Breaking accident news: Charleston lawyer Sean McGinley, prominent and admired for his work inside and outside the courtroom, has died in an interstate crash.
McGinley was killed in an accident on Interstate 79 in Braxton County late Thursday afternoon while returning to Charleston from a court hearing in Morgantown, his law partners said.
West Virginia 511, which reports road conditions around West Virginia, reported a crash on Interstate 79 at 5:16 p.m. Thursday near the Frametown exit. The crash required two lanes of southbound highway to be closed.
“I’m at a loss to grasp it,” said his longtime law partner, Tim DiPiero.
“He was such a good man and such a great father, husband, son, just a friend to so many. He was a brilliant lawyer. Just a caring soul, just full of life and fun. It’s hard to understand why these things happen.”
Tim Dipiero, Charleston Attorney, joins @HoppyKercheval to discuss the life of Sean McGinley. McGinley was killed in an accident on I-79 yesterday afternoon. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/QEAk9TRH0R
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) June 4, 2021
McGinley had 30 years of legal experience focusing on ethics, constitutional law, corporate and professional malpractice and more. He worked for a law firm bearing his name, DiPiero Simmons McGinley & Bastress PLLC.
McGinley joined a previous incarnation of the firm, DiTrapano & Jackson, in 1995 and worked on many complex commercial and personal injury cases.
He frequently represented The Charleston Gazette, which later became The Charleston Gazette-Mail, and other media companies.
“He just seemed to always come up with a perspective on a problem or an issue that I hadn’t even thought of. He was incredible when it came to research and writing and arguing. He had a way with words for one thing,” DiPiero said.
He was born in Morgantown and earned his law degree at Keble College at Oxford University in 1990. After that, he served as a law clerk at the West Virginia Supreme Court from 1990 to 1993, clerking for Chief Justice Thomas McHugh and Justice Tom Miller.
From 1994 to 1995, he clerked for U.S. District Judge Charles Haden.
McGinley lived in Charleston with his wife Ana and their sons, Liam and Colin. McGinley coached youth baseball and basketball.
“He’s just a wonderful person who cared about justice, cared about his family, our firm. He was just a great friend and a great human being,” DiPiero said. “It’s hard for me to think of him as being gone right now.”