About Our Attorneys

Originally from Fredericksburg, Virginia, Matthew Criswell graduated from Radford University in 1995 with a degree in History. In 2000, Mr. Criswell graduated from West Virginia University College of Law.

In 2001, Mr. Criswell began his legal career in West Virginia by joining the defense law firm of Kay Casto & Chaney, PLLC. While working with Kay Casto & Chaney, PLLC, Mr. Criswell concentrated in the areas of employment law, commercial litigation, and insurance defense. This experience provided him with an invaluable basis for his current practice. 

In 2006, Mr. Criswell became a founding member of Criswell & French, PLLC. He is committed to providing quality legal services with an emphasis on client contact while preserving the integrity and professionalism that he has always applied to his legal practice.

Mr. Criswell currently resides in Charleston, West Virginia, with his wife Staci and their two children, Alexandra and Nicholas. 

Mr. Criswell is admitted to practice before all State and Federal West Virginia Courts and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

• West Virginia State Bar
• American Association for Justice
• West Virginia Association for Justice
• American Bar Association
• National Employment Lawyers Association
• West Virginia Employment Lawyers Association
• The Judge John A. Fields, Jr., American Inns of Court
• Kanawha County Bar Association
• West Virginia Bar Association

Mr. French is a native West Virginian who grew up in Putnam County, West Virginia. He attended Winfield High School and West Virginia Institute of Technology, and he later graduated from West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University) in 1997 with a degree in Applied Mathematics. Mr. French graduated from the West Virginia University College of Law in 2002 and began practicing in West Virginia the same year.

In 1992, Mr. French enlisted in the West Virginia Air National Guard, where he served as an aircraft technician on C-130 Hercules aircraft with the 130th Airlift Wing at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia. He served in several overseas missions, including the mission to enforce the no-fly zone over southern Iraq following the fist Gulf War and the mission to support American troops stationed in Bosnia Herzegovina. Mr. French left military service in 1999.

He began his legal career with a small law firm in Charleston that primarily represented injured West Virginians and those charged with state and federal crimes. While he was practicing with this firm, Mr. French joined the Criminal Justice Act Panel for the Southern District of West Virginia, qualifying him for representation of indigent federal criminal defendants in that District. Mr. French also practices in several other areas of law, including personal injury litigation, employment law, municipal law, family law, and state and federal criminal representation; he also represents victims of sexual harassment.

In 2006, Mr. French became a founding member of Criswell & French, PLLC. With this new partnership, he is better able to serve clients with a personal touch while still maintaining the high level of professionalism and ethics he employed before starting this firm.

Mr. French married his wife Ashley in 2002. They make their home in Charleston with their two Jack Russell Terriers, George and Sissy.

Mr. French admitted to practice before all state and federal West Virginia Courts and the United State Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

• West Virginia State Bar 
• American Association for Justice
• West Virginia Association for Justice 
• Kanawha County Bar Association
• National Employment Lawyers Association
• West Virginia Employment Lawyers Association
• The John A. Fields American Inns of Court.