Kevin S. Kaufman

Kevin S. Kaufman is a 1977 graduate of Bridgeport High School and received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1982, and Master in Business Administration and Doctor of Jurisprudence Degrees in 1985, all from West Virginia University.

Mr. Kaufman is an experienced attorney who has worked in a wide variety of legal areas. As part of a scholarship from Consolidated Gas Transmission Corporation, Mr. Kaufman worked during the summers of his undergraduate years at Consolidated's main office in Clarksburg. Upon graduation from law school, he began work in the Legal Department of Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation's main office in Charleston, West Virginia. His initial assignment was within the regulatory section of the Law Department, which involved Federal Energy Regulatory Commission work. During this period of time, his work was devoted almost exclusively to regulatory matters, either in the Charleston office or at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission offices in Washington, D.C. Within a year of being hired by Columbia, Mr. Kaufman was selected from several candidates within the Legal Department to become the assistant to the General Counsel of Columbia Natural Resources, the production branch, which was being split off from the Transmission Company. As one of only two attorneys within the production company, Mr. Kaufman's responsibilities included a wide range of legal issues, such as contracts, taxation, leasehold, and employment matters.

In 1986, Mr. Kaufman left Columbia Natural Resources to form the Charleston partnership of Pierson & Kaufman. That firm, and its successor firm of Pierson, Kaufman & Stowers, in the next few years grew to a five-attorney firm which occupied an entire floor of the Union Building in downtown Charleston, West Virginia. Mr. Kaufman's primary practice area during those years involved commercial matters.

Effective January 1, 1992, Mr. Kaufman left the Charleston firm in order to return home and establish his firm in Bridgeport.