Robert M. Bastress III

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 2012-2017, 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 one of four lawyers appointed Special Assistant Attorney General by the Attorney General and the Governor to represent the State of West Virginia in the well-publicized case against various drug distributors who supplied prescription drugs throughout the State.  That litigation resulted in settlements totaling more than $47 million, which the Charleston Gazette Mail described as the largest known settlement against drug companies in the State's history.

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 DiTrapano, Barrett, DiPiero, McGinley & Simmons, PLLC. He has a varied civil practice.  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 in Riffle v. C.J. Hughes Construction Co., 226 W.Va. 581 (2010).

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 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. Mr. Bastress currently serves as a Board Member and Seminar Chairperson for the West Virginia Association of Justice. 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 West Virginia Association for Justice and the West Virginia Employment Lawyers’ Association. He also serves on the Friends of Clay Center Board. 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.