Some of the services offered by the firm include employment law , insurance coverage and defense , medical malpractice defense , construction law and consumer litigation and dispute resolution .
Throughout his extensive career , Flaherty has represented three separate West Virginia governors and three West Virginia Supreme Court justices , all in separate litigation . Despite his professional achievements , he says he learned early on not to equate money with success .
“ I ’ ve encountered many successful moneymakers who are miserable as human beings ,” he says . “ What counts most about success is how a person achieves it .”
Some of his many achievements include Outstanding Service awards from the West Virginia State Bar and Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia and the Distinguished West Virginian Award . Flaherty has also been listed as one of the Best Lawyers in America ranking since 1995 and ranked as the No . 1 lawyer in the state of West Virginia by Lawyers . com for 10 consecutive years . In addition , he has been listed among West Virginia ’ s Super Lawyers since 2007 , is a permanent member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference , earned an AV rating by Martindale-Hubbell and is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers .
Dedicated to supporting the legal community and his beloved home state , Flaherty has served on the WVU Board of Governors and as its chair , the visiting committee of WVU College of Law , as an officer in the West Virginia Bar Association , president of the Kanawha County Bar Association and the West Virginia State Bar and co-chair of the Campaign for Legal Aid , where he helped raise more than $ 1 million . He is also a founding member and original officer of the Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia .
“ Legal Aid and WVU are major causes to my wife and me ,” he says . “ Legal Aid helped shape my legal career and WVU because it transformed my life .”
While having traveled to many different places and countries throughout the world , Flaherty says there is no place quite like home .
“ My wife and I live in an 11th-floor condominium in downtown Charleston as our main residence but also split time at houses in Longboat Key , FL , and Canaan Valley , WV ,” he says . “ We are natives of West Virginia . We were both born and raised in Wheeling and received our undergraduate degrees from WVU in Morgantown . I attended law school there before coming to Charleston , where I ’ ve practiced law for more than 49 years . West Virginia has a long umbilical cord . I ’ ve visited Europe , South
America , the Middle East and 47 of the 50 states , but West Virginia will always be my home . The state ’ s natural beauty and hard-working yet caring , giving and thoughtful people are a magnet to me . West Virginia is a wonderful place to live , work and play .” •
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