Representative Experience
- Has taken approximately 100 jury trials to verdict in state circuit courts and federal district courts, as well as numerous bench trials in circuit and magistrate courts
- One of few lawyers who has taken a West Virginia "Mass Tort" case to verdict
- In demand as a mediator, mediating cases in all parts of West Virginia and eastern Virginia
- Has presented lectures on insurance law, trial tactics, legal ethics and office technology throughout West Virginia and in several seminars with a national audience
- Regular panelist on "The Law Works" West Virginia Public Television show on legal issues of interest to the public
Education
- Washington and Lee University, 1974 - 1976
- West Virginia University, B.A. in Political Science, 1978
- West Virginia University College of Law, J.D., 1981
Admissions
- West Virginia State Bar
- United States District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Affiliations
- West Virginia State Bar, President, 1998 - 1999
- Representative, West Virginia State Bar Board of Governors, 1993 - 1996
- Appointed by two State Bar Presidents in 1999 and 2006 as Chairman of Lawyer Advertising Commission to examine and develop rules governing lawyer advertising
- American Bar Association, House of Delegates, 1998 - 1999
- American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow, 2007
- West Virginia Bar Foundation, Fellow, 2005
- Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, Member
- American Inns of Court, Judge John A. Field, Jr. Chapter, Charter Member as Master of the Bench, 2002
- DRI, Member
- Appointed by the Honorable Elliott E. Maynard, then-Chief Justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, to serve on a commission to devise standard jury instructions for West Virginia cases, 2000
- Kanawha County Bar Association, President, 1988 - 1989
Other
- Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation
- West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, Vice Chairman, appointed by former Governor Cecil Underwood (R) and reappointed by former Governor Bob Wise (D), 1999 - 2006
- Board of Governors, Concord University, 2009 - present
- Legal Aid Society of Charleston, Board of Directors, 1992 - 1998
- Charleston Economic and Community Development Corporation, Board of Directors, former member
- Kanawha County Housing and Redevelopment Authority, former Chairman
- First Baptist Church of Charleston, Board of Trustees, Chairman, 1990 - 2003
- Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Board of Trustees and President
- West Virginia Bar Foundation, Board of Directors, former member; IOLTA Advisory Committee, Chairman
- Charleston Jazz Series, Board of Directors, member