VADA Member Spotlight

This month’s spotlighted VADA member is Rick Ladd of Penn Stuart in Bristol.  Rick is a VADA Past President.  In addition to his service on the Executive Committee, he has served on the VADA Board of Directors and as Chair and Vice-Chair of the VADA Medical Malpractice Section.  Rick also has served as a member of the Board of Editors of The Journal of Civil Litigation.

 

1.         Where were you born?

Knoxville, Tennessee

2.         Spouse? Children? Pets?

Wife:  Lisa (Registered Nurse and Pastry Chef)

Son: Evan (Sophomore in the Honors College at the University of Georgia)

Standard Poodle: Maya

Aussiedoodle: Piper

3.         What type of law do you practice?

Sometimes competent.

4.         How long have you been a member of VADA?

About thirty (30) years.

5.         What have you enjoyed most about your time in VADA?

(Tie)

“Three Wise Mice” VADA CLE presentations with Molly Priddy and Bob Yates.

“Barbeque, Beer, and BS” sessions organized by Leigh Farmer and Molly McClellan.

6.         What do you like most about practicing law?

Learning each day how much I don’t know about what I have professionally practiced for the last 35 years, and trying to lessen my ignorance regarding same.

7.         What was your first job?

General laborer at Lakeview Boat Dock on South Holston Lake.

8.         What was your favorite subject in school?

Forensic anthropology.

9.         What is the best book you have ever read?

(Tie)

History of U.S. Naval Operations in WWII by Samuel Eliot Morison (14 Volumes)

A World Lit Only By Fire (The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance) by William Manchester

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

10.       What is the one item you cannot live without?

(Tie)

Southern Sweet Tea with ½ of a real lemon.

My 2000 Chevy ¾ ton 4WD pickup.

Annual trips to Costa Rica.

11.       What is at the top of your bucket list?

(Tie)

Having my father, Chancellor Richard E. Ladd, Sr., swear me in as a trial court judge.

Traveling the world six months out of the year with my wife, Lisa.

12.       Do you have a favorite TV or movie quote?

(Tie)

“Everything that guy just said is [BS]. Thank you.” Vincent LaGuardia Gambini, Esquire

“Knowledge is Good.” Faber College Motto – Animal House

13.       What is something even your friends probably don’t know about you?

I wasn’t really a JAG officer in the U.S. Navy.  What I actually did was much more “dodgy.”

14.       If you could have dinner with any person, living or dead, who would it be?

Golda Meir and Margaret Thatcher.

15.       When I am not in the office, I like to …

Keep it that way.

16.       If I wasn’t practicing law, I would be …

A Special Agent/psychiatrist working in the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI.

17.       What is your favorite sports team?

The University of Tennessee Volunteers (even when they suck).

18.       What advice would you give someone who just passed the bar?

Professionalism and civility are the icing on the cake that is zealous advocacy.  No one likes cake without icing.

19.       What is your definition of success?

Influencing someone in a positive way long after your obituary is published.

20.       What is your favorite type of classical music?

Led Zeppelin