2018 AWARDS
Cheryl L. Henderson
Owner and Attorney, Henderson, Henderson & Staples, LC
West Virginia has so much potential, and I
believe it’s been my goal over the years to
make a difference in this state.”
Photo by Cheryl Henderson.
BY KEVIN DUVALL. Cheryl Henderson,
owner and attorney of the Hunting-
ton-based firm Henderson, Henderson
& Staples, LC, has seen the value of
both hard work and overcoming adver-
sity throughout her legal career as a law
student, practicing attorney, municipal
city judge and long-time member of the
Mountain State Bar Association (MSBA).
Her family moved to Huntington when
she was 4 years old, where her father e s-
tablished himself as a sole practitioner.
Growing up, Henderson wasn’t sure what
her dream job was, but she found support
and inspiration in her parents.
“Both my parents were my mentors,”
she says. “They taught me that I could
do anything I wanted. My legal mentor
was my father, Herbert Henderson. He
taught me to be ethical and honest and
to do the best for my clients. There is no
way I can fill my father’s shoes, but every
day I go to my office planning to do the
best I can.”
Henderson graduated from Fisk Uni-
versity in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree
in English, after which she returned to
West Virginia and graduated from West
Henderson with U.S. District Judge Emmet
Sullivan and her sister, Gail Henderson-Staples,
at the 2018 Mountain State Bar Association’s
annual luncheon. Photo by Cheryl Henderson.
84
WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
Virginia University (WVU) College of Law
in 1980. At WVU, Henderson met one of
the major influences on her legal career.
“Attorney Franklin Cleckley was the
only black law professor teaching when
I attended WVU,” she says. “I thought
he was brilliant. He could walk circles
around the best when it came to the law.
My lasting impression of him was that
hard work pays off.”
After law school, Henderson worked
as a trademark attorney with the U.S.
Department of Commerce in Washington,
D.C., for two years before returning home
to join her father’s firm.
“Everyone thought working with my
father must have been easy,” she says. “I
can assure you he was harder on me as
his daughter than he would have been on
someone else. When I first began work-
ing with him, he would review my work
and mark it up. It would take me several
attempts to get it right. My father always
said do your best, and that stuck with me.”
Today, Henderson, Henderson & Staples
handles both civil and criminal cases.
Henderson focuses primarily on civil
cases, especially in family law. She says
the cases that have stayed with her most
are adoption cases, which she refers to
as win-win situations.
Beyond the firm, Henderson has car-
ried on another family tradition through
her work with the MSBA. The organiza-
tion was established in the 1920s for Af-
rican-American attorneys who were not
allowed admittance to the West Virginia
State Bar’s activities. In 1972, Henderson’s
father was part of a group of attorneys
that reestablished the organization. She
has previously served as president of the
MSBA, and today she serves as treasurer.
“The Mountain State Bar Association
is important to me because it allows
me to work on cases that other bar asso-
ciations would be reluctant to take on,”
she says. “I’m proud of this association
for its commitment to protecting civil
and human rights and for providing
scholarships, free know-your-rights
seminars and outstanding continuing
legal education.”
In addition to pro bono work and legal
organizations, Henderson has long been
active in community service in Huntington.
She currently serves on the boards of the
Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington
Symphony, Ebenezer Medical Outreach
Center and A.D. Lewis Community
Center. She has also served as a member
of the Huntington Tri-State Airport board,
Junior League of Huntington, St. Mary’s
advisory board for women’s health, City
of Huntington Board of Zoning Appeals
and West Virginia Board of Medicine.
Henderson is especially invested in
mentoring young people, including teach-
ing young West Virginia lawyers and
being involved with mentoring programs
for young women and African-American
youth.
“My mentoring is an investment in the
next generation,” she says. “It’s an op-
portunity for me to give back and train
up the next generation. I hope that in the
past 35-plus years I have touched someone
who has gone on to do well. West Virginia
has so much potential, and I believe it’s
been my goal over the years to make a
difference in this state.”