The Webb Law Firm also represents those people who have been discriminated against in their employment, including retaliatory discharge, sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and age discrimination. If you or a loved one have been harassed or abused in the workplace as a result of age or race, The Webb Law Firm is here to help.

The Webb Law Firm helps families in the areas of domestic relations, divorce and custody in what is now commonly referred to as family law. Attorney Rusty Webb has been practicing in the area of family law, divorce, custody, support, adoption, and other varieties of family law for twenty years. His reputation is the aggressive representation of those who find themselves in divorce situations and require an aggressive, experienced attorney who is also compassionate to the needs of the client and in cases of divorce with children, the needs of the children. 

LEGAL CAREER

Mr. Webb attended Ohio Northern University, Claude W. Pettit College of Law from 1985 to 1986. During the summer of 1986 he attended the University of Notre Dame’s London Law Centre in London, United Kingdom, where he studied international law. Upon returning to the United States, he was accepted to transfer to the West Virginia University College of Law where he graduated with a doctor of juris prudence degree in May of 1987.

Upon graduation, he joined the Charleston law firm of Goodwin and Goodwin, where he practiced corporate and insurance defense law, particularly in the area of class action asbestos defense litigation. During his tenure, he drafted the incorporation documents for the foundation to support the U.S.S. West Virginia, an Ohio-Class ballistic missile submarine, commissioned on October 20, 1990. Also during this time, he drafted the incorporation documents for the formation of the nonprofit corporation for the Governor’s Honor’s Academy on behalf of Governor Gaston Caperton who founded the Academy.

During the 1989 Legislative Session he was appointed as Committee Counsel to the Finance Committee of the West Virginia House of Delegates. Thereafter, he joined the law firm of R. Joseph Zak and Associates where he practiced primarily divorce, family law, personal injury and criminal defense.

In 1993, he was appointed as Committee Counsel for the Finance Committee in the West Virginia State Senate for the 1993 legislative session. In March, 1993, he then joined the law firm of Pepper and Nason, where he practiced primarily in the areas of divorce and family law, personal injury and criminal defense law. 

In February, 1996, he formed and practiced in a partnership where he practiced family law.                                                                                                                           

In November, 2000, he was appointed as Vice Chair of the West Virginia Child Health Care Commission by Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, Elliott E. “Spike” Maynard. The purpose of the Commission was to assist in the development of information and marketing through judicial entities the West Virginia CHIPS Program (Children’s Health Insurance Program).  

In February, 2006, he established The Webb Law Firm, PLLC, in Charleston, West Virginia in which he practices a variety of law including family and divorce, personal injury, accidents, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, serious medical malpractice, product liability, prescription drug recall, and nursing home abuse and neglect.                                                                                                         

In 2007, he was appointed by West Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Spike Maynard to the West Virginia bail Bondsman Commission to make recommendations to the West Virginia Supreme Court and the Legislature for uniform rules and regulations regarding Bail Bondsmen.

Mr. Webb has successfully presented a number of Petitions for Appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia on a variety of issues, including breach of trust, criminal defense, child custody modification, spousal support, and distribution of marital assets. 

Suffice it to say, it would be hard for any attorney in West Virginia to assert that they have argued more cases before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia on such a variety of issues as Mr. Webb has in such a relatively short period of practicing law. His published West Virginia Supreme Court opinions include:

 Shortt v. Damron, 649 S.E.2d 283 (WV 2009); Stuck v. Stuck, Lexis 218 WV 605, 625 SE2d 363; Lucas v. Lucas, 592 SE2d 646, 212 W. Va. 721; 575 S.E.2d 331, 2002 (W.V. 2003); Hager v. Hager, 591 S.E.2d 177 (WV 2003); State ex rel. Drake v. Hill, 585 S.E.2d 47 (W.V. 2003); W. Va. Dep't of Health & Human Res. v. Lambert; Zirkle v. Zirkle, 208 W. Va. 374, 540 SE2d 591 (WVa 2000); Tom's Convenient Food Mart, Inc. v. West Virginia Human Rights Commission, 206 W.Va. 611, 527 SE2d 155 (WV 1999); Pauley v. Gilbert, 206 W.Va. 114, 522 SE2d 208 (1999); Provident Life & Accident v. Bennett, 199 W.Va. 236, 483 S.E.2d 819 (WV 1997); State v. Jones, 193 W.Va. 378, 456 S.E.2d 459 (WV 1995); Robert Darrell O. v. Theresa Ann O., 192 W.Va. 461, 452 S.E.2d 919 (WV 1994). Mr. Webb has also served as Special Assistant City Attorney for the City of Charleston defending the City of Charleston against a civil suit.   

