Partner-in-Charge, Frost Brown Todd LLP;
Vice Chair, West Virginia Bar Appellate Committee
Photo by Frost Brown Todd LLP.
By Arianna Whitehair
Always searching for new ways to step outside of his comfort zone, Carte Goodwin—current chair of the West Virginia Bar Appellate Committee and partner-in-charge for Frost Brown Todd LLP—never backs down from a challenge. Hailing from the small community of Mount Alto, WV, Goodwin learned many valuable life lessons from his upbringing that he still uses today.
“It really was a community in the truest sense of the word, filled with people that were, and remain, invested in their neighbors,” he says. “It was an idyllic, small-town experience that had a profound and lasting impact on me.”
While his childhood dream was to coach the West Virginia University men’s basketball team, Goodwin’s family roots were firmly planted in the field of law.
“Growing up with large extended family where dinner table conversations would frequently turn into spirited debates about law, politics and public service, those conversations rubbed off on me as I got older,” he says.
His mother a music teacher and choir director and his father the owner of his family’s law office, Goodwin credits his parents with his desire to help others and give back to the state that has given so much to him.
“My parents obviously had an enormous influence on me,” he says. “As a kid, getting to watch my late dad’s approach to the practice of law certainly informed my career path.”
Goodwin earned his bachelor’s degree from Marietta College in Ohio and his Juris Doctor from Emory University College of Law in Georgia. From there, he went on to work for his family’s law firm, Goodwin & Goodwin, LLP, for many years before stepping into his current role at Frost Brown Todd LLP in Charleston.
“My old firm was a wonderful place to work and learn, filled with people that I love deeply, and really was the only place I imagined working when I returned to West Virginia,” Goodwin says. “But the opportunity to challenge myself, to build something and to take on a leadership role in a vibrant and dynamic regional firm was one that I simply could not pass up.”
Goodwin also served as general counsel for governor-turned-senator Joe Manchin from 2005 to 2009 and has worked as commissioner for the U.S.-China Economic Review Commission in Washington, D.C., for the past 11 years. In 2010, he was appointed by Manchin to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy left by the passing of Robert C. Byrd. Though having made many personal and professional achievements, perhaps his greatest and most treasured one lies in the impact he’s made right here at home.
“I have had the opportunity to stand in front of our state’s highest court and represent two different governors, to see my name next to the words ‘West Virginia’ in the halls of the U.S. Senate and to work on issues of vital national security related to our country’s relationship with China,” he says. “But to be a part of building Frost Brown Todd’s Charleston office from three lawyers to nearly 20 energetic, diverse and highly respected professionals over the past few years is something that I’m very proud of.”
Dedicated to service, Goodwin also serves on the Distributions Committee for the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation and is a member of the Charleston FC Goal Club, Inc., a nonprofit that provides financial assistance to families and helps cover expenses for local youth soccer programs. He also actively supports his alma maters and local theater and arts organizations.
Valuing family above all, Goodwin credits his wife and kids for pushing him to always be the best version of himself.
“I cannot imagine doing anything without my wife, Rocky, and our kids, Wes and Anna Vail,” he says.
Though always looking for ways to evolve as a legal professional, father and volunteer, one thing is constant: Goodwin’s love for the Mountain State.
“West Virginia has such a strong sense of place, a connection that we all share and that we take pride in, whether your family has been here for generations or you have just moved to the state,” he says. “As Senator Byrd used to say, ‘West Virginia is written on my heart.’”
