Suleiman O. Oko-ogua is a Member in Bailey & Wyant, PLLC’s Charleston Office. Suleiman is originally from Nigeria, West Africa and moved to the United States in 1997 to attend College. He graduated from Berea College in 2001, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biology. At Berea, he was actively involved in human rights awareness and traveled extensively around Eastern and Western Europe, where he conducted several independent projects on international human rights, conflict resolution and diplomacy. He then graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 2004. While in law school, he was a Senior Staff Member of the Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture and Natural Resources (formerly Journal of Natural Resources and Environmental Law). Prior to joining Bailey & Wyant, Suleiman clerked for a Kentucky State Judge. He also spent about three years as a prosecutor and as a private attorney in Kentucky. As a prosecutor, he prosecuted criminal, abuse, neglect and child support cases on behalf of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As a private attorney, he was involved in custody, personal injury, civil rights and employment law cases. Recently, Suleiman was associated with a defense firm in Huntington, West Virginia, where he defended major railroad companies in various tort actions. He also defended several large medical device companies in products liability cases and a regional restaurant chain in premises liability cases. As a Member at Bailey & Wyant, Suleiman practices in the areas of civil litigation, most notably civil rights litigation, employment law and insurance defense. Notably, Suleiman has successfully defended various government agencies and employees in various civil rights and employment law cases filed against them. Recently, Suleiman was involved in a two week trial defending an organization and some of its board members in a lawsuit filed by an individual alleging gender and sexual orientation discrimination that resulted in a successful defense verdict. Suleiman was named to Lawyers of Color’s 2014 Annual Hot List and voted among top the 100 National Black Lawyers in 2017.
Education
- Berea College, B.A., 2001
- University of Kentucky, J.D., 2004
Bar Admissions
- •Kentucky Supreme Court
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- •Maryland Court of Appeals
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- •West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals
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- •United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky
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- •United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia
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- •United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia
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- •United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
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- •United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Awards And Honors
- Lawyers of Color’s 2014 Annual Hot List and voted among top the 100 National Black Lawyers in 2017
Industries
- Insurance Defense
- Labor and Employment
- Transportation
- Products Liability
- Personal Injury
- Civil Rights