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Bryan R. Cokeley

Education

  • J.D. West Virginia University
    B.A. West Virginia University

Bar Admissions

  • Kentucky
  • Ohio
  • West Virginia


Bryan R. Cokeley
Member

Bryan R. Cokeley
Member

Bryan Cokeley concentrates his practice in the area of employment and labor law. In addition to counseling employers, Mr. Cokeley has tried more than 30 cases in the state and federal courts of West Virginia. He has also appeared before administrative agencies such as the West Virginia Human Rights Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Mr. Cokeley is the leader of the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group.

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

  • Defended a major utility in a gender discrimination case that went to trial in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia.
  • Defended a major hospital in a disability and age-discrimination case.
  • Represented a large coal company against an executive who allegedly violated a covenant-not-to-compete.
  • Took more than thirty jury trials to verdict in state and federal courts
  • Handled dozens of claims before the West Virginia Human Rights Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • 1988
    Steptoe & Johnson
  • 1985-1988
    Law Clerk, Honorable Charles H. Haden, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS / AWARDS

  • Society of Human Resource Management
  • Employment Law Committee, West Virginia State Bar
  • Chambers USA America’s Leading Lawyers for Business
  • The Best Lawyers in America®
  • Senior Articles Editor, West Virginia Law Review
  • Order of the Coif
  • Graduated summa cum laude, with Phi Beta Kappa honors, West Virginia University

INDUSTRY / CIVIC MEMBERSHIPS

  • Human Resource Committee, West Virginia Chamber of Commerce
  • West Virginia Coal Association
  • Fundraising Committee, Kanawha County Public Library
  • Friends of the Kanawha Trestle, Inc.

PUBLICATIONS / SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

  • West Virginia’s New Workers’ Compensation Anti-Discrimination Provision: “The Road to Court is Paved with Good Intentions,” 94 W. Va. Law Review 725 (Spring 1992)
  • Mr. Cokeley is an active lecturer on employment law, having spoken on the Americans with Disabilities Act, wrongful discharge, employee handbooks, workers' compensation discrimination, the unionization process, and sexual harassment.