Lee Murray Hall

Attorney Lee Murray Hall is an experienced and respected WV insurance coverage and defense attorney with Jenkins Fenstermaker, PLLC. Originally from Owensboro, Kentucky, she graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1990.

Upon graduation, Lee joined the Louisville, Kentucky-based firm of Brown, Todd & Heyburn, where she practiced in the litigation section before joining Jenkins Fenstermaker in 1993.

Lee focuses her practice on insurance coverage, insurance defense, and WV bad faith defense. Her insurance defense practice includes sexual misconduct, municipal liability, motor vehicle and trucking claims, premises, and medical malpractice claims.

Within her insurance coverage practice, Lee defends first-party bad faith claims and provides coverage opinions and files declaratory actions on legal issues such as trigger and allocation; the number of “occurrences”; priority disputes; damages calculations; batch issues as well as the more common issues presented in ISO and manuscript forms for casualty and property policies. Her representation of carriers often begins in the claims handling process, well before the filing of a coverage lawsuit, and extends through trial, settlement, and appeal. She also routinely provides preventative counseling and negotiation to avoid litigation.

Attorney Lee Murray Hall has lectured to professional groups on statutory and regulatory insurance issues, insurance climate, and tort reform. She has also written articles on changes in statutory and regulatory insurance law, WV bad faith defense, contract interpretation, and updates from the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. She has presented on coverage issues for DRI, the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (FDCC), The West Virginia Continuing Legal Education Program, National Business Institute (NBI), Lorman, and the Independent Insurance Agents of West Virginia (IAAWV).

Lee was recently selected to serve as a professional liability arbiter for coverage disputes involving professional liability policies and has since arbitrated insurance claims in Kentucky and West Virginia.

Lee is recognized by peers, professional organizations, and clients as a thought leader in her practice areas. She was recognized by Best Lawyers in America© as the 2019 Charleston, WV “Lawyer of the Year” in Insurance Law and has been named one of the top 10 attorneys in the state by SuperLawyers Magazine. She was also selected as the 2015 Defense Lawyer of the Year by Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia (DTCWV)—the West Virginia DRI affiliate organization—which she had previous served as president from 2010 to 2011. And Lee founded and served as the initial chair of the Insurance Committee for the DTCWV, where she published regular legal updates on West Virginia tort and insurance law for clients and insurance professionals and monitored legislative and regulatory changes.

More recently, attorney Lee Murray Hall is the program director and co-chair for the FDCC 2019 Insurance Industry Institute (I-3) in New York, an intensive two-day with sessions led by industry leaders and executives sharing their forecasts of industry trends and developments.

Attorney Lee Murray Hall currently serves on the West Virginia Board of Law Examiners and is a member of the FDCC and the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC). Lee has also served as the President of the Cabell County Bar Association.

Education:

J.D., University of Kentucky College of Law, 1990

Associate Editor, Kentucky Law Journal, 1987 to 1990

B.A., summa cum laude, Western Kentucky University, 1987

Bar Admissions:

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, 1993

United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia

United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia

Supreme Court of Kentucky, 1990

Indiana Supreme Court, 1992

Professional and Community Activities:

West Virginia Board of Law Examiners

Board Member, 2009 to Present

Vice President, 2016 to 2017

President, 2012 to 2013

Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia (DTCWV)

Board of Governors, 2004 to 2012

Immediate Past President, 2011 to 2012

President, 2010 to 2011

Vice President, 2009 to 2010

Chair, Insurance Committee, 2005 to 2007

Cabell County Bar Association, President, 2009 to 2010

Defense Research Institute (DRI)

Member

West Virginia Liaison to Women’s Substantive Committee

International Association of Defense Counsel, 2015 to Present

Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (FDCC)

Member, 2014 to Present

Co-Chair 2019 Insurance Industry Institute (I-3)

West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Vice Chair, Civil Justice Committee

International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC), 2015 to Present

Presentations and Publications:

FDCC Claims Professional Desk Reference Compendium, West Virginia 2018

Undercover(ed) Trucker: An Insider’s View into Efforts to Expand Coverage for Motor Carriers, 2018 DRI Transportation Seminar, Chicago, 2018

Turning the Tables on Plaintiffs in Trucking Litigation, April 2018

Occurrence and Interrelated Wrongful Acts, West Virginia College of Law, Insurance Law, 2018

Litigation Management College, Faculty 2017 and 2018

Trial -180 Days: Is Your Evaluation Complete?

Problem Jurisdictions in Coverage Law, DRI, Insurance Coverage and Practice, New York, 2016

Rescission and Misrepresentation: “Living in a Material World” - FDCC Annual Meeting, San Diego, 2016

Deposition Workshop and Court Watch, Independent Insurance Agents of West Virginia (IIAWV) Annual Meeting, October 2015

E & O Risk Management: Meeting the Challenge of Change, 2014 to 2016

Court Watch, IIAWV Annual Meeting, October 2014

Insurance Coverage Litigation, National Business Institute (NBI), 2014

IIAWV Insurance Day, January 2014

Court Watch, West Virginia Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting, 2012

Deposition Bootcamp, DTCWV, 2011

Chair, Women and the Law, DTCWV, 2011, 2008

Litigating the Insurance Coverage Claim, NBI, 2009

Insurance Coverage Law, 2009

Insurance Coverage Litigation, NBI, 2007

Chair and Moderator, Women and the Law, DTCWV, 2006

Insurance Coverage Update, 2005

Recognitions and Awards:

2017 Defense Trial Counsel Diplomat

2016 Defense Trial Counsel Lawyer of the Year, Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia

2015 The West Virginia Bar Foundation Fellow

Super Lawyers, 2007 - 2011, 2013 - 2021

Insurance Coverage, 2007 to Present

Top 10 in West Virginia, 2014 and 2015

Best Lawyers in America© Commerical Litigation, Insurance Law, 2020

2019 Charleston, WV “Lawyer of the Year” - Insurance Law

Insurance Law, 2005 to Present

America’s Leading Lawyers, Chambers USA, 2010 to Present

Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America (LCA), 2013 to Present

Top 100 Lawyer in West Virginia, American Society of Legal Advocates, 2013 to Present

America’s Leading Litigation Attorneys, Benchmark Litigation, 2008 to Present

Exceptional Performance Award, Defense Research Institute (DRI), 2010 to 2011

Past Employment:

Litigation Associate, Brown, Todd & Heyburn, 1990 to 1993