Co-Owner and Attorney, Wallace Law Offices
Photo by John Wallace, IV.
By Samantha Cart
Growing up in Elkins, WV, Joseph Wallace, a scrappy kid who often found himself in the middle of a fight with a much bigger opponent, found his greatest inspiration in his mother, Nancy, and his older brother, Jack, who considered themselves the three musketeers.
“For me it was the world against the three of us, and I was ready for the fight,” he says. “My brother served our country during the Korean War as an officer in the Marines. Leadership by example is the personal characteristic that has had the greatest influence on my success—I learned that from my brother, who was a leader of men but never in his life shouted an order. My mother was also my mentor. She was a widow at age 35 and went back to college at age 55 to obtain a degree to teach. Nancy and Jack were exceptional people because of their character, their consideration for others and the strength of their love.”
In the spring of 1960 at his graduation from Michigan State University, Wallace was commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He went on to attend West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law that fall, but he was called to active duty as a result of the Berlin Crisis in 1961. Instead of returning to Morgantown for his second year of law school to learn about torts, contracts and civil procedures, he was sent to El Paso, Texas, to learn how to use high-flying ground-to-air missiles in an attack.
While Wallace’s call to service had a major impact on his education, he does not consider it a setback. He believes the type of learning he was forced to do during his tour prepared him for his remaining years of law school and his career. Wallace was assigned to a North American Aerospace Defense Command control center in Maine. There, he worked at a station where the orders to strike were made. He was surrounded by recently graduated engineers who were quick and deft at their tasks while he found the air missile lessons difficult.
“The other guys had no problems, but I had to study and learn things I had never heard of before,” says Wallace. “Nevertheless, I learned how to do it. After I fulfilled my active duty and received an honorable discharge, I enrolled in Tulane University Law School in New Orleans. The first year of law school is difficult. It includes words and thinking that are foreign to most people, and I had been gone for two years. I spent many hours in Tulane’s law library refreshing all that had escaped me since my first year, but I do not regret being called to active duty. I am honored to aid my country when it calls for me. I graduated from Tulane on May 31, 1965, and by that time, my first-year law school classmates from West Virginia had already been practicing law for two years.”
Wallace, now a co-owner and attorney at Wallace Law Offices in Elkins and an adjunct professor of business law at Marshall University, has taken the lessons of service he learned from his time in the military and from his brother to heart in both his career and community.
“Ever since I was a teenager, I wanted to help create jobs,” he says. “Friends of mine growing up had fathers who didn’t have jobs or couldn’t find jobs in West Virginia, and some of them left the state to find work. In my first position after law school as house counsel for a hotel company in Memphis, TN, I was assigned to find options to buy or build hotels. I set out to find viable locations for the owners to see. Over and over I flew into cities and towns to be met by representatives, but the people who met me knew nothing about what a hotel needed to be viable. It wasn’t long until I realized the key to attracting an employer is to be prepared and knowledgeable so that their needs are met. That taught me how to attract jobs, and it works.”
Wallace considers his greatest professional success to be locating Bruce Hardwood Floors, now Armstrong Wood Flooring, to Randolph County. As the founder and former drafter and president of the Elkins Industrial Development Authority, which later became the Randolph County Development Authority under his leadership, Wallace was in a unique position to help attract employers to the Mountain State.
“Bruce Hardwood Floors was a successful 100-year-old company, and it took 10 years for it to be moved to West Virginia,” he says. “I spent all 10 years, 1985-1995, helping get it done. My firm helped me as much as it could, and we weren’t paid a dime. We donated that time with pleasure, and it truly fulfilled my dreams. I appreciate every company and individual that employs people in West Virginia, but Armstrong Wood Flooring is my favorite.”
Wallace and his business partner of more than 50 years, John Wallace, have worked hard to build a successful practice in Elkins. They have served clients from across the U.S. as well as several foreign countries.
“We have had the country of Canada as a client and tried the case in federal court in Washington, D.C., with success,” says Wallace. “We have represented some of the largest companies in the world. In reality, the clients choose us—usually because of our reputation. We are guardians of the law, and we want all people to have justice.”
This strong partnership allows Wallace the opportunity to focus a significant portion of his time on serving West Virginia in hopes of making it a more vibrant and economically stable place to live. In 2017, he was appointed by Governor Jim Justice as a member of the West Virginia State Board of Education, a role that brings him great joy.
“I now have the chance to help all West Virginia students, and I have always wanted to improve our community economically,” he says. “Helping others is the call to humanity. Food for children who might not be fed is crucial, which is something we do on the board of education, and creating jobs successfully saves families who need help. It’s everyone’s responsibility to the extent of their own means. Children are the future of West Virginia, and they’ll need education significantly better than ours in order to earn enough money to support a family. I want to help them.”
Wallace has received a number of honors for his hard work over his long career. Along with being named a Distinguished West Virginian by Governor Gaston Caperton in 1990, he was named the 1992 West Virginia Socially Responsible Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc. magazine, an American Entrepreneur Hall of Fame honoree and West Virginia Volunteer of the Year in 1998. He has also been recognized with a West Virginia State Bar Certificate of Merit Award and an outstanding service award by the Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia.
Over the course of his career, Wallace has served on the West Virginia State Bar’s board of governors, board of directors for the West Virginia Economic Development Authority, advisory board to the Federal Judges for the Northern District of West Virginia for Civil Justice Reform, Randolph County Bar Association, West Virginia Society of Hospital Attorneys, West Virginia State Bar judicial improvement and alternate dispute resolution committees and the International Association of Defense Counsel, an invitation-only position. He co-founded and served as a charter member of the West Virginia Defense Trial Counsel and co-initiated the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia’s settlement week, where he has served as a mediator and member of the settlement week committee.
When he is not serving his firm or the state, Wallace can be found supporting the community of Elkins and Randolph County. Along with serving as the former assistant prosecuting attorney for Randolph County and counsel for the City of Elkins, he has served on the board of trustees for Davis Memorial Hospital and the Randolph County Historical Society and the board of directors for the Elkins Industrial Development Corporation and Randolph County Development Authority.
“West Virginia is home for me, no question,” says Wallace. “I have been very fortunate to be blessed with wonderful days, wonderful people and my family’s connection to this state. For me, it’s not the beauty of our state that makes West Virginia my home. It’s the people who help each other and build each other up. Many of our good people have come from other states, and they have discovered it really is Almost Heaven. That makes them friends of mine.”
