Martin Thomas, Jr.
Martin Thomas, Jr. did not have to look far for a career. “My dad has been a lawyer at Decker Law for almost 45 years,” he says. “As a result, I grew up a member of the Decker Law family. I consider myself blessed to have been able to work with — and learn from — my father.” The two of them practice here together, which is an unusual thing in a profession where most people learn the trade from strangers.
He went to Catholic High School in Virginia Beach, then Virginia Tech, then law school at the University of Richmond, and was admitted in 2007. Since then, he has been litigating personal injury cases out of the firm’s downtown Norfolk office, and also handles criminal, traffic, contract and civil matters, trying cases regularly in the courts of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Chesapeake.
What he knows about Norfolk, though, he didn’t just learn in a courtroom.
“Clients are often going through very trying circumstances and I am here to help them through those situations.”
MARTIN’S HIGHLIGHTS
Personal injury, criminal, and traffic cases in Norfolk’s courts — and in Norfolk’s council chamber. Martin has represented Ward 1 since 2016 and served as Vice Mayor since 2018.
AREAS OF PRACTICE
- Personal Injury
- Criminal Defense
- Contract Law
- Litigation
BAR ADMISSIONS
- Virginia 2007
- E.D. Va.
- W.D. Va.
EDUCATION
- Catholic High School, Virginia Beach 1998
- Virginia Tech B.A. 2002
- Richmond Law J.D. 2006
Martin represented Ward 1 on the Norfolk City Council from 2016-2026, and was the city’s Vice Mayor from 2018. Before that he was vice chairman of the Planning Commission and sat on the Architectural Review Board. He is on the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization. He founded Wards Corner Now and was vice president of the Wards Corner Civic League for twelve years.
Put plainly: when a case turns on how a Norfolk intersection was built, how a neighborhood actually functions at seven in the morning, or how the city’s own departments make a decision, that is not research for him. It is the other half of his week. Very few personal injury lawyers anywhere can say that about the city they try cases in, and no one at any competing firm in Hampton Roads can say it about Norfolk.
The pattern in the rest of the list is the same instinct pointed at different problems. The Hermitage Museum & Gardens. The Planning Council. The General Douglas MacArthur Foundation. The Virginia College Building Authority. The board of the Hampton Roads Regional Jail. Norfolk Collegiate Board of Trustees. St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery. The Peter Decker Children’s Charity. It is the portfolio of someone who keeps saying yes to the unglamorous committee.
“I’M A HOKIE. DAD’S A WAHOO. MAKES SATURDAYS INTERESTING!”
And then there is the teaching, which he did for ten years starting in 2009 without being asked to. The class was called Life Beyond the Felony: How to Restore Your Rights, and he first taught it to students in the Fresh Start Program at TCC in Portsmouth. He then taught it monthly at the Goodwill Employment Center in Portsmouth and inside the re-entry program at Chesapeake City Jail. A criminal defense attorney who spends his own evenings teaching people how to get their rights back after the case is over is telling you something about why he took the job.
PROFESSIONAL AND CIVIC ASSOCIATIONS
- Norfolk Collegiate Board of Trustees (2026 – Present)
- Norfolk City Council (2016 – 2026)
- Vice Mayor, City of Norfolk (2018 – 2026)
- Peter Decker Children’s Charity Board (2013 – Present)
- Norfolk Collegiate Board of Trustees (2026 – Present)
- Norfolk and Portsmouth Bar Association
- Virginia Trial Lawyers Association
- Knights of Columbus, Council #3548
- Founder, Wards Corner Now
- American Planning Association (2012 – 2026)
- Hermitage Museum & Gardens Board (2024 – 2025)
- The Planning Council Board (2019 – 2025)
- General Douglas MacArthur Foundation (2019 – 2025)
- Board of Directors, Hampton Roads Regional Jail (2018 – 2024)
- Virginia College Building Authority (2021 – 2024)
- Vice President, Wards Corner Civic League (2006 – 2018)
- Board of Directors, St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery (2010 – 2017)
- Vice Chairman, City of Norfolk Planning Commission (2011 – 2016)
- Norfolk Architectural Review Board (2014 – 2016)
IF YOU NEED HELP, TALK TO MARTIN TODAY
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