Peterson, Tyler C.

John Chapman "Chap" Petersen is licensed to practice law in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.  He has been recognized as a “Leader in the Law” by his peers in Virginia – one of thirty attorneys so honored in 2011.   He has been a partner since 2005.
  
In eighteen years as a trial attorney, Chap Petersen has tried hundreds of cases, including more than forty jury trials in both state and Federal courts. The majority of these cases have been civil actions ranging from personal injury to government procurement to commercial torts, including complicated securities cases. 

In 2011, Petersen won a verdict for $9.85 million in a securities fraud case, which was ranked as one of the “Top Ten Verdicts of the Year” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly. In 2009, he gave the closing argument in a wrongful foreclosure case which led to a $668,000 jury verdict.  In 2008, he obtained a $700,000 jury verdict for an elderly client caught in a fraudulent investment scheme. 

Mr. Petersen has also obtained significant written opinions in commercial cases, such as Park v. HHH Landmark, LLC, 277 Va. 50 (2009), which established the Virginia standard for landlord liability in commercial leases, and Nahigian v. Juno-Loudoun LLC, 684 F. Supp 2d 731 (E.D. Va. 2010), which led to the rescission of a $1.7 million land purchase in Loudoun County for violation of the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act.
 
Mr. Petersen has a history of representing small business and minority clients.  In 2008, the Korean-American Association of Washington, D.C. named him as its “Man of the Year” for his advocacy in the community.  In 2006, Mr. Petersen won a defamation verdict for a prominent Korean-American businessman, after a defamatory newspaper article published in Korean.  It is the only known defamation verdict rendered by a Virginia jury for statements not in English. 

In addition to practicing law, Mr. Petersen also serves in the Virginia State Senate, as the Senator for the 34th Senate District which encompasses central and western Fairfax County.

The voters first elected Mr. Petersen to the State Senate in 2007 and re-elected him in 2011. Prior to that election, he represented the Fairfax community as State Delegate (2002-2006) and City Councilman (1998-2002).

Mr. Petersen is a graduate of Fairfax High School, Williams College and the University of Virginia Law School.  He sits on the Boards of the Virginia Economic Bridge, the Fairfax County Good News Jail and Prison Ministry, and the Arlington Boulevard Community Partnership.

Finally, Mr. Petersen is a life time member of the Northern Virginia Rugby Football Club and plays halfback on its “Old Boys” team.  He and his wife have four children and live in Fairfax City.

Case results depend upon a variety of factors unique to each case and do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any future case undertaken by the lawyer.