Nathan Hittle did not come from a family of lawyers. Both his parents were collegiate jazz professors, and he became an accomplished jazz pianist who still performs professionally in Central Virginia. An early interest in civics, politics and government pulled him toward law instead of music. He earned a B.A. in sociology from Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, then a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was chapter president of the American Constitution Society and studied abroad at the University of Melbourne.
Hittle builds cases on screens and exhibits so jurors can verify what he shows them rather than take his word for it. “If you can show somebody something and really demonstrate it to them, they don’t necessarily have to believe you,” he says. The approach took shape in a 2020 DMV title-fraud prosecution with about 20 witnesses over three days that produced more than a dozen felony convictions, including money laundering. He favors short video clips and tools that focus a jury on one document or moment, and credits his years as a performing musician for comfort with improvising.
Six months into plaintiff’s work, Hittle joined the trial team in Clark v. Grafton and Michelle Yates, involving a 13-year-old boy assaulted by his caretaker at a residential psychiatric care facility. Over a four-day trial in Winchester, Virginia, in February 2026, he was entrusted with the closing argument and asked the jury for $38.4 million. After roughly three hours of deliberation it returned a $20 million verdict, the result of his first jury trial as a plaintiff’s attorney.
Hittle spent more than a decade as a prosecutor in the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office for the City of Richmond, trying cases from traffic infractions to homicides and appearing in court several days a week. He trained at the National Trial Advocacy College, the National District Attorneys Association and the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Services Council Trial Advocacy School. In 2025 he was sworn in as a substitute judge in the Richmond General District Court and the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, and joined Gray Broughton the same year.
Hittle is a trial attorney at Gray Broughton Injury Law in Henrico, Virginia, representing people injured by others’ negligence in personal injury cases throughout the Richmond region. The veteran-led firm’s attorneys are largely former prosecutors and military officers, and Hittle brings a prosecutor’s habit of building a case rather than playing defense. He credits preparation and the trust of his team over natural talent. The firm’s website is graybroughton.com.