Jul. 26—charleston — A Fayetteville native continues to receive accolades for her work as an attorney.

Calwell Luce diTrapano PLLC has announced that its managing partner, Melissa Hambrick Luce, has been selected by Super Lawyers to the West Virginia Super Lawyers list for 2023. This is the fourth consecutive year Luce has received the professional achievement.

According to a company press release, no more than five percent of lawyers in West Virginia are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers, a rating service, and Thomson Reuters business. Candidates are selected annually on a state-by-state basis using a multiphase process that includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.

Luce believes the groundwork to achieving such a high degree of recognition from her peers began early in her career.

"From participating in mission work in 1982 for Project Serve in the Dominican Republic to working as an intern in 1985 for Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, I learned the importance of hard work and serving others," Luce said in the press release. "Those early years in my career helped form my desire to excel at customer service, to fight for the underdog and assist those who are often overlooked and don't know how to carry the fight for themselves."

While Luce has been a trial attorney for over 35 years, she added it is imperative for those in a position to do so to give back in support of those in need. "I believe you have to be a 'super lawyer' outside the courtroom as well."

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the United States, Luce served as a volunteer attorney for Trial Lawyers Care, providing free legal representation to victims and their families.

"To come face-to-face with people whose lives have been ravaged in ways most of us cannot fathom, you tend to evaluate your own life and what you want to achieve," Luce said. "Leadership became a calling. I knew I wanted to help people who have been hurt by others. And I also gained an understanding of the value of caring about the client, their family and their situations."

Her partner, the firm's founder, Stuart Calwell, said Luce has earned a reputation as a formidable opponent in the courtroom.

"When Missy was practicing law in New Jersey, she was recognized by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Certified Civil Trial Attorney, a distinction earned by only one percent of the attorneys in New Jersey," said Calwell. "I knew of her prowess while she practiced law in West Virginia with the late Rudy Di Trapano before she went to New Jersey. I saw her as indispensable and asked her to return to West Virginia to practice at my firm. And to my delight and benefit, she did."

Calwell added that Luce has a knack for hiring great people and making sure they feel appreciated while working under high volume and stressful circumstances.

As managing partner, Luce oversees the firm's 12 attorneys and numerous support staff. Her practice focuses on medical malpractice, birth trauma and injuries, pharmaceutical litigation, products liability and wrongful death.

Born in Fayetteville, where her family still resides, Luce is a member of the bars of New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. She has served on the board of governors of the New Jersey Association for Justice, is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, and was named a 2020 Fellow of the West Virginia Bar Foundation. She is AV Preeminent Peer rated by Martindale-Hubbell for achieving the highest level of professional excellence for her legal knowledge, communication skills and ethical standards.

More information about Super Lawyers is available at www.superlawyers.com. To learn more about Calwell Luce diTrapano PLLC, visit www.cldlaw.com.

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