Josh S. Rogers

Born in Montgomery and raised in the small town of Alderson in Greenbrier County, Josh Rogers, a partner at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP, has lived in West Virginia his entire life.

He graduated from Greenbrier East High School before attending West Virginia University (WVU) in 1998, where he obtained an accounting degree and continued his education at the WVU College of Law, living in Morgantown ever since.

“I have been a Mountaineer fan all my life, so there was never a doubt where I would go to college,” he says.

When he was younger, Rogers mowed lawns and worked at a McDonald’s and as a farm hand. His first professional job was as an accounting intern for BFS Foods in Morgantown.

“Each of these first jobs taught me bedrock principles that I try to incorporate into my law practice today,” Rogers says. “I credit my work as a farm hand with teaching me work ethic. Similar to being a lawyer, there is no set schedule or 9-to-5 shifts on a farm. You have to keep going until the work is finished, even if that means 12-plus hour days for sometimes weeks at a time.”

Rogers is currently the office managing partner of Dinsmore & Shohl’s Morgantown office, where his law practice focuses on family wealth and business planning, probate and fiduciary litigation. Rogers enjoys working with the younger attorneys to help them develop their knowledge base and skill set as lawyers.

Rogers is one of just five West Virginian lawyers who are current fellows in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, a national organization of peer-elected lawyers and law professors whose careers focus on estate and trust services.

“I was invited and elected to join with the endorsement of some of the very best family wealth planning attorneys in the state, and it means a lot to think that they feel confident enough about my skill set to include me in the college,” he says.

Throughout his professional career, Rogers has served on a variety of nonprofit boards, including Your Community Foundation of North Central West Virginia, Inc., where he is the vice chair of the board of directors, chair of the resource development committee and a member of the grant committee.

He also serves as chair of the finance committee at the Foundation of Monongalia General Hospital, Inc. and secretary and incoming president of the board of directors of Senior Monongalians—an organization that operates a senior center and provides various services to seniors in Monongalia County.

Rogers is the president of the board of directors for Literacy Volunteers of Monongalia and Preston Counties—an organization that provides literacy training—and the North Central West Virginia Estate Planning Council, as well as an adjunct lecturer at the WVU College of Law.

“I have lived in West Virginia my entire life,” Rogers says. “The state has provided so much to me, and I try to give back through professional services and using my skill set to bolster the Morgantown area’s fantastic nonprofit organizations.”

Rogers says his children, Zack and Cora, keep him motivated, and he and his wife, Becky, a pharmacist at WVU Hospitals, frequently take them to enjoy West Virginia’s recreation.

“The biggest challenge I have faced as a professional is learning to balance work and life while building and maintaining a successful practice at the same time. Being a husband, father and lawyer at the same time can pull you in many different directions,” he says. “Over the last couple of years, I have really focused on taking more time for myself and my family. I make it a point now to take time off to spend with my family. As my kids get older, I realize how fast it all goes by.”