Harley is the owner of The Wagner Law Firm, West Virginia’s only exclusive DUI defense law firm. Harley is a graduate of his beloved alma mater, West Virginia University, where he received a Bachelor of Science in journalism in 1990. He attended law school in Lansing, Michigan where he graduated from the Thomas M. Cooley School of Law in 1995. Criminal law and being a criminal defense attorney was Harley’s singular focus during and after law school.
In furtherance of that goal, Harley started his career in criminal law as an Assistant State Prosecutor in Harrison County, West Virginia in 1997, where he was immediately put in the courtroom, handling numerous types of criminal cases. In the fall of 1999, Harley moved back to his hometown of Martinsburg, West Virginia to do what he always wanted to do: Practice criminal defense law. He worked as an associate at the Law Office of Kevin D. Mills and Associates. At the time, Mr. Mills was one of the foremost, reputable criminal defense attorneys in all of West Virginia, state and federal courts. In 2004, the firm became Mills & Wagner.
In 2000, Harley joined the National College for DUI Defense, a national organization comprised of many of the finest DUI defense attorneys in the country. It is through this organization that Harley’s interest in DUI defense and DUI law was born. From that 2000 period through early 2010, Harley amassed hundreds of hours of DUI defense training through dozens of nationwide seminars and specialized training in courtroom trial work. During this period, Harley also became a qualified administer of the standardized field sobriety testing protocol, just as taught at the West Virginia State Police Academy (2003), and from there a qualified instructor on standardized field sobriety testing (2004) as well as a trained breath test operator on West Virginia’s breath machine, the Intoximeter EC/IR II.
In February of 2010, Harley – along with his longtime paralegal and close friend, Heather McCoy – jumped out on his own to open West Virginia’s only exclusive DUI defense law firm, The Wagner Law Firm. Through present day, Harley has amassed over 800 hours of DUI defense training and instruction, having now represented over 3,000 citizens throughout West Virginia and has now appeared in 52 of West Virginia’s 55 counties. He is the author of West Virginia DUI Defense, The Law and Practice, which is the go to handbook for many magistrates, judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and law enforcement throughout West Virginia. He is currently working on the 2nd edition which he hopes to go to publication soon.
Harley has been selected for inclusion in West Virginia Super Lawyers® eight times. He maintains an AV Preeminent® Rating by with Martindale-Hubbell®, an Avvo Rating of 10.0, and an excellent annual rating from the Better Business Bureau. Harley is also President-Elect of the national DUI Defense Lawyers Association which he was Charter Member and founder of in 2014, which comprises many of the nation’s top DUI attorneys and experts. He is a lifetime sustaining member of the National College for DUI Defense, where he served on the faculty as well as state delegate for West Virginia for over a decade. He is co-founder of the West Virginia DUI Defense Lawyers Association and is a frequent lecturer around the country at various state and national DUI seminars.
Harley married the love of his life, Shauna, in 2000. They have two sons, William Harley Wagner (age 9) and Wesley Thomas Wagner (age 6), and a black Labrador retriever named Max. Harley’s singular and #1 hobby is his family and their time together, whether its vacationing, or helping to coach his sons' basketball and baseball teams or just quality family time at home. Harley also is a very active supporter of his college alma mater, West Virginia University, where he and his family are longtime season ticket holders in football and basketball, which they very much enjoy attending as well. In order to keep up with his young, active sons, Harley is also an avid gym goer, which he tries to engage in three to four times a week.
Contact info:
304-461-6000