John M. Spencer - Fredericksburg, VA

I was born and raised in New York City. At the age of 18 I joined the USAF and served during the 1st gulf war as a canine handler/ Law Enforcement Specialist 1988 - 1991. Upon my discharge I became a police officer in New York from 1992 - 1997. While a police officer I began to take college courses and moved to North Carolina to attend the University of North Carolina in 1997. I continued to work full time while attending and completing college as a police dispatcher. I received a Bachelors Degree in History with a 3.6 GPA and was awarded summa cum Laude. I was accepted into the University of North Carolina School of Law and graduated in 2003. After completion of my first year of law school I interned for the City of Charlotte or Mecklenburg County District Attorney's office where I prosecuted drug crimes. As this was not a paid position I also worked full time as a police dispatcher. After the second year of law school, I returned to the Charlotte, Mecklenburg County District Attorney's office and ran my own courtroom for the summer prosecuting all misdemeanor crimes. Again, this was not a paid position and I worked as a police Dispatcher full time to again support myself.

Upon completion of Law School in 2003, I moved to Virginia and worked at Steptoe & Johnson a large law firm in Washington DC in their International Trade section. once I passed the Virginia Bar Examination in 2003, I left this employment to focus on Criminal Law. Not having any contacts in Virginia I took a job at the Public Defenders's Office in Fredericksburg Virginia with the intention of it being a stepping stone to a prosecutor position. However, I fell in love with Criminal Defense work.

After one year in at the Public Defender's Office, I left to open my own law firm and have been in practice since that day.

As you can tell I was not born rich. I had to work full time while attending college full time. Once in law school I had to work twice as hard to support myself during the summer breaks. Working on full time job for free and another all night to eat. During my second and third years of law school I worked part-time at Belks department store to support myself. Put simply, I'm no stranger to hard work and I take that same approach with any case I handle. Every client has my cell phone and I even do Saturday appointments.

I have been practicing locally for over eleven years. You will find me in one of number of courts every day. I am a trial attorney who goes to court and tries cases everyday. I have tried everything from your average speeding ticket to 1st degree murder cases.