VADA Member Spotlight

This month’s spotlighted VADA member is Gifford Hampshire of McGavin, Boyce, Bardot, Thorsen & Katz, P.C., in Fairfax.  Giff is a graduate of Virginia Tech and George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School.  He has served VADA with distinction as a member of our Annual Meeting Committee.

1.         Where were you born?

Fairfax, Virginia.

2.         Tell us a little about yourself. Spouse? Children? Pets?

I live with my wife Kirsten, who is an Environmental Health Specialist with the Fairfax Health Department, dealing with Rabies and Lead exposure cases. We have an Irish Setter named Bennie and a white, heterochromatic, deaf cat named Monroe.

3.         How long have you been a member of VADA?

Since the fall of 2022, following my entry into private practice.

4.         What type of law do you practice?

Our firm has a very wide civil defense practice. Most cases involve personal injury from automobile accidents, but a significant portion of my practice involves varied civil litigation defense including defamation and other intentional torts, premises liability and construction litigation, insurance coverage disputes, professional malpractice, and local government cases.

5.         What do you like most about practicing law?

Being able to serve my clients, who, most of the time, are ordinary people, unsophisticated in litigation.  It is fulfilling to be able to explain the legal process and break down the information barrier for them to help make litigation less scary.

6.         What have you enjoyed most about your time in VADA?

I enjoy being able to stay connected to some of my friends from law school who also have joined the Association.

7.         What was the make and model of your first car?

1985 Mercury Grand Marquis.  It got about 10 miles to the gallon.

8.         What is your favorite travel spot?

Bermuda.  My grandmother was born there and I’ve been seven times now, most recently on a couple’s trip with my wife and our friends. 

9.         What is your number one favorite quote?

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.” —T. E. Lawrence

10.       What was your first job?

I worked for a summer as a land surveyor for a summer for a civil engineering firm during my freshman year of college.

11.       If you were to walk into my office, one of the first things you would notice would be …

My panorama photograph of Lane Stadium.  Go Hokies!

12.       When I am not in the office, I like to …

My biggest hobby is cycling, but I enjoy going on hikes and to museums, sporting events, and concerts with my wife.  We also routinely go to the movies.  Last winter, we completed for the first time the “Oscars Death Race.”

13.       If I wasn’t practicing law, I would be …

I think I have a great aptitude for counseling in general, so perhaps I would be a physical or psychiatric therapist.

14.       What is a food or activity you’ve tried once that you will never try again?

I ate a century egg once.

15.       What do you consider to be your biggest professional accomplishment thus far?

I recently obtained a favorable published opinion from the 4^th Circuit affirming an award of summary judgment from the District Court. The opinion also addressed an unanswered question regarding the statutory interpretation of 18 U.S.C. § 1332(c)(2).

16.       What is at the top of your bucket list?

I recently completed my top item of attending the conclusion of the Tour De France in Paris.

17.       What book is currently on your bedside table?

Too many to list, but the one that comes to mind is The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

18.       What talent or skill do you wish you had?

Being multilingual would be extremely helpful, both professionally and personally.

19.       What is your biggest pet peeve?

People who are rude or inconsiderate.

20.       What do you know now about the practice of law that you wish you had known when you first passed the bar?

I only passed the bar about five years ago, but, if anything, I wish I knew what I had known at that time and have now forgotten.