Managing Partner, Bailey & Glasser LLP
Photo by Rick Lee.
By Katlin Swisher
William Ihlenfeld, managing partner at Bailey & Glasser LLP, has had an exciting career during which he has left an indelible mark on West Virginia and its communities. As a U.S. attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, he learned to be a problem solver, which was vital to his efforts in tackling the opioid crisis. Law wasn’t his first career choice, but it quickly became his passion.
As an undergrad, Ihlenfeld was studying journalism at Ohio University when he was offered an internship at WOWK-TV in Charleston, WV. It was then that he experienced the impact of the law first hand and was inspired to pursue a legal career.
“While I was at WOWK-13, the station covered a high-profile trial gavel to gavel,” Ihlenfeld recalls. “It involved the murders of a mother and daughter from Cabin Creek, WV, and I had a front-row seat. I was captivated by the process, and I quickly realized the importance of prosecutors. My interest in journalism morphed into a love for the criminal justice system and a desire to be a prosecutor.”
Ihlenfeld went on to study law at West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law. His service as president of the competitive Lugar Trial Association during his time at WVU played a major role in preparing him to be a prosecutor, as did the trial advocacy course taught by Woodrow A. Potesta Professor of Law Charles DiSalvo.
“He knew the names of every single person in the class, all 75 of us,” Ihlenfeld says of DiSalvo. “One day early in the semester in civil procedure, he went around the room and without the help of a seating chart identified every one of us. This sent a message that he cared enough about us to know who we were and also that we better do our homework because he could call on us by name at any time.”
DiSalvo has had a lasting impact on Ihlenfeld, both as a professor and as a mentor throughout Ihlenfeld’s career.
“Professor DiSalvo taught us not to try cases we didn’t believe in with all of our heart,” says Ihlenfeld. “He also taught us how to prepare for trial, and his guidance helped me immensely in trying hundreds of cases as a state and federal prosecutor.”
Ihlenfeld earned his law degree in 1997 before returning home to Wheeling, WV, as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Ohio County. He managed the domestic violence docket in the county along with sexual assault cases.
“This caseload was my assignment for three years, so I became very familiar with the challenge of prosecuting cases where the victim doesn’t wish to cooperate,” says Ihlenfeld. “Without my most important witness, I quickly became an expert in the rules of evidence. I learned them backward and forward, especially the exceptions, and spent so much time with the rule book that I might as well have cuddled up with it in bed at night.”
Early on in his career, Ihlenfeld also worked as a drug prosecutor in Ohio County and the juvenile criminal docket in Brooke County, introducing him to opportunities for restorative justice.
“The handling of cases involving teenagers was enlightening and helped me better understand the concept of restorative justice,” he says. “I learned that simply prosecuting and punishing a young person is not enough. You must also take steps to look behind the curtain, so to speak, and determine why he committed the crime and what can be done to help steer the child down a different, better path.”
It was experiences like these that motivated Ihlenfeld to get involved in the search for solutions to the opioid crisis in West Virginia. Serving as a U.S. attorney, he attacked the problem from many angles, including creating the U.S. Attorney’s Addiction Action Plan, an unprecedented initiative that brought together a team of educators, health care professionals, business leaders, clergy, recovery specialists and law enforcement officials.
“I quickly realized that the traditional approach of arresting, convicting and incarcerating was not going to be enough to get the job done,” he says. “It’s not easy and it will take time, but we can do better than we are. We can move faster than we’re moving.”
Ihlenfeld has been a fierce advocate for directing federal resources to Northern West Virginia to combat the drug epidemic. When he began as a U.S. attorney in 2010, there was no money coming from the Office of National Drug Control Policy to counties in his district. When he departed in 2017, 25 percent of the district’s counties were receiving funding, which annually totals more than $1 million.
“One of the things I am most proud of is fighting for and obtaining this funding in the Northern Panhandle, the Eastern Panhandle and North Central West Virginia,” says Ihlenfeld. “Even though I’m no longer a U.S. attorney, the money still flows to our state to help with enforcement and prevention efforts.”
To further support substance abuse prevention, Ihlenfeld invested time speaking with children of all ages through Project Future, an initiative that educates youth about the science behind addiction and the importance of making good decisions. He was also part of the creation of the first federal drug court in West Virginia, a diversionary program that provides individuals the opportunity to avoid imprisonment and a conviction on their record if they successfully complete the rigorous process.
Ihlenfeld joined Bailey & Glasser LLP in Charleston, WV, in January 2017, where today he handles complex civil litigation, including health care compliance and fraud defense, as well as white collar crime and internal investigations. He provides practical counsel and represents health care providers and related organizations at trial, on appeal, in administrative and regulatory disputes and with cyber security.
“It’s challenging but enjoyable to keep up with ever-changing technology and the technological threats to the data our clients possess,” he says. “Cyber criminals are smart and savvy and are always looking for new ways to attack networks, and it’s rewarding to sit down and strategize with clients about how to strengthen their defenses from the ground up.”
His clients range from physicians, nurses, medical assistants, pharmacists, psychiatrists and psychologists to physician groups, hospital organizations, local and regional hospitals, national hospital systems and medical schools.
“My favorite part of the job is getting a good result for a client,” he says. “We handle high-stakes, bet-the-company litigation, so failure is not an option.”
Ihlenfeld became familiar with health care litigation while working for the U.S. Department of Justice. As a U.S. attorney, he created a health care fraud working group to better identify federal criminal violations.
“We took a data-driven approach to the prevention of health care fraud in West Virginia to proactively evaluate health care reimbursement data of medical providers in the state,” he says. “By using advanced statistical analysis, we were able to identify potentially fraudulent billing patterns and uncover waste and abuse more efficiently.”
Outside of work, Ihlenfeld has been a volunteer with numerous community organizations and a board member of nonprofit organizations that support victims of crime and the visually impaired, including the Upper Ohio Valley Sexual Assault Help Center, West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Wheeling YWCA’s Family Violence Prevention Program, The Seeing Hand Association and The Martinsburg Initiative. In 2016, he led a team of WVU College of Law students to Southern West Virginia to support flood relief efforts, helping victims repair their homes and providing them with essential supplies. Ihlenfeld also volunteered for Legal Aid of West Virginia, meeting with individuals in need of legal advice and assuming representation of cases on a pro bono basis.
“I give back to causes I’m passionate about and that have a need,” he says. “I not only provide financial support to these groups, but I also give my time, and I do that because community service runs in my family. I also do it because God has blessed me with so much that I feel like He expects me to give some of my blessings back to those who are less fortunate.”
