Editor's note: This is part of an ongoing series of profiles of West Virginia attorneys.
CHARLESTON – Since he was a child, Bobby Warner knew he wanted to practice law, as his father’s career was always interesting and attractive to him.
“My father was an attorney and he was a defense lawyer, but I saw how much he enjoyed his work and how much he felt like he made a difference in helping people and I think that watching that from an early age made me interested in law,” Warner told The West Virginia Record. “There was never really another career option in my mind.”
Bobby Warner of Warner Law Office
| Courtesy of Warner Law Office
With a specialization in personal injury cases, Warner handles everything from automobile accidents and work-related injury cases to medical malpractice and premises liability.
After graduating law school in 1998, Warner practiced with a defense firm, which he found out was not the right fit for him.
“It just was not for me, and I decided to start a firm in 2000, focusing on representing the individual as the plaintiff,” Warner said.
Warner has been recognized as one of the Top 100 trial lawyers in the nation, and Warner Law Offices in Charleston has been named the Top 13 premier law firm in the country.
But such success does not come without its own set of challenges, he said.
“One of the hardest challenges for me is that I’ve been very fortunate in that I get a lot of calls and a lot of people ask me to represent them," Warner said. "Because I want to give all of those people 100 percent and make sure we do an outstanding job, I can only take so many cases.
“We probably only take 5 percent of the cases that come in, and I think that is a difficult challenge, having to say ‘no’ to people who definitely need help in representation. But, you just cannot help everybody.”
On the other hand, Warner is incredibly passionate about his work and finds great fulfillment every day that he represents his clients, which he feels is the greatest achievement one can have in their work.
“I don’t like bullies and I never have, and I feel like every day I see people, whether it is through large companies or insurance companies, that are truly taken advantage of and pushed around,” Warner said. “Once they hire our firm, we equal the playing field, and I love to take those same people and put them under subpoena and take the deposition and bring them down to the level where they are not above the law.
"Weekly, we get to stand up for the little guy, and it’s a pretty fun thing to help people in that way.”