Benjamin L . Bailey
Partner & Chairman , Bailey & Glasser , LLP
Photo by PhotoGrafix .
BRITTANY MCCLUNG
“ I ’ M MORE FOCUSED on doing well tomorrow than fretting about what I could have done better yesterday .”
Ben Bailey is no stranger to a challenge . From dealing with a serious injury following a car accident to leaving an established law firm to begin his own with modest resources and no clients , Bailey has been the epitome of perseverance , which has helped lead him to his current role as partner and chairman of Bailey & Glasser , LLP .
Growing up in Parkersburg , WV , Bailey would stay home from school to watch Mercury , Gemini and Apollo
space launches , which inspired him to want to become an astronaut . While this dream never came to fruition , what did was getting to work for himself , something that his father always urged him to do . Bailey credits his father as one of his mentors , not only as a businessman but as a father and husband . Bailey ’ s parents , Bob and Penny , were happily married for nearly 70 years and instilled a strong sense of love and family in him and his three siblings , Brent , Ann and Matt .
After earning a bachelor ’ s degree in economics from Washington and Lee University , Bailey decided to forgo his admission to law school and began working at the George C . Marshall Foundation in Lexington , VA . He found passion in his work there , but after the grant money ran out , he found himself looking for other opportunities . He then decided to reapply to Harvard Law School . The summer following his first year of law school , Bailey suffered injuries from a car accident that left him to spend three months in traction and three years on crutches and a cane . He took a year off and then returned while finishing up physical therapy , graduating in 1980 .
While Bailey was faced with trying challenges during his time in law school , he still found moments of joy to cling to — like being in class with intelligent individuals , learning from professors who were geniuses in their own right and making lifelong friends , including Arthur Bryant , who is his law partner in his Oakland , CA , office .
As Bailey was still recuperating from his accident , he worked for a small , two-person law firm , which piqued his interest in coming back to West Virginia . Upon his return to the Mountain State , he clerked for Judge John Copenhaver in Charleston , while wondering if West Virginia had a place for him .
Bailey then took a job in the U . S . Attorney ’ s Office , where he prosecuted federal criminal cases with an emphasis on fraudulent coal tax shelters for two years . It was this job that convinced him to try cases for a living . After his plans to try a long tax case all summer fell flat due to the defendant having a heart attack , his friends urged him to apply to work on Arch Moore ’ s ongoing campaign for governor , to which he was hired . Following Moore ’ s victory , Bailey went into state government as his counsel for the next four years . When Moore lost the next election , Bailey was back to the drawing board but gained a better understanding of patience and strength from the experience . He then spent the next 10 years at Bowles Rice in Charleston . It was after his time there that he decided to start his own firm with partner Brian Glasser .
During those unprecedented and explorative opportunities , lessons awaited Bailey that later became the building blocks for the next steps in his career .
In his current role as a trial lawyer , he tries cases for plaintiffs and defendants .
“ This has always been the area of the law that has interested me — the combination of the competition , the intellec-
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