Meet The Team At Higinbotham & Higinbotham, PLLC

In attempting to offer a little history about George R. Higinbotham, Jr., one of the firm’s two co-founding members, it must first be known that we’re talking about Pete Higinbotham. If you want to know how you get ‘Pete’ out of ‘George,’ ask him . . . or maybe read his book, A Gallery Through Time, a compendium of hunting and fishing stories, although you’ll have to ask a friend that will let you borrow the book, as it is now out of print. He can also be conspicuously found in various television advertisements and on an occasional billboard, or perhaps shopping for antiques with his wife, Jan, or just sitting along the bank of the West Fork thinking about all of the fish he’d like to catch.

In any event, Pete was educated in Marion County public schools and the Greenbrier Military School in Lewisburg, West Virginia. He received his undergraduate degree in 1964 from Tulane University and was honorably discharged from the United States Army as a First Lieutenant thereafter. Pete earned his law degree received from Tulane University in 1970, was originally licensed to practice law in Louisiana (now inactive) and was admitted to the West Virginia Bar in 1970.

Throughout his extensive legal career, Pete not only has submitted articles to the Bibliophilos literary magazine, but has also served as City Attorney for city and towns of Fairmont, Mannington and Rivesville. He has also served as President of the Marion County Bar Association, Special Counsel for the Marion County Commission and all of its agencies, as well as the Marion County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the Marion County Board of Education, the Police Civil Service Commissioner for the City of Fairmont, a past member of the Boards of Directors of the North Central Legal Aid Society, and perhaps most significantly, was a founding member of the West Virginia Legal Aid Corporation. Outside the practice of law, Pete formerly served as President of Prickett’s Fort Board of Directors, President of Fairmont Rotary Club, President of the Fairmont General Hospital Fund Raising Board of Directors and past member of the Boards of Directors of the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund and the Fairmont Industrial and Credit Corporation.

In addition to continuing to be a member of other miscellaneous civic organizations and organizations associated with the practice of trial law, Pete is currently active as a member of the Fairmont Urban Renewal Authority and routinely serves without charge as a volunteer attorney for the Marion County Domestic Violence Program (Hope, Inc.).

He is also admitted to practice before the United States District of Southern Louisiana, the Fourth and Fifth Circuit Courts of Appeals, the United States District Courts of the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia and, along with very few of his local colleagues, one of three Higinbotham lawyers admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Sean is a Morgantown native but now lives on family property near his parents and two brothers in Preston County, with his wife, Julie, and their five children, Christopher, Chase, Ryan, Nicholas and Corinne. Formerly a professional trumpet player, Sean has also been a lifelong motorcycle rider and enthusiast.  Not only has the practice of law given him an opportunity to assist fellow bikers when involved in collisions, Sean was invited to bring his passion and legal abilities to the table in 2004 as one of the founding members of the MountainFest Motorcycle Rally held annually in July in Morgantown, West Virginia, where he was a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee and served as Entertainment Coordinator and General Counsel until 2008. Sean continues to be involved with MountainFest, and routinely volunteers a tremendous amount of his time throughout the community as President-Elect of the Fairmont Rotary Club and Secretary-Treasurer of his local Neighborhood Watch Association. He also routinely performs pro bono work for victims of domestic violence, certain area businesses and municipal public service districts.

Beginning in 1990, Sean attended Fairmont State University (then Fairmont State College), during which time he served as National President of Alpha Phi Sigma, ultimately graduating cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice in 1994. He joined Higinbotham in May 1996 as a student clerk, went on to earn his law degree from the West Virginia University College of Law in 1997 where he was class Vice-President, became an Associate attorney in 1998, and ultimately was invited to become a Partner in the firm in January 2008.

Since becoming a member of the Higinbotham family, Sean has specialized in automobile, motorcycle, commercial vehicle and general traffic liability litigation, as well as general personal injury, premises liability and professional medical negligence. He is also one of three Higinbotham lawyers admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States of America, and has also appeared before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals of the United States, the Northern and Southern United States District Courts of West Virginia, and the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, as well as numerous local State courts primarily located in north central West Virginia.

Sean is a member of the Marion County Bar Association, the West Virginia State Bar, the American Bar Association, and the West Virginia Association for Justice, where he has served on its Board of Governors for over ten years. He is also a member of the American Association of Justice, where his continuing legal education involvement and accomplishments have earned him the status of Advocate with its National College of Advocacy.

Jo Marie Pitrolo is a Fairmont native. She graduated in 1981 from West Virginia University with a B.S.B.Ad degree in finance and graduated in 1984 from the West Virginia University College of Law.

While attending law school, she was a member of the Marlyn E. Lugar Trial Association and was the Research Editor of the West Virginia Law Review. Also, while attending law school, Jo Marie was a law clerk for Furbee, Amos, Webb & Critchfield and concentrated on property and title work. She clerked for the City Attorney of Fairmont and appeared regularly in Municipal Court.

Upon graduating from law school, Jo Marie joined Higinbotham & Higinbotham in 1984. Early in her career, she served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney. She prosecuted various matters in Marion County and tried many criminal cases including burglaries, drunk driving and child sexual assault. She also represented the Marion County Board of Education in personnel and special education matters as well as in construction litigation. As an assistant prosecuting attorney, she also represented the County Commission.

Jo Marie’s practice now concentrates on personal injury litigation, particularly motor vehicle collisions and insurance matters.

She has been involved in many civic organizations and has served on the various boards including the Hope Domestic Violence Center of Marion County; Ronald McDonald House Charities in Morgantown, WV, Fairmont Renaissance, Fairmont Rotary Club, the Marion County Chamber of Commerce and the West Virginia Auto and Truck Dealers Association where she served as President. She is a former officer of the Marion County Bar Association and is a member of the West Virginia State Bar; the American Bar Association, the West Virginia Association for Justice and the American Association for Justice. She is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia and the Northern and Southern District Courts of West Virginia.

In her free time, Jo Marie enjoys tennis, golf and snow skiing.

Forrest A. Bowen, who also goes by “Andy,” joined our firm in June of 2009. Andy is a huge sports fan who not only enjoys playing sports, but also coaching. In fact, for several years now, Andy has been coaching youth football, baseball, basketball and soccer in Bridgeport where he and his family reside. However, Andy’s favorite thing to do is spending time with his family.

Andy graduated from the West Virginia College of Law in 1997, where he and Higinbotham Partner, Sean Sawyer, were classmates. Andy received his undergraduate degree from Marshall University, where he ran track and played for the Thundering Herd’s 1992 I-AA National Champion football team (for you WVU fans, don’t hold that against him). Prior to joining our firm, Andy practiced for over twelve years in Bridgeport, West Virginia. As a Higinbotham associate, Andy now has a general practice that primarily focuses on personal injury.

On most Thursday evenings, you can find Andy on the WDTV Channel 5 evening news at 5:30 p.m. where he addresses current legal topics and answers questions he receives via email at “askandy@wdtv.com.” So, if you have a legal question that you would like to see discussed on TV, send him an email. Otherwise, you’re always welcome to stop by the office and visit us in person.