Mr. Vanderpool was born on August 15, 1960 in Long Beach, California. Mr. Vanderpool served four years in the U.S. Army as a Voice Language Intelligence Interception Specialist, receiving an honorable discharge in 1982. Mr. Vanderpool was stationed in the Panama Canal Zone, with special assignments in Cuba, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Mr. Vanderpool is fluent in Spanish.

Mr. Vanderpool graduated cum laude from the University of California, Irvine, in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, and was the commencement speaker at graduation ceremonies. In 1992 Mr. Vanderpool graduated from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, as a member of the prestigious Thurston Society. Mr. Vanderpool also received the William Clark Sanford Scholarship, and the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence.

While still in law school, Mr. Vanderpool worked full time in the litigation department of San Francisco's Board, Schulz, Larson & Wineberg. During his third year of law school, Mr. Vanderpool worked full time for the in-house litigation department of Fidelity National Title Insurance Company.

After graduating from law school, Mr. Vanderpool became a litigation associate at the law firm of Rutan & Tucker in Costa Mesa, California, where he specialized in complex business, real estate, and employment litigation. Mr. Vanderpool also taught real estate law for the University of California, Irvine Extension program, and has written articles on developing issues in real property anti-deficiency legislation and case law.

In 1996, Mr. Vanderpool opened is own office. This allowed Mr. Vanderpool to offer superior service at a very competitive hourly rate.