BIOGRAPHY
Prior to and while attending law school, Mr. Terzian was a junior high school teacher, laboratory scientist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, a probation officer, and a trial judge’s law clerk. Upon completion of law school and admission to the bar, Mr. Terzian was a sole practitioner for five years, handling a variety of legal matters, both criminal and civil. From 1978 to 1981, he served as the Chief Deputy Clerk of the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland. From 1981 to 1984, he was an associate with the law firm of Beckett, Cromwell, and Myers in Bethesda, Maryland, handling medical malpractice defense and appellate matters. In 1984, Mr. Terzian joined the Office of the General Counsel of the US Department of Veterans Affairs, providing legal advice regarding medical, administrative, and legislative matters. In 1987, while still with the Department of Veterans Affairs, he transferred responsibilities within the Office of General Counsel to reviewing, settling, or evaluating medical malpractice claims against the agency. In 1990, Mr. Terzian joined the Constitutional and Specialized Torts Division of the US Department of Justice, where he defended the Secretary of Health and Human Services against claims for compensation pursuant to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. While defending approximately 175 vaccine claims during the period from 1990 to 2005, he also was assigned the responsibility for disposing of approximately 35 claims against the Panama Canal Commission involving maritime vessel accidents which occurred prior to the Canal’s transfer to the Republic of Panama on December 31, 1999.
In 2005, Mr. Terzian retired from US Government service and joined the law firm of Rawls, McNelis and Mitchell in Richmond, Virginia, where he now represents petitioners bringing claims for vaccine injury. As far as he is aware, he is the only attorney to have switched from defending vaccine claims to bringing them on behalf of petitioners. Since returning to private practice, he has successfully resolved by trial or settlement some 40 cases with substantial awards to petitioners. Mr. Terzian also was a member of the United States Army Reserves, having enlisted as a private, and retiring as a lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps after 28 years of service. In his spare time, Mr. Terzian plays the cello, piano, and guitar and restores his 1939 Packard automobile.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- Virginia State Bar
- Vaccine Injury Petitioners Bar
- Virginia Trial Lawyers Association
PUBLICATIONS
“Understanding the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program,” The Journal of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, Volume 20 Number 1, 2008