Professor Thomas Cady, who taught torts, insurance and workers’ compensation, had a lasting impact on New, as did Doug Adkins, who hired New as a summer associate and later worked with him as co-counsel on a number of cases.
“ Doug has always mentored me both professionally and personally,” says New.“ He has shown me how to adequately prepare cases in a wide variety of practice areas and how to vigorously fight for my clients. He is an outstanding lawyer and an even better person.”
New’ s first full-time job in the legal field was serving as a circuit court law clerk for the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. He worked with Raleigh County’ s three circuit court judges and learned that there is no substitute for being prepared. He then took a job with Pamela Lambert as an associate attorney for four years. She allowed him to work cases and take them to trial.“ Working in her office taught me that when I put the clients first, most other things will fall in line more easily,” he says.
In 2004, New opened his own firm in Beckley, WV.“ I wanted the freedom that comes with being able to select the cases I want to handle, the clients I represent and the legal areas where I want to practice,” he says of that decision.“ I have been blessed to continue representing injured workers in workers’ compensation claims, a practice area very important to me, but I have also been able to expand into many other practice areas too— and take the risks associated with it.”
New with his mentor and friend, Douglas Adkins.
Today, New spends much time lobbying to protect the Seventh Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, which guarantees the right to trial by jury in civil cases, and he stands against tort reform in the name of economic development.“ I enjoy being at the Legislature and educating our lawmakers about the impact of tort reform on the constitutional rights of their constituents,” he says.
He keeps most of his focus, however, on workplace injuries, an area that has faced many battles since 2005, when the West Virginia Legislature abolished the Rule of Liberality and privatized the workers’ compensation system.“ I have made a number of appearances before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, and I am proud that those appearances have led to many decisions to restore and expand the workers’ compensation rights for those workers,” he says.
New considers his greatest success to be a case that reached the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in which he helped a widow receive the due benefits she was being denied, and he is also extremely proud of a case in which he was co-lead counsel for a group of nursing students who had been misled about the accreditation status of their department at Mountain State University.
In recognition of New’ s efforts, he has been selected as a Super Lawyer by his peers. He is currently serving as president of the West Virginia Association for Justice, and he has achieved the rank of diplomat with the American Association of Justice Advanced Study in Trial Advocacy program through continuing education.
When he’ s not in a courtroom or at the state capitol, New enjoys helping law interns learn the legal ropes and serving
New with Nature Boy Ric Flair, his favorite wrestler.
the community through efforts such as the bicycle helmet philanthropy program he established within his firm in 2005. It started when a client contacted him from an emergency room because a physician was planning to call Child Protective Services about the man’ s daughter sustaining injuries in a bike accident during which she wasn’ t wearing a helmet.
“ The result of that project has been the purchase of more than 12,000 bicycle helmets by my firm,” says New.“ My office and I are extremely proud when we see those bicycle helmets out in our community keeping children safe.”
New serves as president of Theatre West Virginia’ s board of directors, which has performed outdoor dramas at Grandview Park for 58 years. He also participated in the 2014 Hunks in Heels fundraiser, raising more than $ 34,000 for victims of domestic violence, and in a local Dancing with the Stars fundraiser that raised more than $ 200,000 for the United Way of Southern West Virginia. His firm also sponsors little league and other area sports teams.
“ I have been the beneficiary of others’ generosity my entire life,” New says of the driving force behind his community service.“ I simply attempt to be an extension of the same generosity that was shown to me when I was growing up.”
New is proud to serve his home state in so many different capacities.“ I am a product of West Virginia— her communities, her public schools from Head Start through law school and her military,” he says.“ I hope everything I do helps cast West Virginia in a positive light, and I am blessed to be able to give back to the communities and the state I call home.” •
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