Bailey & Wyant, PLLC has the honor of announcing Former West Virginia Supreme Court Justice, Brent D. Benjamin is joining our Charleston office as Of Counsel.
In 2004, Benjamin was elected to the West Virginia Supreme Court and spent twelve years on the state’s highest court, receiving numerous honors and initiating a number of significant programs including a statewide Drug Court System, West Virginia’s Access to Justice Commission, West Virginia’s Domestic Violence Database, and West Virginia’s Business Court. His passion for the rights of individuals and protection of those rights in the judicial system allowed him to focus on improving our state’s largest problems including domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, mental hygiene, and the West Virginia opioid epidemic. Benjamin has spent the last two years as a consultant in civil trial and appellate litigation, helping with strategies, writing, issue development and argument preparation. He also brings a successful mediation practice.
As Of Counsel at Bailey & Wyant, PLLC, former-Justice Benjamin’s work will emphasize appellate practice & consulting, general and commercial litigation, and alternative dispute resolution. He will continue to prepare and educate attorneys and parties throughout the state with moot court opportunities for oral arguments. He will also assist locally and nationally in law school competitions and will present on a variety of judicial and legal presentation topics.
A native of Marietta, Ohio, Benjamin earned his bachelor’s and J.D. degrees from The Ohio State University, where he also played varsity sports. Prior to his time on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, he spent 20 years in Robinson & McElwee’s Charleston office, most of those years as partner. His practice involved general civil litigation in state and federal courts, including toxic torts and complex litigation. His civil rights practice focused on protecting children from physical and sexual abuse. Benjamin has practiced in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia and the Kentucky Supreme Court.
Among his recent honors, he is a 2017 recipient of the Public Defender Services Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Criminal Law, Chairman of West Virginia Access to Justice Commission in 2017 and Recipient of the Distinguished Mountaineer Award by West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin in 2016.
Away from the practice of law, former-Justice Benjamin is a published archaeological photographer, has participated in numerous excavations in Egypt and the United States, and continues to be actively involved in archaeological pursuits. He is also a Fellow of the Salzburg Seminar, Salzburg, Austria, and a graduate of Leadership West Virginia.
