Thomas A. Heywood, Managing Partner of Bowles Rice, announced today that seven attorneys recently joined the law firm as associates.  Robert E. Akers, Jeremy D. Bragg, Britt A. Freund, Ross C. Lovely, Luke T. Schmitt, Jeffrey M. Shawver and Jeffrey R. Soukup join an experienced roster of Bowles Rice lawyers in the firm’s expanding practice areas of energy law, real estate law, litigation, commercial and financial services, environmental law and intellectual property law.

“We are delighted to welcome these outstanding associates to Bowles Rice,” Heywood said.  “They come from some of the best law schools in the region and are among the best and brightest of their generation.”

Jeremy Bragg is a recent graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law, where he was Order of the Coif and executive publication editor for the West Virginia Law Review.  He has joined the firm’s Hampton Center office, one of two Bowles Rice office locations in Morgantown, and will practice in the areas of energy law, litigation and mine safety and health.

Ross Lovely is a 2008 graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law.  He received his master’s degree in diplomacy and international commerce from UK and a bachelor’s degree from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.  He is a former contributing columnist to the Lexington Herald-Leader.  He has joined the Bowles Rice office in Lexington, and is practicing in the areas of commercial and financial services, energy and environmental law and intellectual property.

Jeffrey Soukup graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 2007 and was managing editor of the Kentucky Law Journal and Order of the Coif.  He served one year as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Karen K. Caldwell, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky before joining the Lexington office of Bowles Rice, in the litigation practice group.

Robert Akers received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia Institute of Technology in 1992 and worked as a project manager and project engineer before entering West Virginia University College of Law, class of 2008.  He is practicing in the Charleston office in the areas of energy, real estate and intellectual property, and is admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Britt Freund received his undergraduate degree in musical theatre from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York in 1994 and worked as a professional actor in New York for several years before earning his law degree in 2008 from Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He is practicing in the Charleston office, focusing on coal, oil and gas law.

Luke Schmitt earned his degree in 2008 from the West Virginia University College of Law, where he was Order of the Coif.  He received his undergraduate degree in finance, magna cum laude, from WVU in 2005.  He has joined the litigation practice group in the Charleston office.

Jeffrey Shawver also is a 2008 graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law and Order of the Coif.  He earned his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, in political science from West Virginia State University in 2004 and served as assistant to the General Counsel/Director of Public Division, Office of the West Virginia Secretary of State and special assistant to Governor Joe Manchin III prior to entering law school.  He is practicing law in the commercial and financial services group in the Charleston office.

Bowles Rice is a regional, full-service law firm with 120 attorneys and seven offices, located in Charleston, Martinsburg, Morgantown, and Parkersburg, West Virginia; Lexington, Kentucky; and Winchester, Virginia.