March 22, 2023

John David Epperly Jr. Receives 2023 Traver Award

The Virginia State Bar Real Property Section and Virginia CLE have named John David Epperly Jr. as the recipient of the 2023 Traver Award, given each year to honor a lawyer who embodies the highest ideals and expertise in the practice of real estate law. 

Traver Award recipients are VSB Real Property Section members who have made significant contributions to the practice of real property law generally and the section specifically and have generously shared their knowledge with others. The award is named for Courtland L. Traver, a forerunner in Virginia real estate law whose outstanding legal ability and willingness to share his knowledge and experience was an inspiration to others. 

John David is a native Virginian, a 1974 graduate of the University of Virginia with a B.A. in English, and received his J.D. in 1984 from the Marshall Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary. In between undergraduate and law school he spent a summer trout fishing in Montana, worked construction, and then wandered the country in a ’65 Chevy van, before working at the Motion Picture Section of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., from 1976 to 1981. He spent seven years in private practice, including May 1987 to April 1991 at McGuire Woods in Tysons Corner, concentrating in commercial real estate transactions.

He joined Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company in May 1991 and was Virginia State Counsel at the time he left for a similar position at Fidelity National Title Insurance Company in August 1999. After the merger of Fidelity and Chicago Title in 1999, followed by the merger with Lawyers Title and Commonwealth Land Title in 2008, John David was Virginia State Counsel for the Fidelity National Title Group family of title insurers before retiring in September 2022.

John David joined the Real Property Section of the Virginia State Bar in the late ‘80s and was Chair of the Real Property Section in 2000-2001. Before his retirement, John David was a frequent presenter at seminars on a variety of real estate topics. He is an avid fisherman, birder, and nature enthusiast, who on many days can be found enjoying the outdoors armed with a fishing rod or a pair of binoculars. John David is married to Laurie Duncan and they have two sons, Alex and Daniel.