CHARLESTON — Attorney Charles R. “Rusty” Webb of the Webb Law Centre has been selected to join the top trial lawyers in the country as a member of the Distinguished Justice Advocates (DJA) Charter, an honor given to fewer than 1 percent of attorneys nationwide. Webb is the first West Virginia attorney to be extended membership into this group.
Advocates are chosen for their honors or awards, trial achievements and, particularly, high peer reviews. Selection also includes success in education, experience, certificates earned, pro-bono work performed and published materials.
Rusty Webb
| Rusty Webb
Webb is a personal injury and divorce attorney with 25 years of experience helping clients in West Virginia, and two terms in the state legislature. Webb also co-hosts a talk radio program with Charleston Mayor Danny Jones on WCHS Radio 58 and provides legal commentary for local TV news shows.
“I think I have been successful because I am very honest with my clients. I don’t give them legal speak. I don’t talk over their heads,” Webb told The West Virginia Record. “A meeting with me is like having lunch with a friend. I don’t bombard clients with legalese. I think a lot of attorneys get wrapped up and don’t speak to the client but instead talk down at the client, using words and terms they have never heard before.”
Webb is well-known in the Charleston community and throughout West Virginia as an advocate for working class people and as a supporter of non-profit initiatives.
He grew up in Madison, the son of a coal miner. He learned early how difficult it was for working class people to assert their rights against big business. Although he started out in corporate defense, he quickly learned that was not for him. His practice focuses primarily on representing regular people who need help having their voice heard.
“I like the fact that many people can say they have their own attorney and feel good about it," Webb said. "I want to be David fighting Goliath. I want to help the David fighting the big Goliath.”
Webb’s primary focus has been not on building wealth but on building relationships and he turns away one out of four cases. As a result, many people come back to him and refer friends to him.
“If it is a case I think they can handle themselves, I will direct them to the paperwork online and give them guidance to do it on their own so they save attorney fees," he said. "If they live too far away from me and I know there is an attorney closer to them, I will refer them.” Because of this I often have people come back to me. Maybe I did not do the small divorce but they are back after a car wreck.”
A marketing and outdoor guru, Webb has a mobile office RV, perhaps the first of its kind, which can be seen at local events including the Greenbriar Classic, Marshall University and West Virginia University football games and high school championships. He will also take the RV to meet clients.
Webb also has his own line of shirts, hats and more featuring his logo crest. Every client gets something, and gifts are often shared at events as well. Every year he gives away a week in Cancun, Mexico, to one of his clients.
Webb’s membership to the DJA gives him access to a network of the nation’s top attorneys. Members are encouraged to work together advancing each other’s legal expertise.
“By virtue of the incredible selectivity of our research process, only the elite few are invited to join the ranks of the DJA,” the group said in a statement.
