Derrick P. Fellows

Partner (Shareholder)

Let Derrick P. Fellows help you protect your rural property with a conservation easement.

Practice Areas and Professional Strengths

Attorney Derrick P. Fellows is pleased to assist you with the following types of legal matters:

• Conservation easements (also known as open-space easements), including helping landowners to protect their property with conservation easements and to claim tax benefits for doing so; reviewing subordination requests for banks and other lenders; preparing deeds for sellers of individual parcels in conserved properties to ensure that the appropriate development rights are allocated to each parcel; and helping potential purchasers of conserved properties understand what their rights and obligations under the conservation easement will be;
• Business planning and commercial transactions, including creating corporations and LLCs, drafting and negotiating contracts, and handling commercial closings;
• Estate planning, including drafting wills, powers of attorney, advance medical directives, and trusts;
• Estate administration and probate, including preparing inventories and accountings for filing with the appropriate Commissioner of Accounts; and
• Nonprofit law, including incorporating nonstock corporations, preparing corporate bylaws, and preparing applications (Form 1023 / Form 1023-EZ) for tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Mr. Fellows offers years of experience in fiduciary accounting for trusts and estates and has served as an auditor for the Commissioner of Accounts of Lunenburg County. His formal education has included basic courses in both federal tax accounting and double-entry accounting under GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles).

Professional History

Mr. Fellows originally joined the firm as a legal assistant in 2007. He has been licensed as a lawyer by the Virginia State Bar since 2011. Mr. Fellows is also registered to practice before the Internal Revenue Service.

Mr. Fellows is a graduate of the following schools:

• The Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia (J.D. 2011);
• The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia (B.A. Hispanic Studies 2006); and
• Nottoway High School in Nottoway, Virginia (2002).

Publications

Derrick P. Fellows, Note, Kelo, Conservation Easements, and Forever: Why Eminent Domain Is Not a Sufficient Check on Conservation Easements’ Perpetual Duration, 35 Wm. & Mary Envtl. L. & Pol’y Rev. 625 (2011).

Mr. Fellows writes at Preserving for Tomorrow, a blog focusing on conservation easements and other issues relating to land preservation. He also pens the legal column in the Burkeville Community News.

Community Involvement and Personal Interests

Mr. Fellows has over two decades of experience in musical performance. He currently plays trumpet with the Heart of Virginia Community Band, based in Farmville, Virginia. He is an alumnus brother in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a national social music fraternity.

Mr. Fellows maintains a strong interest in technology, including issues related to cybersecurity. In addition to being an attorney, he serves as the Director of Information Technology at Hawthorne & Hawthorne.

Mr. Fellows is a member of St. Theresa Council #11678 of the Knights of Columbus, where he is a Past Grand Knight and former Financial Secretary. He resides in Burkeville, Virginia.

Languages

Mr. Fellows speaks both English and Spanish.

Office Location

Mr. Fellows maintains regular office hours in the Victoria office, although he may be available to meet in the Farmville office, the Blackstone office, or in other locations upon request.