Robert M. Bastress III is an experienced trial attorney. His practice includes representing victims of personal injury, wrongful employment termination, consumer fraud, and wrongful death. From 2012-2019, Mr. Bastress repeatedly has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by the West Virginia Super Lawyers publication in the areas of General Litigation and Personal Injury for Plaintiffs. He was also selected for inclusion in the 2018 and 2019 editions of Best Lawyers in America in the area of Employment Law – Individuals. In 2021, he was named “Lawyer of the Year” in the same category. Throughout his career, Mr. Bastress has worked on cases resulting in total recoveries of more than $110 million for his clients. Previously, Mr. Bastress served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection/Antitrust Division of the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office from 2004 to 2006, where he primarily represented senior citizens who were victims of consumer scams. Also, during those years, he was a frequent guest on the local cable access television show, Legal Journal, and gave talks throughout West Virginia on consumer-related issues. In 2006, Rob left the Attorney General’s Office to serve as law clerk for two years to the Honorable John T. Copenhaver, Jr., United States District Judge for the Southern District of West Virginia. In 2008, Mr. Bastress joined the firm, and in 2013, he became a member of DiPiero Simmons McGinley & Bastress, PLLC. He has a varied civil practice. In private practice, Mr. Bastress has been appointed as a Special Assistant Attorney General by the Attorney General and the Governor to work on the groundbreaking litigation against the drug distributors who flooded West Virginia with opioids. Mr. Bastress was one of a number of lawyers appointed to serve as class counsel for the former Mountain State University students adversely affected by the revocation of the school-wide accreditation in 2012. In 2015, he was appointed plaintiffs’ liaison counsel by the West Virginia Mass Litigation Panel in the LPG Land Litigation. Mr. Bastress has represented coal miners, veterans, doctors, lawyers, newspapers, small businesses, citizens’ groups, injured workers, landowners and a host of other individuals in a wide variety of cases, including in the following fields of litigation: personal injury, wrongful discharge, commercial, consumer fraud, deliberate intent, wage payment, products liability, medical malpractice, contract, insurance bad faith, property, and Freedom of Information Act, where he has recovered millions of dollars for his clients. Mr. Bastress has briefed and argued cases before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, one of which he won in a unanimous, published opinion. Speaking anonymously in a peer review process, his adversaries had this to say about him: “Mr. Bastress excellently represents his clients’ interests . . . . I have witnessed him pursue a pragmatic approach to resolving claims–always with the goal of meeting his clients’ objectives and often pressing financial needs. I’m sure all reviewers would agree that Mr. Bastress embodies a client-first case approach, in contrast to the me-first attitude exhibited by some plaintiffs’ attorneys. . . . . His knowledge of the law and composed manner during trial and oral argument confirm his status as a great attorney here in Charleston, WV.” In 2014, the State Journal named Mr. Bastress to the prestigious “Generation Next” list of 40 top young professionals in West Virginia under the age of 40 for his work achievements and community service. Prior to that in 2010, he received an award for public service from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia for his pro bono work on behalf of a stalking victim. Previously, he served as an attorney mentor for the West Virginia Board of Law Examiners and an officer of the Kanawha County Bar Association. Mr. Bastress has given continuing legal education seminars to the American Bar Association, West Virginia Association for Justice and the West Virginia Employment Lawyers’ Association. He has been on the Friends of Clay Center Board and on reunion committees for his undergraduate and law school alma maters. He also volunteers his time coaching his son’s many basketball and baseball teams. In 2017, Mr. Bastress was elected to a 3-year term on the West Virginia State Bar Board of Governors. Mr. Bastress currently serves as a State Delegate to the American Association of Justice and as a Board Member for the West Virginia Association of Justice.

Ms. Basu began her career in financial services and insurance and has lived and worked across the globe, working with blue chip Fortune 500 companies. Her career has taken her from the New York City metropolitan area to India and Singapore, where she gained a unique perspective on global business practices and cultures. She has worked in senior management positions with a culturally diverse workforce. Having lived abroad for 13 years, Ms. Basu is particularly sensitive to how different cultural views can influence decision-making and risk appetite. She brings this holistic outlook to help her clients address legal problems, always taking the time to explain issues in terms clients can easily understand. Ms. Basu addresses complex issues in estate planning and probate cases, always keeping in mind the cultural ramifications of immigrant cultures. Ms. Basu is a member of the American Bar Association, including its section on Real Property, Trusts and Estates. She is also a member of the Silicon Valley Bar Association, which focuses exclusively on the issues of estate planning and probate. She is actively engaged in pro bono representation and has volunteered significant time with legal aid services organizations.

Dawn Marie Bates-Buchanan, was raised in Venice Florida, where her Father was a Police Officer and where she graduated from local Vence High School in 1986. Dawn Marie got her B.A. in Criminology, Sociology and Child Psychology from the University of South Florida. Dawn Marie worked for the 12th Judicial District's State's Attorney's Office (in Sarasota County, Florida) for 5 years as a Legal Assistant, before enrolling in Stetson University College of Law in 1996. Graduating early in December of 1998, Dawn Marie went back to work for the 12th Judicial District's State's Attorney's office. Dawn Marie moved to Daytona Beach, Florida to work on behalf of domestic violence family law clients for Central Florida Legal Services in 1999 where she worked and became the Managing Attorney of the Daytona Beach Office in charge of the Family Law Unit. In 2006 Dawn Marie moved to Bradenton to become the Managing Attorney at Gulfcoast Legal Services, Inc. in their Bradenton Office, where she specialized in consumer, housing, estate planning, family and dependency law and bankruptcy. Dawn Marie and her law partner Susannah opened their firm in February of 2011, then Dawn Marie moved back to Venice in 2012, with her Husband and dogs and opened an office in Venice where she continues to live with her Husband, her daughter Darian and their six dogs. Dawn Marie has been the primary attorney in more than 150 trials from family, to civil and criminal. Dawn Marie is trained as a Collaborative Family Law Attorney and is a Certified Family Law and Circuit Civil Mediator.