Lyne Ranson, Esq., is from Charleston, West Virginia. She graduated from West Virginia University College of Law with a J.D. in 1982 where she was selected for the Moot court Board and named to the prestigious Order of the Barristers. During her last year of law school she was a finalist in the Marlyn E. Lugar Trial Competition and was selected as “Outstanding Oralist” for the competition. Ms. Ranson graduated magna cum laude from Salem College with a B.S. in Elementary Education and Remedial Reading. She taught elementary school in Clarksburg until she entered law school in 1979.
Following graduation from law school, Ms. Ranson worked as an Assistant United States Attorney for the S.D. W.Va. until 1989 where she primarily focused on prosecuting white collar crime, and fraud. She was honored for starting the first Medical Fraud Task Force.
While at the United States Attorney’s office Ms. Ranson received a “Special Achievement Award” from the United States Department of Justice. She was recognized by the FBI for her “dedication and professionalism”. The United States Inspector General of Health and Human Resources presented Ms. Ranson with an “Integrity Award” for the prosecution of white collar crime. She was admitted to practice in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1982. From 1985-89 Lyne was selected several times per year to be an instructor training new prosecutors in federal trial skills at the U.S. Attorney General Advocacy Institute in Washington, D.C.
After leaving the U.S. Attorney’s office, Ms. Ranson was chosen and served as first counsel to the West Virginia Ethics Commission for two years and then opened a small private practice in Charleston. During this time, she was an Adjunct trial Instructor at WVU College of Law for the 1989 fall semester and regularly participated as an instructor in the summer Trial Advocacy Course from 1988 to 2005. Ms. Ranson was a legal correspondent and host of a Charleston television noon time show Legal Briefs.
In 1992, Ms. Ranson was elected and served as Circuit judge of Kanawha County until 1997; and from 1997 to 2000 she was an administrative law judge for Special Education; hearing examiner for the West Virginia State Police and counsel for West Virginia American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
Since opening her firm in 1997, Ms. Ranson has concentrated primarily in handling family law cases involving divorce involving businesses and distribution of substantial marital assets, custody, relocation, grandparents’ visitation, and drafting prenuptial agreements. Ms. Ranson was in the first group of attorneys in West Virginia to be certified and trained as Family Law mediators. She has served as a guardian ad litem for minor children.
Ms. Ranson has served as Chair of the West Virginia State Bar Family law committee since 2010. She is the co-editor of The Family Times a state-wide family law e-newsletter. She has been Chair of the Kanawha County Bench-Bar Family Law Committee since 2011 and has been a committee member since 2008. Ms. Ranson is a member of the national ABA (American Bar Association) Family law section where she has been Chair of the Marital Property committee, vice-Chair of the Alimony committee, the CLE committee, and the Nominating committee. She is a frequent national and statewide speaker on family law topics including:
- Family Law Institute (Morgantown, WV) “New trends in Alimony” 2005
- ABA Family Law CLE (Scottsdale, AZ) “Top 5 Tips” (Oct. 2005)
- WVU College of Law CLE –family law (Morgantown) “Building an Alimony Case from Scratch” (August 2008).
- NBI—Family Law Program (Charleston, WV) “Navigating Complex Asset Cases”(January 2009)
- NBI—Family Law (Charleston, WV)—”Determining an Equitable Outcome”
- WV Trial Lawyers Association—(Charleston, WV) “What happens when your personal injury client files for divorce” (February 2010)
- NBI—Family Law Program (Charleston, WV) “Dissipation of Marital Property” (Sept. 2011)
- National CLE Conference (Colorado)—Family Law CLE (January 2012) ” 5 Ways to attack a Prenuptial Agreement”
- National CLE Conference (Colorado)—Family Law CLE (January 2015) “Alimony: To Pay or Not to Pay”
If you would like to contact Ms. Ranson, please see the information below:
Lyne Ranson Law Office, PLCC
1528 Kanawha Blvd. E.,
Charleston, WV 25311
(304) 344-2121
www.lyneranson.net
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