In 1960, at age 24, Decker was fresh out of William & Mary law school. He was working for Norfolk attorney Charlie Burlage. A call came from a young local musician and friend named PJ Leary.

Leary’s group was performing at the Frontier Restaurant in East Ocean View. Police entered the establishment and arrested Leary and his entire band, citing them for lewd and lascivious conduct.

“There was a song called ‘Peanut, Peanut Butter,’” said Decker. “Well, they were singing, ‘Mother, Mother @#*&.’”

Frontier Restaurant was a popular live music venue at the time. The owners hired high-dollar attorneys Decker described as the “biggest lawyers in town,” including Bingo Stant, Gordon Campbell, H. Lee Cantor and J. Hume “Binky” Taylor.

“But PJ Leary insisted that I be involved in the case,” said Decker, who would occasionally join Leary’s band to sing a few songs. “So that started my career, really, within six months of my becoming a lawyer.”

Decker represented just one member of the band, a guitarist named Ricardo Ganzetering who spoke broken English at best. Hearing the case was substitute judge Bill Shapiro. The case went from 9 a.m. on a Friday to 2 a.m. early Saturday.

“One of the reasons it went so long,” explained Decker, “was that I had established where the vice squad was sitting and where people were dancing. I wanted the judge to take a view to see that the vice squad could not see who was singing. So we all went out there (Frontier Restaurant). When it was all said and done, everyone was convicted except Ricardo Ganzetering. Why? Because I showed that my client couldn’t even speak English, nor could the vice squad see.”

Word quickly spread about how the young, dashing Decker upstaged the established attorneys involved in the case. He started his own legal practice soon after.

Peter G. Decker, Jr. was born in 1935 as the youngest of seven children in Norfolk. Decker’s roots were humble. His father immigrated to America from Lebanon, speaking little English, and worked as “a junk man,” according to Decker.

“We were poorer than poor,” said Decker, “but we didn’t know it. The house was filled with love. We were very religious Roman Catholic. All of my suits were hand-me-downs from my brothers, until the day after I started practicing law.”

In fact, Pete Decker used money from his initial paycheck to purchase is first suit.

Early in life, Decker discovered a talent that had nothing to do with law, but would one day serve him well in the courtroom. He could sing and wanted to become an entertainer.

“When I was six years old, I went to a movie called Going My Way starring Bing Crosby,” said Decker. “I came home to our place on 38^th Street where we lived. My mother was on the front porch (with friends from the neighborhood). I said, ‘Mom, I can sing.’ So I sang “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra” and they were all thrilled. Within a week, I sang at Madison Grammar School in a talent contest, with no piano, and I won it. First prize was a little autograph book. I still have that book.”

Decker would go on to establish himself around Norfolk as a true vocal talent. At age 16, he scored a gig with Pacific Romeo’s band, earning $12 for three hours of stage time. Decker also got a New Year’s Eve job paying $50 with Bobby Warshaw & The Chieftains. Problem was that Warshaw’s band needed a bass player, not a singer. Decker had never played bass, but he sure wanted that gig. He saw a used bass advertised for exactly $50, though he hadn’t the money to purchase it.

“I saw that a country and western fellow named Curly Pittman had a bass he wanted to sell,” said Decker. “I went to see him with my daddy in his old junk truck. I said to Mr. Pittman, ‘I don’t have a dime, but I’m going to get $50 on New Year’s Eve if you sell be this bass.’ And my daddy said, ‘I’ll stand good for it.’ He (Pittman) said, ‘You don’t have to stand good for it’ and he said to me, ‘I don’t have to call Bobby Warshaw, bring me the 50 after New Year’s.’”

Decker soon gave up the bass and focused on singing throughout high school and college. He would go on to sing with movie star Danny Thomas and recorded numerous self-released records to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

“Danny Thomas came to Norfolk and we put on a really big show at the Virginia Beach Dome,” said Decker, who was a 25-year-old attorney at the time. “After that I started making records. The biggest seller was ‘After the Loving.’”

Decker continues to champion and raise money for St. Jude’s. His Uncle Pete’s brand of coffee, available at Norfolk Coffee & Tea Company, is but one example. He and devoted wife Bess Decker provide generous support to local arts organizations such as d’Art Center, Virginia Opera and Virginia Stage Company. Decker is also passionate about Norfolk’s success and preservation. He and Bess own many of downtown Norfolk’s historic buildings.

As Hampton Roads’ most notorious and colorful attorney, Pete Decker looks back at his 50-year career with amazement.

“For some reason, I’m not so sure why, maybe it was my talent or god looking down on me, but I got all the really big cases, whether it was a judge getting in trouble, an elected official or a not-so-famous citizen,” said Decker. “And I became very successful as far as lawyers go. I would have thought I’d be average, run-of-the-mill, but certainly I topped that.”

Decker chose to go to law school when he decided not to pursue entertainment. He was producing a variety show in college, became dizzy and past out.

“The doctor told me you can’t burn the candle on both ends,” recalled Decker. “I knew then that I didn’t want to be in show business.  I wanted to be on stage and I knew that the law was a stage. I wanted to be a trial lawyer.”

When Pete Decker became an attorney, he was one of a handful of non-Anglican lawyers in the region. As hard as it is to believe today, Decker experienced subtle discrimination in a city he so dearly loves.

“It was a little bit difficult in those early days with the judges,” he recalled. “We didn’t belong to the Norfolk Yacht and Country Club, nor could we. Charlie Bashara and I could not join. They would not allow any ‘hot-blooded’ people to join.”

As time has gone by, Decker became a member of the Norfolk Yacht Club.

One of Decker’s idols was a local black attorney named Hillary Jones. Jones was the city’s first black deputy attorney and minority commissioner of chancellery.

“He was an amazing man,” said Decker.  

Today the Decker Law Firm is going strong. Many of the clerks that have served in the office have become successful lawyers and judges.

“I teach every young person who come to my firm something that was told to me by a great lawyer named Sam Goldblatt: ‘If you have to ask the question if it’s right or wrong ethically, then don’t do it.’ And I’ve told every aspiring lawyer that phrase.”

Pete and Bess Decker raised three sons: Paul, Peter III and Phillip. Where Phillip is a successful restaurateur (d’Egg Diner) and Paul is a master builder-contractor, Peter III follows in his father’s footsteps as an attorney in the Decker Law Firm. Decker said he did not encourage any of his children to pursue a law career.

“Sometimes following in the footsteps of a Peter Decker is a little bit tough, and I knew that,” said the elder Decker. “I saw it happen to some pretty famous lawyers around town and their sons just didn’t make it. But Peter (III) persevered and we’re just as proud of him as we could be.”

Peter Decker, Jr. continues to oversee the firm that bears his name. He also serves as a part-time judge in Chesapeake (and Virginia).

To young people aspiring to practice law, Decker shares this advice: “I would tell a young lawyer that the profession is a bit overcrowded. On a weekly basis, there’s a lawyer, either a veteran or otherwise, who comes to me asking for a job. I would say get your law degree, but pursue all avenues of success, whether it’s practicing law or in business. That law degree will help you.”