POLITICAL CAREER

Mr. Webb has had a colorful political career. As a teenager, he was elected as the West Virginia Teenage Republican President in 1979. In the summer of 1981, he attended the Teenage Republican Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. at Mt. Vernon College. During the conference he attended a reception with President Ronald Reagan in the Rose Garden of the White House on June 23rd. This Rose Garden reception was reported in the July 6, 1981 edition of the U.S. News & World Report magazine entitled: 9 Hours Inside The Oval Office and later referenced in the book _____________ by ____________. 

While a student at Marshall University, he served as President of the Marshall University College Republicans and then, later, President of the West Virginia Federation of College Republicans which afforded him the opportunity to attend the College Republican National Convention in Chicago in 1981. While attending law school at West Virginia University he was a member of the West Virginia University College Republicans.

In 1994, he was elected to the Kanawha County Republican Executive Committee representing the South Hills area of Kanawha County.  Mr. Webb was appointed as an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1996, in Philadelphia and in 2000 was elected as a Delegate to the Republican National Convention in New York. 

In 1996, he was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates and served for four terms. During his eight years as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, he served on the following Committees: Education, Constitutional Revision (Minority Chair), Judiciary, Banking and Insurance,  Veterans Affairs and, Industry and Labor/ Economic Development and Small Business (Minority Chair). 

As a member of the Judiciary Committee, he was a primary drafter of the shared parenting law passed in 1999, and the creation of the Family Court system and Recodification of the Family Law Statute in the year 2001. He also was appointed to Subcommittee B of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary and to the Senate-House Conference Committee on the creation of the Family Court system and Recodification by the Speaker of the House, Robert S. Kiss in April, 2000.   He was also appointed and served as a member of the Select Committee to Study Court Facilities  by the Speaker of the House in April, 2000.

During his tenure as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates and subsequent thereto, Mr. Webb has represented both Democrat and Republican leaders in the most sensitive and discreet of matters relating to personal injury and family law. Since retiring from the State Legislature in 2004, Mr. Webb has served as an informal advisor to a number of political candidates in West Virginia.

ACTIVITIES AND HOBBIES

While a graduate student at Marshall University he was a member of the Marshall University men’s swim team, never before having competed in competitive swimming.

While a law student at West Virginia University he was a member of the University’s crew team (rowing). When he made his home in Charleston following graduation from law school, he reestablished the Charleston Rowing Club, a community-based rowing club headquartered at the University of Charleston.

Mr. Webb is a lifelong outdoorsman. Since he was old enough to hold a gun, he has been a hunter and since he was big enough to hold a fishing rod has been a fisherman in West Virginia. His father taught him the wonders of the outdoors and during his teenage years, he was an avid deer, turkey, squirrel, rabbit, and occasional, bird hunter. He was also an avid trout and large mouth bass fisherman.

As an adult, his legal career prohibits all of the types of hunting he enjoyed as a teenager, but he finds time to deer hunt for one week each fall and estimates that he is on the water approximately sixty days per year fishing for smallmouth bass, his most passionate outdoor pastime. 

EDUCATION

Mr. Webb attended public schools in Madison, Boone County, West Virginia.  After graduation in 1979, from Scott High School, he attended and graduated from Marshall University with a BA in political science.

In 1982, he was awarded the Dwight D. Eisenhower Congressional Internship and served as an intern the summer of 1981 to Congressman Mick Staton (R), 3rd Congressional District in Washington, D.C. 

In 1983, he was selected to the Frasure-Singleton Legislative Internship with the West Virginia House of Delegates to Delegate Sammy Dalton (D), Lincoln County.

In 1984, he attended the Marshall University Graduate School for one year. After being accepted to the Ohio Northern University Claude W. Pettit College of Law in 1984, he attended law school at Ohio Northern University from 1984 to 1985.

During the summer of 1985, he attended the University of Notre Dame’s London Law Centre in London, United Kingdom. While in London he learned that he had been accepted to transfer to West Virginia University where he completed his legal education from 1985 to 1987.

In May, 1987, he graduated from the West Virginia University College of Law with a doctor of juris prudence. 

FAMILY

He was raised in Madison, Boone County, West Virginia.  His mother now lives in Elizabethton, Tennessee. His father, a coal miner, died in November, 1987. 

Mr. Webb married the former Robin Stinnett in 1996, and they and their daughter, Alexa, age ten, live in Charleston, West Virginia. Mr. Webb has two stepsons, Matthew, who is a student at Marshall University, and Adam, who is a graduate of Marshall University and the Marshall University nursing program at St. Mary’s Hospital and is a practicing RN at CAMC in Charleston.   

