United States District Court Judge James V. Selna appointed Bailey & Glasser attorney Benjamin Bailey as one of nine lawyers to the Plaintiffs’ Counsel Committee for Economic Loss in the national lawsuit filed against Toyota Motor Corporation.

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Benjamin L. Bailey

Email: bbailey@baileyglasser.com

Ben is a trial and appellate lawyer who is totally at home in the courtroom. He has successfully handled a broad variety of cases for clients as diverse as the State of West Virginia, major international insurance and manufacturing businesses, gaming companies, and public officials from both major political parties. 

Ben spent his first eight years following law school in public service. After two years as a law clerk to the Honorable John T. Copenhaver, Jr., he served two years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia. His principal prosecutorial focus was fraudulent coal tax shelters. After that, he became counsel to the governor of West Virginia for four years.

Ben has been trying cases and preparing to try them ever since leaving public service. After ten years as a litigation partner at a large Charleston, West Virginia law firm, he and Brian Glasser formed Bailey & Glasser in 1999. Some of his higher-profile cases since then include defending the State of West Virginia in a landmark attack by environmental groups on the state's regulation of mountaintop removal mining, prosecuting the state's antitrust case against Microsoft, bringing a series of cases for citizens of rural areas against large local companies that ruined their water wells, and successfully pursuing a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) action on behalf of Cheshire, Ohio citizens against one of the nation's biggest electric utilities.

Ben is a permanent member of the Judicial Conference of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and a founding member of the Charleston Chapter of the American Inns of Court. He is chairman of the Criminal Law Committee of the West Virginia State Bar. He is AV® rated in Martindale-Hubbell®. Chambers U.S.A.'s Guide to America's Leading Business Lawyers rates him in the first tier of general commercial litigators in West Virginia, and described him as an “outstanding litigator and go-to guy.” He lectures occasionally on legal ethics and trial practice issues.

Admissions

  • West Virginia, 1980
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia

Education

  • Harvard Law School, J.D., 1980
  • Washington and Lee University, B.A., magna cum laude, 1975
    • Phi Beta Kappa

Awards

Government Experience

  • Counsel to the Governor of West Virginia, 1984-1986
  • Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, 1982-1984
  • Law Clerk, Hon. John T. Copenhaver, Jr., U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia

Memberships and Affiliations

  • West Virginia Bar Association
  • West Virginia State Bar
  • Hon. John A. Field, Jr., Inn of Court
  • Permanent Member, Judicial Conference for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit