Spatafore
Waddell
York
MORGANTOWN -- Dinsmore & Shohl is pleased to announce that Denise Spatafore, Lorna Waddell and Olen York have joined the firm's Morgantown office.
All of the attorneys will practice in the Labor & Employment Department.
"We are very pleased to be adding Denise Spatafore to our Education Law Practice Group," said Tom Rubenstein, Managing Partner of Dinsmore & Shohl's Morgantown office. "Her 13 years of experience as an Administrative Law Judge for the West Virginia State Employee Grievance Board affords her a unique and highly insightful perspective about the issues facing our county board of education clients and her more recent hands on experience as a human resources administrator will translate very well in helping our clients avoid problems.
"We also consider ourselves very fortunate to add Lorna Waddell and Olen York's capabilities to our Mine Safety and Health Practice Group. We believe their backgrounds and experience will allow them to not only successfully represent our mining clients in regulatory matters but that they will also bring a skill set that will assist our clients in developing preventative strategies to help with overall safety performance as well as compliance issues."
Spatafore joins the firm as of counsel in the Education Law Practice Group. Prior to joining the firm, she served as the Supervisor of Personnel for the Harrison County Board of Education. As the administrator in charge, Spatafore led the personnel department of a school system with approximately 2,000 employees, providing both human resources management and legal services. Earlier in her career, she served as an Administrative Law Judge for the West Virginia Public Employees Grievance Board. Spatafore earned her J.D. from West Virginia University College of Law and her B.S. from Bluefield State College.
Waddell joins the firm as of counsel in the Mine Safety & Health Practice Group. Prior to joining the firm, Waddell worked for two separate law firms in Morgantown for a total of 13 years. After graduating from law school, she served as law clerk for the late Honorable Robert E. Maxwell, United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. Waddell has also served as an adjunct lecturer on appellate advocacy at West Virginia University College of Law. She earned her J.D. and M.S. from West Virginia University and her B.S. from Pennsylvania State University.
York joins the firm as an associate in the Mine Safety & Health Practice Group. He also has extensive experience in the area of intellectual property law handling patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and unfair competition, as well as general litigation matters. York earned his Master of Laws (LL.M.) in intellectual property and his J.D. from the University of Akron School of Law and his B.S. in Chemistry from Marshall University.