THE DECKER LAW FIRM - MARTIN THOMAS JR. AND RUBY CAPPS

“People helping people”guides 50 years of service

by Judi Tull

Martin Thomas Jr.

This is the seventh in a series of stories about The Decker Law Firm, its attorneys and staff.

For the past 50 years, The Decker Law Firm has distinguished itself throughout Hampton Roads, based not only on the reputation of its founder, Pete Decker Jr., for his legal and charitable work, but also on the genuine passions the firm’s attorneys and staff share for helping others.

For attorney Martin Thomas Jr. and docket clerk Ruby Capps, the paths that brought them to the firm were diverse, but nonetheless provided near-perfect training grounds for their work of the future.

Growing up in Virginia Beach, Martin set his sights early for a career in urban planning. The city’s growing sprawl intrigued him and so, after graduating from Catholic High School, he went off to Virginia Tech. It was, he notes, a particularly exciting time to be there.

Ruby Capps

“It was Michael Vick’s first year on the football team,” he recalls. “Coming from a high school with a total of 400 students, I’d never seen 60,000 people at a football game before and the energy of that was unbelievable. I really liked being at a big school.”

The school was big, but Blacksburg is a small town. By the time Martin was ready to graduate with a degree in public and urban affairs, he realized that, to hone his skills in his chosen field, he’d have to start in a rural county somewhere. And he thought he’d had enough of small towns for a while.

Richmond looked good, and T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond welcomed him to follow in the footsteps of his dad, Martin Thomas, Sr., a senior partner at The Decker Law Firm.

“People always ask me if there was pressure in my life to go into the law, but there really wasn’t, ” young Martin says. “I just knew that I would enjoy it. My dad encouraged me, of course, but wanted me to choose for myself.”

His legal education was one of immersion: he interned at The Decker Law Firm during the summers and has nothing but praise for the on-the-job experience he gained.

“I’ve had excellent mentoring here all along,” he says. “Not just from my dad, of course, but all the other attorneys, too.”

They took him to court with them to watch how trials were run; they taught him how to do the critically important research for cases. As soon as he graduated, he came to work at the firm. His practice now includes civil litigation and personal injury cases. He’s proud to say that he recently settled his first wrongful death case.

As one of the firm’s young attorneys, Martin spends a lot of time on the phone talking with prospective clients.

"We truly make a difference in people’s lives, and, at the end of the day, there’s a real sense of delight because you’ve done a good job. Sometimes cases that might seem relatively small are very, very important to the client who’s involved. We never forget that.”

— Attorney Martin Thomas Jr.

"Uncle Pete hates voice mail,” he says with a laugh. “He believes that everyone who calls here should get to talk to an attorney, and every attorney here has done this work as they were coming up.”

He shares the firm’s commitment for representing its clients not just with the highest commitment to vigorous representation but also with a true level of caring for clients.

“This job really is all about helping people,” he says. “We truly make a difference in people’s lives, and, at the end of the day, there’s a real sense of delight because you’ve done a good job. Sometimes cases that might seem relatively small are very, very important to the client who’s involved. We never forget that.”

The firm’s founder’s philosophy is loud and clear when Martin talks about his work.

“‘Uncle Pete’ makes a point of thanking people for letting us be their lawyers. He’s just the kind of guy you want to work for. He’s always helping someone,” he says.

Martin lives with his wife, Maggie, and their sons Martin III, who just turned three, and Michael, who’s three months old, in the Wards Corner area of Norfolk. He’s Vice President of the Wards Corner Civic League, one of 17 such leagues that are working together for the renewal and redevelopment of the Wards Corner corridor. He also serves on the committee for the Knights of Columbus’ annual St. Patricks’ Day parade.

Ruby Capps is a gal with a family that’s on the go — literally. She, her husband, Richard, and their two sons — Brandon, who’s 8, and Austin, who’s 10 — enjoy a variety of activities that include boating, tennis, cycling and being around the water and on the country roads of their home in Moyock, N.C.

“We love doing things together and we like to be outdoors,” she says.

Ruby started her business career working for the state at the Department of Motor Vehicles until 2003, and then took a job as a Deputy Clerk for a judge at the Norfolk Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. In June 2005 she transferred to the same position with Virginia Beach Courts, where she met Peter Decker III. Four years ago, he mentioned that there was an opening at the firm for a docket clerk and that she’d be a good fit for the position.

A good fit, indeed. Her customer-service and court backgrounds made her a perfect candidate for a position that combines accounting, billing, opening and closing files, scheduling and accepting payments from traffic- and criminal-case clients.

"I was so excited about coming here,” Ruby recalls. “The unrelenting pressure of court work was really intense and this was a wonderful opportunity to make a change. I love having my own office, and I’m truly thankful every day for being part of this wonderful firm.”