2019 AWARDS
Elliot Gene Hicks
President and Owner
Hicks Resolutions and Ellerbee Enterprises, Inc.
As a child of the 1960s, I saw that lawyers were
at the heart of social change, and I wanted to be a
part of that. I wanted to do big, important things.”
Photo by Marvin Skiles.
BY JAMIE NULL. By the time he had reached
the ninth grade, Elliot Hicks knew he
wanted to be a lawyer. The Charleston
native, now the president and owner
of Hicks Resolutions and Ellerbee En-
terprises, Inc., was inspired to make a
difference in the world during the Civil
Rights Movement by lawyers Thurgood
Marshall and Charles Hamilton Houston
and local attorney William Lonesome.
“As a child of the 1960s, I saw that law-
yers were at the heart of social change, and
I wanted to be a part of that,” says Hicks.
“I wanted to do big, important things.”
After high school, Hicks enrolled as
an undergraduate at Washington and
Lee University (W&L) in Lexington, VA.
Led by a natural fascination with politics,
he got involved in student government,
where he was elected to the student body
executive committee’s freshman position.
“I was the first black student of any
class to be elected to that position, and
this was only six years after the first black
students were admitted to regular atten-
dance at the school,” he says. “That put
me under what could at times be an
uncomfortable spotlight.”
After visiting friends at West Virginia
University (WVU), Hicks found Morgan-
town to be a better fit, and he transferred
there to finish his undergraduate studies
and attend law school. A graduate of the
class of 1981, he remembers law school as
both a challenge and a place filled with
motivation and excitement.
“It was such a hybrid group of people
attending law school with me,” he recalls.
“You sometimes see a lack of motivation
in college and even more in high school,
but it seemed that everyone in law school
was smart and motivated.”
Hicks worked as a solo practitioner
and created a small firm with two other
lawyers before deciding to raise the level
of his practice. He joined Kay Casto &
Chaney in 1984, becoming the second
lawyer of color in West Virginia to be
hired by a large law firm. In 1993, he
was elected to the West Virginia State
Bar’s board of governors, and in 1998,
he was the first black lawyer to be elected
president of the organization.
As Hicks’ career expanded, he was
awarded other accolades from the legal
community, including being named a
fellow of the American College of Trial
Lawyers.
“Being elected as a fellow might have
possibly been the most humbling recogni-
tion of my skills,” he says. “Every meeting
we had at various locations throughout
the country included some of the most
noteworthy lawyers and judges in the
U.S. When you feel like you have toiled
in obscurity for a long time, it is nice to
have someone shine a light on you to say
you have done your job well.”
In January, the Martin Luther King, Jr.
State Commission presented Hicks with
the Governor’s Living the Dream Award,
which recognizes those who exemplify the
characteristics of justice and scholarship;
are passionate about the sharing of self,
human and civil rights and advocacy for
peace; and encompass a sense of civic
awareness and public services.
“In accepting the award, I said I would
take it as encouragement to do better,
rather than a valedictory for anything
Hicks receiving the Governor’s Living
the Dream Award in spring 2019.
I might have already done,” he says. “I
intend for the award to remind me of
that daily.”
Many lawyers feel a professional com-
mitment to give back to their community,
and Hicks is a leader among them.
Throughout his career, he has been active
with the Legal Aid Society of Charleston,
Kanawha County Housing and Redevel-
opment Authority and the West Virginia
Bar Foundation. He was appointed to the
Higher Education Policy Commission
twice, each time by a different governor,
and then-Governor Earl Ray Tomblin
appointed him to Concord University’s
board of governors, where he was the
chairman for four years. He has also in-
vested time in both the Charleston Jazz
Series and his church.
“I appreciate the great nurturing that
my community has given me,” he says.
“I look back at the example of the Boy
Scout leaders, sports coaches, teachers,
Sunday school teachers and many others
who shaped my life, and I don’t know
how you can’t give back. What is formally
known as giving back looks to me like
simply living life in an interdependent
community.”
WWW.WVEXECUTIVE.COM
SUMMER 2019
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