Seth Wilson is a partner in the Morgantown office of Bowles Rice and the leader of the firm’s Energy and Real Estate Development group.  He also is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee.  He practices in the areas of energy and real estate development, commercial real estate law, mineral law, tax and general business law.  

Mr. Wilson has a broad real estate and mineral law practice that involves assisting clients with structuring, negotiating and closing real estate transactions, like kind exchanges, all types of commercial, residential and mixed-use developments, commercial lease transactions, the examination of mineral titles, curative title work and the sale and acquisition of coal, oil, gas and timber properties.  He is an agent with First American Title Insurance Company and has examined and insured titles in connection with a wide variety of commercial real estate projects.  He has also represented clients in the areas of zoning, land use planning, foreclosure and landlord/tenant.

His commercial and general business practice includes structuring, negotiating and closing mergers, corporate reorganization and stock and asset purchase transactions.  He has represented lenders and borrowers in connection with complex commercial loan transactions involving the financing of hotels, retail shopping strips and multi-family residential developments, equipment leases and mineral exploration.  He also assists clients with the organization, operation and dissolution of business entities, and with the preparation of buy/sell agreements, employment agreements and other contracts. 

Mr. Wilson's tax practice focuses on the analysis of federal income tax issues, and the design of tax-sensitive estate plans, including:  the preparation of wills; revocable trusts; irrevocable life insurance trusts; charitable trusts; family limited partnerships and advance directives.  He also has experience in the areas of asset protection planning, like kind exchanges, estate administration, elder law and Medicaid planning.  He has successfully helped non-profit corporations organize and apply for federal tax-exempt status.

He graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor of science in economics from West Virginia University.  He obtained his law degree in 2001 from the West Virginia University College of Law, where he graduated with distinction as a member of the Order of the Coif.  While attending law school, he served as president of the Student Bar Association and was inducted into Mountain, West Virginia University’s highest ranking honorary.  He is a member of the 2005 Class of Leadership West Virginia.  

Mr. Wilson was named Best Lawyers’ 2014 Energy Law Lawyer of the Year in the northern West Virginia region. He was recognized by the 2013 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business among “Leaders in their Field” for Natural Resources Law. He was named to Best Lawyers in America for Energy Law and named to West Virginia Super Lawyers in the area of Natural Resources Law. 

He is licensed to practice in West Virginia and Pennsylvania and is admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.  He is a member of the West Virginia State Bar, the Pennsylvania State Bar, the West Virginia Bar Association, the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation and the Monongalia County Bar Association.