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Bowles Rice LLP

United States 2025

General Information

Year founded: 1920
This is the year the firm (or its earliest predecessor entity) was founded.
Logo for Bowles Rice LLP

Overview

Content is provided by the firm.

Bowles Rice is celebrating our centennial anniversary in 2020, having begun as a three-attorney firm in Charleston, West Virginia in 1920. Since that time, we have grown, through expansions and mergers, into a regional full-service law firm with more than 110 attorneys and a staff of more than 150 professionals, serving clients in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, and throughout the world.

Five of Bowles Rice’s seven offices are located in West Virginia: in Charleston (West Virginia's capital city); Morgantown (home to West Virginia University); Parkersburg (on the West Virginia-Ohio border); Martinsburg (located less than an hour's drive from Washington, DC as well as the borders of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania); and Wheeling (in the state’s “Northern Panhandle,” bordering both Ohio and Pennsylvania). The firm’s office in southwestern Pennsylvania is located in the Southpointe commercial complex in Washington County, less than 30 minutes from Pittsburgh. Bowles Rice also has an office in Winchester, Virginia, the county seat of Frederick County.

As a full-service firm committed to meeting the needs of our clients, Bowles Rice offers a wide range of legal services, including corporate and commercial law and litigation; mergers and acquisitions; labor and employment law; federal, state and local tax law; government relations; employee benefits, executive compensation and employee benefits; environmental and regulatory law; municipal bonds and public finance; bankruptcy and creditors' rights; and insurance defense.

We provide legal services and dispute resolution to clients in such key industry groups as banking and financial services; energy and natural resources (oil and natural gas, coal and alternative energy); manufacturing; chemical; construction; education; health care; commercial real estate development and hospitality, gaming and hospitality/tourism.

Bowles Rice attorneys are active leaders in the business community, as well as charitable, educational, civic and community organizations throughout our region. We are a member and the West Virginia representative of the Network of Trial Law Firms.


Rankings

Bowles Rice LLP is nationally ranked in 1 practice areas and metro ranked in 41 practice areas. Best Law Firms rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process.

Read how Best Law Firms ranks firms

National Rankings

Tier 2
Tier 2 for Mining Law

Metro Rankings

Charleston-WV
Tier 1 for Banking and Finance Law
Tier 1 for Commercial Litigation
Tier 1 for Corporate Governance Law
Tier 1 for Corporate Law
Tier 1 for Education Law

Highlighted Client Comments

All client comments represent the opinions of the people who provided them. All potential clients are urged to remember that no two cases are ever completely alike and that the result in one case does not guarantee a similar result in another case.
Banking and Finance Law
Sandy Murphy and the entire bank services team at Bowles Rice are hands down the best at what they do in West Virginia.
Robert Tissue, Sr. Vice President & CFO – Summit Financial Group, Inc.

Rankings

National Rankings

Tier 2
Tier 2 for Mining Law

Regional Rankings

Charleston-WV
Tier 1 for Banking and Finance Law
Tier 1 for Commercial Litigation
Tier 1 for Corporate Governance Law
Tier 1 for Corporate Law
Tier 1 for Education Law
Tier 1 for Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law
Tier 1 for Energy Law
Tier 1 for Energy Regulatory Law
Tier 1 for Financial Services Regulation Law
Tier 1 for Government Relations Practice
Tier 1 for Health Care Law
Tier 1 for Litigation - Construction
Tier 1 for Litigation - First Amendment
Tier 1 for Litigation - Insurance
Tier 1 for Litigation - Real Estate
Tier 1 for Mergers and Acquisitions Law
Tier 1 for Mining Law
Tier 1 for Municipal Law
Tier 1 for Natural Resources Law
Tier 1 for Oil and Gas Law
Tier 1 for Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants
Tier 1 for Real Estate Law
Tier 1 for Tax Law
Tier 1 for Trusts and Estates
Tier 2 for Construction Law
Tier 2 for Corporate Compliance Law
Tier 2 for Environmental Law
Tier 2 for Insurance Law
Tier 2 for Litigation - Banking and Finance
Tier 2 for Litigation - Environmental
Tier 2 for Litigation - Labor and Employment
Tier 2 for Litigation - Trusts and Estates
Tier 2 for Public Finance Law
Tier 3 for Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants
Morgantown
Tier 1 for Bet-the-Company Litigation
Tier 1 for Commercial Litigation
Tier 1 for Energy Law
Tier 1 for Litigation - Insurance
Tier 1 for Litigation - Labor and Employment
Tier 1 for Litigation and Controversy - Tax
Tier 1 for Real Estate Law
Tier 1 for Tax Law
Tier 2 for Corporate Law
Tier 2 for Employment Law - Management
Tier 2 for Health Care Law
Tier 2 for Labor Law - Management
Tier 2 for Litigation - Health Care
Tier 2 for Litigation - Trusts and Estates
Tier 2 for Medical Malpractice Law - Defendants
Tier 2 for Nonprofit / Charities Law
Tier 2 for Trusts and Estates
Tier 3 for Litigation - Construction
Pittsburgh
Tier 1 for Construction Law
Tier 1 for Litigation - Construction

