Photo Provided Shaheen Law Group LLC welcomes two new attorneys to its staff. Standing are, from left, new hires Brandon Lippert and Joshua Norman with Meagan Todaro Kirchner and Kristina Herman. Firm founder Michael Shaheen is seated in the foreground.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — A year after announcing plans to open a satellite office, one local law firm is counting even more blessings today as it continues to expand its staff.

Michael Shaheen, who was raised in Adena before he graduated from Duquesne University and Capital University School of Law and opening his firm at 128 S. Marietta St. in St. Clairsville, announced in November 2017 that he planned to open a Barnesville office to better serve clients in Monroe and western Belmont counties. Now, with the success of that second office, Shaheen is adding two more attorneys — one who will serve clients from that new office and another who will practice primarily in West Virginia.

“Whenever someone who is used to being a sole practitioner thinks about expanding three- or four-fold, you are always trepidatious,” Shaheen said. “But it seems like every week we’ve been blessed with followers — new and repeat clients.”

When Shaheen introduced the three attorneys on his staff last year, he pointed out that all of those women had young families. As a parent himself, Shaheen said he understands the joys and challenges of family life and strives to ensure his employees have the opportunity to drop off or pick up their children from school and to participate in other important family activities.

The same holds true with the latest additions to the firm because Brandon Lippert and Joshua Norman also have young children.

Lippert is a Guernsey County native whose family owned and operated a small business. Shaheen sees this as an advantage, since it means Lippert “knows what it takes to earn a living.” Lippert completed undergraduate studies at Ohio State University and then, like Shaheen, received his law degree from Capital. Before returning home to the Ohio Valley region, Lippert spent time working for the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Financial Institutions under the Kasich administration.

Lippert said he has experience in the nonprofit and private sectors. A portion of his time will be spent serving clients out of the firm’s Barnesville office.

Lippert is married to Kristina, a stay-at-home mother. Together they have two daughters: Kenlee, 4, and Karter, 1.

“They are the joys of my life,” Lippert said of his family.

Norman, meanwhile, was raised in the Ohio Valley and attended The Linsly School before completing an undergraduate degree at West Virginia Weslyan College and studying law at West Virginia University. He has served as an assistant prosecutor in Ohio County and as assistant city solicitor for Wheeling. He said his experience is “almost exclusively in criminal law” and that he has practiced in areas ranging from Hancock to Marshall counties.

Norman’s wife, Claire, is a teacher at Wheeling Country Day School. They have a 1-year-old daughter, Adelaide.

Meagan Todaro Kirchner, a Wheeling resident who was a member of the Shaheen firm when the new office opened last year, said there is a “great need” for attorneys in Ohio County.

“Frankly, the population of attorneys is aging out,” she said of Ohio County and the entire region.

She added that she is glad to see Norman and Lippert join Shaheen Law Group and said she believes they will enjoy the family-oriented atmosphere of the firm. She pointed out that Shaheen and his wife, Robyn, hosted an early Thanksgiving dinner for the entire 35-member staff on Tuesday at their home. Robyn also works at the firm’s St. Clairsville headquarters.

“Robyn is the glue that keeps the whole thing together. She kind of looks out for you,” Kirchner said. “It’s in her nature. She needs a big brood to take care of.”

Shaheen said he learned to appreciate and respect family and gained a strong work ethic from his mother, Addie Bedway Shaheen, who owned and operated Bedway Coal Co. with her two brothers. That also is why he said his own business today touts the lawyers’ collective experience, wisdom, compassion and trustworthiness as attributes that allow them to meet a wide variety of clients’ needs. In addition to his work in private practice, Shaheen is the law director for the village of Bridgeport.

Shaheen also noted that he anticipates more growth in the future. He would not rule out the possibility of opening yet another office in Wheeling, or perhaps at another Ohio location.

“There is so much back and forth between Ohio and West Virginia,” Shaheen said regarding the practice of local law. “It’s conceivable we could open an office in Wheeling in the next 18 months. Moving west or south also is not out of the question.”

He added that he is pleased his business is “becoming one of the larger firms in the Ohio Valley.”

For more information about Shaheen Law Group, visit slgjustice.com or call the St. Clairsville office at 740-695-4448.