Cole Roberts
Cole Roberts grew up inside the system he now works in. “My father was a bail bondsman. My grandfather was a bondsman,” he says. “So I was a part of the criminal justice system since I was a kid. And I got to see lawyers growing up, and I always wanted to do that.”
He is a Norfolk native — Bishop Sullivan, then Old Dominion, then law school at Regent — and he began his career as a Public Defender in Norfolk before moving into private defense work. That matters more than a line on a résumé. Public defenders try cases. Cole has taken numerous matters to a jury, from assault and battery all the way to murder, which is an unusual amount of trial exposure this early in a career and it changes the arithmetic on every file: a prosecutor who knows an attorney will actually try the case handles that file differently from one who is expecting a plea.
He defends criminal and traffic charges across all seven cities — reckless driving, driving under the influence, assault and battery, drug offenses including possession with intent to distribute, firearm offenses, sex offenses and homicide.
He is also the most reviewed attorney at this firm by a distance, and the reviews are strikingly consistent about two things: he arrives prepared and knowing the courtroom, and he does not make people feel judged. For a criminal defense lawyer, being the person a frightened family can talk to plainly is not a soft skill. It is the job.
“I often see clients at their worst. The best and most rewarding thing for me is helping them get past that and move forward with their lives.”
COLE’S HIGHLIGHTS
Criminal defense and traffic, from reckless driving to homicide. A Norfolk native, Cole was a Public Defender here before private practice, and has tried jury cases from assault and battery to murder.
AREAS OF PRACTICE
- Criminal Defense
- Traffic Law
BAR ADMISSIONS
- Virginia 2019
EDUCATION
- Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School 2012
- Old Dominion University (B.A., 2016)
- Regent Law (J.D., 2019)
Cole belongs to the Virginia Beach Bar Association, the Norfolk and Portsmouth Bar Association, and the Law and Disorderly Club — the last of which raises money for local children’s charities and counts several of his colleagues among its past presidents.
Beyond that, the honest answer is that he is early in a career he is spending mostly in courtrooms. What his clients notice instead is the person in the room with them. He is six foot five, which he says is the single most commented-on fact about him: “Every client comments on the fact that I’m six foot five. I’m taller than what they expect from over the phone.”
The families who write about him tend to describe the same sequence — arriving frightened, being told the truth plainly, and leaving with a plan. Given where he started, watching lawyers work from a bondsman’s office as a kid in Norfolk, that seems about right.
“The lawyers that came and are still present at this firm have such a reputation that I knew this is where I wanted to be.”
PROFESSIONAL AND CIVIC ASSOCIATIONS
- Virginia Beach Bar Association
- Norfolk Bar Association
- Portsmouth Bar Association
- Law and Disorderly Club
IF YOU NEED HELP, TALK TO COLE TODAY
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