Meet Our Virginia Attorneys
Breckenridge Ingles
Breckenridge Ingles is a Virginia family law and civil litigation attorney who has practiced in the state since 1979 following his graduation from Washington and Lee University School of Law. His practice began in Orange County, Virginia as an assistant prosecutor. He prosecuted many criminal cases in the Circuit Court sitting with a jury. In those days, the jury was not advised of the criminal record of the defendant unless the defendant took the stand in his defense. So defendants with long criminal records often chose to have their cases tried by a jury.
In 1982 Mr. Ingles began working with the firm of Higginbotham and Higginbotham, which had a very active personal injury and criminal defense practice in Orange County and in many of the other counties in central Virginia. He was fortunate to practice with S. Paige Higginbotham, one of the most capable trial lawyers in the state of Virginia. Mr. Higginbotham set an example of hard work and honesty and was a great student of the law. In the days before model jury instructions, a judge who granted Mr. Higginbotham’s jury instructions might as well have told the jury to acquit his client, and a judge who refused his instructions risked an appeal. Mr. Higginbotham would argue those instructions to the court tirelessly and had many courtroom successes.
In 1985 Mr. Ingles moved to Virginia Beach to practice law with the firm of Pender and Coward. His work with that firm consisted mostly of insurance defense work, defending personal injury cases. He also worked in asbestos cases, representing manufacturers who regularly paid large settlements. He did not particularly enjoy city life, the traffic or insurance defense work, so he was happy to move to Gloucester where he had grown up.
In 1987 Mr. Ingles began practicing law in Gloucester with the firm of Martin, Hicks & Ingles, Ltd, which at that time included C. Flippo Hicks, McClanahan Ingles and Robert D. Hicks. That was in the days before computers were essential to the practice of law. Cell phone ownership was rare and fax machines were just coming into use. Country practice agreed with him. Eventually, he and his brother were the only two members of the firm then known as Martin, Ingles & Ingles, Ltd. Both he and his brother had very busy family law practices.
Mr. Ingles has served on the Board of Governors of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association. He has judged various moot court competitions and served as chairman of the Main Street Preservation Trust, an organization dedicated to enhancing Main Street and to attracting businesses to the area. He is also a member of the American Attorneys for Justice.
Mr. Ingles has tried cases in many of the counties of the State of Virginia, from Rockingham County in the west to Mathews County in the east. His practice at the present time is confined mostly to family law, divorce and civil litigation, and he continues to work hard and get good results. Mr. Ingles has handled a numerous appeals, involving a wide variety of cases in the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Virginia. Significant Appellate cases he participated in include the following:
FLORIO v. CLARK, Supreme Court of Virginia, 277 Va. 566 (2009)
JETT v. DEGAETANI, Supreme Court of Virginia, 259 Va. 616 (2000)
GLOUCESTER DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES v. JOHN JOSEPH KENNEDY,
Supreme Court of Virginia, 256 Va. 400 (1998)
PAVLICK v. PAVLICK, Supreme Court of Virginia, 254 Va. 176 (1997)
REED v. LIVERMAN, Supreme Court of Virginia, 250 Va. 97 (1995)
RILEY v. RILEY, Court of Appeals of Virginia, 2009 Va. Appeal LEXIS 91
RILEY v. RILEY, Court of Appeals of Virginia, 2007 Va. Appeal LEXIS 230
ROGERS v. ROGERS, Court of Appeals of Virginia, 51 Va. App. 261 (2008)
HACKEMEYER v. HACKEMEYER, Court of Appeals of Virginia,
2006 Va. App. LEXIS 445
BOMAR v. BOMAR, Court of Appeals of Virginia, 45 Va. App. 229 (2005)
WINEBARGER v. WINEBARGER, Court of Appeals of Virginia,
2003 Va. App. LEXIS 443
WATTS v. WATTS, Court of Appeals of Virginia, 2003 Va. App. LEXIS 443
GERMEK v. GERMEK, Court of Appeals of Virginia, 34 Va. App. 1 (2000)
CHRISTENSEN v. CHRISTENSEN, Court of Appeals of Virginia,
26 Va. App. 651 (1998)
FULCHER v. FULCHER, Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1997 Va. App. LEXIS 546
BOZSIK v. BOZSIK, Court of Appeals of Virginia, No. 1468-14-1,
2015 Va. App. LEXIS 124 (Apr. 14, 2015)
Devin G. Hensley
Devin G. Hensley has been practicing law in Gloucester County and its surrounding areas since 1997. He graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law and passed the Bar in 1996. Shortly thereafter, he began working for the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office in Gloucester County where he would spend 8.5 years. During his time there, Mr. Hensley practiced extensively in the Circuit Court, General District Court and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.
His extensive trial work as a prosecutor involved cases from relatively simple matters to the most complex issues brought before these courts in Gloucester County. He also taught groups of local sheriff’s deputies to keep them apprised of the latest developments in the law. After advancing to the position of Gloucester County’s Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney, Mr. Hensley left the prosecutor’s office in August 2005 to join Mr. Ingles in private practice. Since then, he has concentrated on criminal defense and family law. Criminal matters now continue to be a major part of his practice with the goal of the representation of those charged with an offense.
Mr. Hensley continues to appear regularly in the Circuit Court, the General District Court and the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court of Gloucester County and the surrounding communities. His criminal defense practice ranges from Essex County to Newport News to Williamsburg and all areas in between. Mr. Hensley assists clients with everything from simple traffic issues to the most complex charges that are filed in state court. In addition, since moving into private practice, Mr. Hensley represents clients regarding all matters related to family law, including divorce, custody disputes, visitation issues, support and all related issues. In 2011, Mr. Hensley became partners with Mr. Ingles in the new firm of Martin, Ingles & Hensley, Ltd.