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS

Mr. Webb is a member of the Kanawha County Bar Association, the West Virginia State Bar, the American Association for Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America), and the American Bar Association.  He was recognized as an Advocate by the National College of Advocacy of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (now AAJ) in September of 2001.

He is a former National Chair of the Family Law Committee of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the immediate past National Chair of the Family Law Committee of the American Association for Justice. He is also a member of the Resort Tort Litigation Group, the Casino Gaming Litigation Group, the Motor Vehicle Collision, Highway and Premises Liability Section, the Fentanyl Patch Litigation Group and the Sole Practitioner and Small Firm Section.   He is a member of the Family Law Committees of the West Virginia State Bar Association and the Family Law Section of the American Bar Association.                                                             

He is licensed to practice in the state of West Virginia, and has been admitted to practice in the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the Federal Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals located in Richmond, Virginia.

Mr. Webb is a former member of the NFL Players Association as an NFL agent for professional football players.  

He practices law in all fifty five counties of West Virginia and routinely travels to such cities as Wheeling in the northern panhandle, and Martinsburg in the eastern panhandle to represent clients in those areas. A summary of his practice areas include: Child Custody; Divorce; Divorce Mediation; Domestic Relations; Domestic Torts; Domestic Violence; Equitable Distribution; Family Mediation; Interstate Support; Marital Agreements; Marital Property Distribution; Marital Property Law; Marital Property Settlements; Matrimonial Law; Name Changes; Paternity; Post Divorce Modification; Postnuptial Agreements; Premarital Agreements; Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs); Restraining Orders; Separation Agreements; Spousal Support; Alimony; Child Support; Adoption; Children; Adoption Law; Child Abuse and Neglect; Child Custody Mediation; Child Dependency; Child Protection; Grandparents Custody; Grandparents Visitation Rights; Independent Adoptions; Parental Rights; Parenting Time; Private Adoptions; Third Party Custody; Visitation Rights; Assault and Battery; Driving While Intoxicated; DUI/DWI; Misdemeanors; Guardianship and Conservatorship; Guardian Ad Litem; Medical Negligence; Annulment; Cohabitation Agreements; Uncontested Divorce; Accidents; Automobile Accidents and Injuries; Automobile Negligence; Bodily Injury; Brain Injury; Catastrophic Injury; Head Injury; Motor Vehicle Accidents and Injuries; Motorcycle Accidents; Plaintiffs Personal Injury; Third Party Wrongful Death; Wrongful Death; and Class Actions

In addition to West Virginia, Mr. Webb has represented clients in Jordan, and soldiers who are stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq. He is currently representing clients from the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee,Texas and Virginia.

CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION 

The following are a sample of the continuing legal education seminars Mr. Webb has attended.  Virtually every reporting period, Mr. Webb exceeds the number of credit hours he is required to complete by the West Virginia Bar.  Some training of note he has received include the Basic Divorce Mediation Training (40 Hours).

LECTURING AND PUBLISHING

Domestic Law in West Virginia, National Business Institute, 1997; Equitable Distribution in Divorce Settlements in West Virginia Valuation, Tax and Other Issues, National Business Institute, 1998; Recent Changes in Domestic Relations Law in West Virginia, Lorman Education Services, 2000.

Mr. Webb is currently in draft on a self-help book for do-it-yourself divorce.

COMMUNITY SERVICE AND CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS

Rusty Webb is involved in many community service and charitable organizations. The Webb Law Firm donates to a variety of nonprofit organizations. Mr. Webb serves as a memember of the Board of Advisors t othe West Virginia Junior College in Charleston, West Virginia. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Big Green Scholarship Foundation at Marshall University, which provides funding for student athlete scholarships. He is the co-founder of the Marshall University Quarterback Club of Huntington. Both of these organizations work to provide financial support to the Marshall University Football Team. He is a member of the Victory Club, the booster fundraising organization which supports the Marshall University Men's Basketball team. He is a member of the "M" Club, which is comprised of former Marshall University athletes who support current Marshall athletics. He is a member of the University Foundation.

He is a member of a variety of outdoor preservation and civil rights organizations including Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, the National Rifle Association and B.A.S.S.

He and his firm have financially supported a variety of nonprofit organizations including the West Virginia Mental Health Association, Scott High School Band Boosters, the Lower Greenbrier River Association, Greenbrier County Humane Society, West Virginia Nurses Assocation, Greenbrier Trail Association, Bristol Motor Speedway in Lights, and Kanawha City Elementary School.

Mr. Webb and his wife, Robin, co-founded the Adopt-a-Trail Program for the Greenbrier River Trail and have adpoted a mile of the trail to keep it clean and free of obstacles.