Frazier & Oxley, L.C.

A practice with roots in 1954

The story here starts in Huntington, West Virginia, in 1954. That is the year William M. Frazier began his law practice in Cabell County. The firm that carries his name today was formed through a merger, and it continues under his son, W. Michael Frazier, together with Leon K. Oxley.

Seventy years is a long run for any business. A firm that has held one family line for that long tends to know its community and its courts. In my opinion, that unbroken thread from founder to grandson is the clearest fact on the firm's own pages, and it shapes how the rest of the practice reads.

Focus and practice areas

Frazier & Oxley works across a wide mix of civil and personal matters. It handles estate planning, wills, and probate, and it takes on estate disputes when they come up. It also practices criminal defense, corporate planning and tax law, employment law, and personal injury.

Family law and divorce sit on the list as well. Taken together, these areas cover both the planning side of a client's life and the moments when something has gone wrong. The firm handles state and federal matters, which widens the kind of case it can accept.

A person does not have to sort out which office fits which problem. The range means one firm can look at an estate plan, a business tax question, and a personal injury claim under the same roof.

The attorneys behind the work

Three attorneys are named on the firm's site, and each carries a different focus. Their backgrounds explain how the practice covers so many areas with a small group.

W. Michael Frazier

W. Michael Frazier is a partner at the firm. He graduated from West Virginia University College of Law in 1985 and began his career working for his father, the founder. In 2009 he joined the Board of Governors of the West Virginia State Bar, and in 2015 he was elected president of that body. Service of that kind points to a role in the profession beyond his own caseload.

Leon K. Oxley

Leon K. Oxley is the managing partner. He earned his law degree from Emory University School of Law and has practiced since 1975. He is also a Certified Public Accountant, and he is a member of the U.S. Tax Court. His work centers on federal and state taxation, along with estate planning and probate. The pairing of a law degree with a CPA is useful in tax and estate work, where the numbers and the law meet on the same page.

Michael "Dru" Frazier

Michael "Dru" Frazier represents the third generation in the practice. He graduated from West Virginia University College of Law and started out at his grandfather's firm. He focuses on business and employment litigation, criminal defense, probate, and personal injury. He is admitted in all of West Virginia, and in the Northern and Southern Districts of its federal courts.

Experience and geographic reach

The firm reports more than 100 years of combined experience across its attorneys. That figure reflects the long careers on the roster, from Oxley, who has practiced since 1975, to Michael Frazier, who came out of law school in the mid-1980s. The firm serves clients in the Huntington-Charleston metro area.

A family thread runs through the practice in more than one way. W. Michael Frazier's wife is also a practicing attorney, and one of his three sons practices at the firm. As a reviewer, I read that as a sign of a practice built around people who stay put rather than pass through.

Who the firm may suit

Someone weighing this firm gets a general practice with a tax and estate core and a working litigation side. The breadth of practice areas means a client can bring more than one kind of matter to the same office. A person planning an estate, a small business owner with a tax question, or someone facing a criminal charge would each find a matching focus on the team.

What stands out to me is the combination of a CPA-trained tax lawyer with attorneys who do courtroom work. That is not something every small firm can put in one place. The picture the firm presents, as published on its own site, rests on decades of steady practice in one corner of West Virginia, and on a name that has stayed in the same family since 1954.