2019 AWARDS
Jill Cranston Rice
Partner, Dinsmore & Shohl LLP
Real mentoring is about identifying opportunities
for professional development, creating networking
opportunities and helping someone navigate the
firm. It’s about investing in them.”
Photo by Mike Hall/PhotoGrafix.
BY MAGGIE HATFIELD. Jill Cranston Rice,
partner at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP, is the
epitome of a mover and shaker.
“I am naturally motivated, and I think I
am a motivator,” she says. “I have a ton of
energy, and I like to think it’s contagious.”
These attributes, along with a desire
from an early age to be an advocate, spokes-
person and policymaker, have directly con-
tributed to the success she has achieved
as a lawyer and lobbyist.
Rice’s journey into the legal field began
at West Virginia University (WVU) College
of Law, where she decided early on to
focus on litigation and health care. After
graduation, she joined Spilman Thomas &
Battle, where she practiced for 10 years.
In 2007, she joined Dinsmore & Shohl
to help establish its government relations
practice, which she describes as a tipping
point for her career because it expanded
her platform for growth. Today her prac-
tice, which reaches beyond the state’s
borders, involves commercial litigation,
government relations and health care.
It was during her second year in prac-
tice that she was exposed to the world of
lobbying, which was a game changer for
her career. Today she is known through-
out West Virginia as a registered lobbyist
Rice with the other
members of the
West Virginia
Insurance Federation
in Washington, D.C.
who uses her advocacy and problem-
solving skills to make a greater impact
on the state she loves.
Rice uses her lobbying skills to fight for
fairness in West Virginia. She has part-
nered with the ACLU of West Virginia
to lobby against harmful, discriminatory
legislation, and in 2015 she helped found
Opportunity West Virginia, a bipartisan
coalition that seeks to bring together
like-minded businesses and organiza-
tions that understand the need to create
work environments that foster a culture
of inclusion.
“I am really passionate about diversity,
fairness and inclusion,” she says. “All of
these affect how competitive our state is
economically. I want to do my part to
raise awareness of not only these issues
but the message that West Virginia is
hospitable for everyone.”
As president of the West Virginia
Insurance Federation, Rice is the insurance
industry’s lead lobbyist, and she also
lobbies for UniCare Health Plans of West
Virginia, Inc. “This past year, we lobbied
for the transition of West Virginia’s foster
care program to managed care,” she says.
“In 2018, there were more than 7,000
children in our state’s foster care program,
and the West Virginia Department of
Health and Human Resources sought
assistance to help it address some of the
problems with the current system.”
When Rice isn’t litigating or lobbying,
she is serving her community and fellow
legal professionals. She serves as the West
Virginia state representative for DRI–The
Voice of the Defense Bar, where she chairs
the Issues and Advocacy Committee. She
also chairs Highland-Clarksburg Hos-
pital’s board of directors and serves on
WVU College of Law’s advisory com-
mittee, and she has held the position of
president of the Defense Trial Council of
West Virginia and the Junior League of
Charleston. At Dinsmore, she is on the
professional development and diversity
committees, and she works with the
Leadership Council on Legal Diversity to
mentor WVU College of Law 1L students.
Rice credits her success to the guidance
she has received from others throughout
her career. “I would not be where I am
without the mentoring, coaching and
guidance I have received,” she says. She
pays this forward by mentoring younger
lawyers at her firm. “It is natural to help
a person learn a particular area of the law
or edit and revise written work product,
but real mentoring is about identifying
opportunities for professional develop-
ment, creating networking opportunities
and helping someone navigate the firm,”
she says. “It’s about investing in them.”
Her greatest successes in life, though,
are not the awards she has received for
her work.
“My greatest personal success is my
family,” she says. “My child, Adam; my
stepchildren, whom I love like my own;
and my husband—we are healthy and
content, and we have fun together. Pro-
fessionally, I am most proud of the law
practice I have built. Clients call back,
evidencing their continued faith in the
work we do, and our practice continues
to grow, which is a tribute to our team
and the services we provide. That’s the
most rewarding.”
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SUMMER 2019
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