research Assistant for Professor John Monahan at the University of Virginia School of Law. He clerked with a Vienna, Virginia-based law firm, which he joined immediately following law school. Prior to his most recent law firm position, Mike served as a Law Clerk to Judge Frank E. Schwelb in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.		Alexander M. Laughlin Mr. Laughlin regularly represents clients on all aspects of commercial litigation and distressed asset sales in bankruptcy, complex financial restructure planning, creditors rights litigation, restructure finance, loan restructure and workout agreements. He has extensive experience in representing chapter 7 bankruptcy trustees concerning all matters of effecting the administration, marshalling, and liquidation of assets of the chapter 7 bankruptcy estate. Mr. Laughlin Also represent applicants for security clearances required for officers and employees of defense contractors before the Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals. He has litigated Statements of Reasons issued by the Defense Security Service under Department of Defense Directive 5200-R, "Adjudicative Guidelines for Determining Eligibility for Access to Classified Information." Mr. Laughlin has experience with appeals to the Appeal Board of the Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals concerning adverse findings as to whether to issue a security clearance under Directive 5200-R.		Robin M. Mathis Robin G. Mathis is a native of Northern Virginia. She graduated from Virginia Tech in 1982 where she was an active member of Delta Gamma and Student Alumni Associates. She continued her education at Mercer University, Macon, Georgia receiving a J.D. in 1985. There, she was elected to the Honor Court, hearing infractions of the honor code. Ms. Mathis has worked in the title industry in Northern Virginia since "returning home" in 1992. She has been the owner of the law offices of Robin G. Mathis, PLLC since 2000. She is a member of the Virginia State Bar and the State Bar of Georgia.

NVAR Staff Ann-Lewise Shaw Ann-Lewise Shaw is General Counsel for the Northern Virginia Association of REALTORS® (NVAR), where she provides legal counsel and guidance on a variety of legal issues. She provides oversight for NVAR’s Arbitration, Grievance and Mediation functions, and develops and teaches frequent classes and workshops for NVAR’s members. In addition, Ms. Shaw writes a monthly column for the association’s magazine, Update, to inform members about legal issues affecting the real estate industry. She has taught courses on real estate topics for area real estate brokerages, and continuing education courses for attorneys and title insurance agents. Prior to joining NVAR, Ms. Shaw was an associate at a Northern Virginia law firm, where she focused her practice on residential and commercial real estate transactions, real estate title examination, real estate finance, and drafting and negotiation of contracts. Ms. Shaw is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin (B.A., J.D.), and is a member of the Virginia State Bar (Member, Real Property Section), and the State Bar of Texas (Member, Real Estate, Probate & Trusts Section.)
Sarah Louppe Petcher Ms. Petcher was born and raised in Paris, France. She is a 2003 graduate of the George Mason University School of Law. Ms. Petcher received a Bachelor of Science in Speech and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Northwestern University in 1996. She is admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia. She is the Manager of Professional Services and Associate General Counsel at the Northern Virginia Association of REALTORS®. Ms. Petcher is an active member of the Virginia State Bar and the Fairfax County Bar Association. She volunteers with the National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children providing immigration legal services to the low income immigrant community and with the Fairfax Bar Foundation Neighborhood Outreach Program. From 2004-2007, she was the Chair of the Immigrant Outreach Committee of the Young Lawyer’s Conference of the Virginia State Bar and a Board Member of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the Virginia Women Attorneys Association. She is now a board member of the Young Lawyer’s Conference of the Virginia State Bar. Ms. Petcher is a coach for the George Mason University School of Law team for the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Ms. Petcher has been the attorney advisor for the George Mason University School of Law Domestic Relations Legal Clinic run by the Honorable Stanley P. Klein of Fairfax County Circuit Court. Ms. Petcher is the recipient of the 2006 and 2007 Outstanding Service Awards from the Young Lawyers Conference of the Virginia State Bar. She is also the recipient of the 2007 Virginia State Bar Young Lawyer of the Year Award and of the 2007 Mutual of America Community Service Award.