Hon. John F. McCuskey

BIOGRAPHY

Honorable John F. McCuskey began his association with Shuman McCuskey Slicer PLLC in 1999, following his service as the 70th Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. Born and educated in Clarksburg, Mr. McCuskey’s career in law was preceded by his election to the West Virginia State Legislature in 1972, while he was still a student at West Virginia University College of Law. Over the next 10 years, he combined a family law practice with his public service career in his native Harrison County, West Virginia. In these endeavors, he gained experience and expertise in the formulation of legislation and governmental policy, as well as all areas of commercial and individual litigation.

After serving as West Virginia’s Commissioner of Finance and Administration from 1985 to 1988, Mr. McCuskey became a partner in the firm of Campbell Woods Bagley in Charleston. For 10 years, his trial practice concentrated on product liability and insurance defense in which he successfully represented clients in federal and state court trials throughout West Virginia. Appointed by Governor Cecil Underwood to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in 1998, he authored 10 majority opinions and numerous concurrences and dissents during his year on the state’s highest court. 

As a co-founder of the firm of Shuman McCuskey Slicer PLLC, Mr. McCuskey has continued his active litigation practice in professional negligence defense, coal, gas, energy-related law, and arbitration, mediation and expert witness services focusing on professional malpractice and mineral law disputes. His standing in the legal community has earned Mr. McCuskey Martindale-Hubbell’s prestigious “AV” Rating, which signifies that peers rank him at preeminent levels of legal ability and professional ethics.

An accomplished and long-serving attorney, Mr. McCuskey has represented the gamut of plaintiffs and defendants, individuals and commercial entities alike, having been lead plaintiff’s counsel on both personal injury matters and significant commercial litigation. In addition to federal and state court trials, his involvement with arbitration and mediation encompasses cases focusing on architect and engineering liability, business litigation, energy and mineral litigation, environmental litigation, products liability, insurance coverage and bad faith, general litigation, and professional liability. Recognized for possessing this wide-ranging array of experience garnered over his legal career, Mr. McCuskey now enjoys membership with The National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, an invitation-only professional association of alternative dispute resolution attorneys.

Mr. McCuskey’s two children have followed in their father’s footsteps in law-related careers. Daughter, Liz, is a professor at both the law school and School of Public Health at Boston University, and son, J.B., also an attorney, served in the WV State Legislature and was elected West Virginia State Auditor in 2016 and re-elected in 2020.