Our Attorneys
RICHARD SHAPIRO
Practice Areas:
- Plaintiff's Railroad/ F.E.L.A. Law
- Motor Vehicle Injuries
- Workplace Lung Disorders
- Faulty Products
- Medical Negligence
RICHARD SHAPIRO, received his college degree from the University of Maryland, served as staff assistant to U.S. Congressman Whitehurst (1979-1981) and graduated from George Mason Law School With Distinction in 1984. He served as a law clerk to Federal District Court Judge Robert C. Doumar in Norfolk, and now exclusively handles injury law. Rick has litigated injury cases in state and federal courts throughout the Eastern U.S.A. He co-authored "Railroad Health & Safety; a Litigator's Guide" which appears in a leading law encyclopedia, "American Jurisprudence Trials." Also, he has been an invited lecturer at national lawyer seminars of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA), as well as for the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association (VTLA), and Georgia Trial Lawyers, and was elected Chairman of the Railroad Section of the ATLA (2005-2008). He is admitted to practice law in Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., North Carolina, as well as before the U.S. Supreme Court, and passed demanding testing and screening to become Board Certified in Civil Trial Advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.
JOHN COOPER
Practice Areas:
- Motor Vehicle Injuries
- Plaintiff's Railroad F.E.L.A. Cases
- General Personal Injuries
- Medical Negligence
JOHN COOPER returned to Norfolk in 1988 for a one year clerkship with U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca B. Smith after law school at the University of Virginia. John's law practice is devoted exclusively to personal injury litigation in the eastern United States. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society. John is licensed in Virginia, North Carolina and W. Virginia and has handled litigation in many other state and federal courts with affiliated counsel. He has achieved the highest lawyer rating ("A V") from the national Martindale-Hubbell lawyer rating service.
JAMES C. LEWIS
Practice Areas:
- Motor Vehicle Injuries
- Medical Negligence
- General Personal Injury
- Faulty Product Injury
- Plaintiff Railroad/F.E.L.A.
JAMES C. LEWIS, attended the University of Virginia where he received his bachelor's degree, with distinction, and went on to receive his law degree from the College of William and Mary. He is licensed to practice law in Virginia and North Carolina and regularly tries cases in state and federal courts. Jim has been made a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. He concentrates his practice on representing seriously injured clients and their families. He has achieved the highest lawyer rating ("A V") from the national Martindale-Hubbell lawyer rating service.
RANDALL E. APPLETON
Practice Areas:
- Plaintiff's Railroad/ F.E.L.A.
- Motor Vehicle Injuries
- General Injury Law
- Medical Negligence
RANDALL E. APPLETON, was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1957, and graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in 1979 and from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1982. He was first licensed in 1982 in Virginia, and is now also licensed in North Carolina, West Virginia, South Carolina, and Kentucky. He is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, and is a past president of the Portsmouth Bar Association.
Randy has over twenty years of injury law experience and has handled injury litigation in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Tennessee during his career.
EMILY MAPP BRANNON
Emily Mapp Brannon was born in Norfolk, Virginia and is a graduate of Maury High School. She graduated from George Mason University in 2001 and from Florida Coastal School of Law in 2006. Emily is licensed to practice law in Virginia and is admitted to the Eastern District of Virginia Federal Court. She is a member of the American Association for Justice, the Virginia Bar Association, the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, as well as the Virginia Beach and Norfolk-Portsmouth Bar Associations. Emily limits her practice to personal injury, and has experience assisting with mass tort cases involving medications and toxic substances.
FRANCIS HAJEK, Attorney (Of Counsel)
Practice Areas:
- Plaintiff's Railroad/ F.E.L.A. Law
- Motor Vehicle Injuries
- Workplace Hearing Loss
- Faulty Products
- Medical Negligence
FRANCIS HAJEK received his B.A. from Yale University, is a graduate of University of Richmond Law School where he served on the law review and the Moot Court Board, and has been admitted to practice in several states including Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky and Washington, D.C., and is of counsel to the firm. Francis has handled injury litigation all over the eastern United States with million-dollar results, and has served as an invited lecturer before national and statewide lawyer organizations.