Practice Areas

The below are areas of legal specialty volunteered by the firm and do not designate a specialty in which a Best Law Firms ranking is held.
  • Administrative / Regulatory Law
  • Banking and Finance Law
  • Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
  • Bet-the-Company Litigation
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Construction Law
  • Corporate Compliance Law
  • Corporate Governance Law
  • Corporate Law
  • Education Law
  • Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law
  • Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law
  • Employment Law - Management
  • Energy Law
  • Environmental Law
  • Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law
  • Financial Services Regulation Law
  • Government Relations Practice
  • Health Care Law
  • Insurance Law
  • International Arbitration - Commercial
  • Labor Law - Management
  • Legal Malpractice Law - Defendants
  • Litigation - Antitrust
  • Litigation - Banking and Finance
  • Litigation - Bankruptcy
  • Litigation - Construction
  • Litigation - Environmental
  • Litigation - First Amendment
  • Litigation - Intellectual Property
  • Litigation - Labor and Employment
  • Litigation - Real Estate
  • Litigation - Trusts and Estates
  • Litigation and Controversy - Tax
  • Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants
  • Media Law
  • Medical Malpractice Law - Defendants
  • Mergers and Acquisitions Law
  • Mining Law
  • Natural Resources Law
  • Oil and Gas Law
  • Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants
  • Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs
  • Product Liability Litigation - Defendants
  • Professional Malpractice Law - Defendants
  • Public Finance Law
  • Real Estate Law
  • Tax Law
  • Trusts and Estates
  • Workers' Compensation Law - Employers

Individuals Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America®

Bowles Rice LLP has 39 lawyers recognized for individual performance in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. By receiving this Best Lawyers recognition from their peers for their professional excellence, these lawyers made Bowles Rice LLP eligible for evaluation for Best Law Firms rankings. For almost two decades, Best Lawyers has awarded these singular accolades, making them the foundation of our Best Law Firms awards. Read more about our Best Lawyers process here.
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Client Comments

All client comments represent the opinions of the people who provided them. All potential clients are urged to remember that no two cases are ever completely alike and that the result in one case does not guarantee a similar result in another case.
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Office Locations

Canonsburg, PA
Southpointe Town Center, Suite 200
1800 Main Street
Canonsburg, PA 15317
United States
724-514-8915 Call our Canonsburg, PA location at 724-514-8915 Get Directions Get directions to our Canonsburg, PA location
Winchester, VA
480 West Jubal Early Drive, Suite 130
Winchester, VA 22601
United States
540-723-8877 Call our Winchester, VA location at 540-723-8877 Get Directions Get directions to our Winchester, VA location
Morgantown, WV
University Town Center, Suite 400
125 Granville Square
Morgantown, WV 26501
United States
304-285-2500 Call our Morgantown, WV location at 304-285-2500 Get Directions Get directions to our Morgantown, WV location
Parkersburg, WV
United Square, Fifth Floor
501 Avery Street
Parkersburg, WV 26101
United States
304-485-8500 Call our Parkersburg, WV location at 304-485-8500 Get Directions Get directions to our Parkersburg, WV location

Management and Personnel

Managing Partner
Marc Monteleone
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