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Huntington attorney follows in father's footsteps
Cheryl Henderson is an attorney and president of Henderson Henderson & Staples LC in Huntington.
Purchase this photoHUNTINGTON -- If you look at the numbers, you'd think that a career in law may have been daunting for Cheryl Henderson.
Of the 357 attorneys in Cabell County, only about 10 are black. And men tend to outnumber women in the profession.
But she thought little of it. To Henderson, the field of law was home. Her father, the late Herbert H. Henderson, founded a practice in Huntington in 1958, after being the first black man to graduate from George Washington University in Washington.
As a kid, Cheryl Henderson answered phones in the law firm, located across from the Cabell County Courthouse on 5th Avenue. She ran errands, traveled with her father and watched how he fought for justice.
She was always impressed with his intellect and concern for his fellow human beings. And today, she's carrying on his legacy as an attorney and president of the firm that he founded more than 50 years ago, Henderson, Henderson & Staples LLC.
Cheryl Henderson practices law with her two sisters, Gail Staples and Sherri Henderson, along with Gail's husband, Dwight Staples.
It's a general practice firm, and after doing criminal trials for a while, Cheryl Henderson now focuses on civil cases, such as domestic relations, personal injury cases and others. She does wills and serves as a court-approved mediator and a guardian ad litem for children and clients who can't represent themselves in the court system.
The most rewarding part of the job is when she walks away from a case knowing that her client's life is better now, she said, especially in the case of children.
"It's always rewarding when I feel like I've made an improvement on a child's life, when I feel they can grow up and have a happy, normal life as opposed to the alternative," said Henderson, a single mother to 16-year-old Justin Phillips.
And when it comes to pursuing justice for a client, Cheryl Henderson is a fighter, her sister Gail Staples said.
"She learned from the best -- my father -- and it would appear she got her lesson," Staples said. "She's tough. I'd recommend her."
Herbert Henderson died in 2007 after an illness, just short of his 50th anniversary in the profession. The sisters are proud of bills that are now in the West Virginia Legislature: HB 4161 and SB 329 would create a new office of minority affairs in the governor's office that would be named after Herbert Henderson, who was president of the West Virginia Chapter of the NAACP for about 20 years.
Cheryl Henderson was inspired by her father's pursuit of rights for African-Americans, and -- though she thinks Black History Month should be more of an all-year event -- she thinks it's a good time for Americans to reflect and appreciate the role that black men and women have played in the founding of the country and throughout its history.
"The foundation of this country was built on slave trade," said Henderson, a proud graduate of the historic black college Fisk University in Nashville. "My hope is that people will reflect on what blacks have done.. and all that they have invested in the world. I'm proud to be African-American. Why wouldn't I be? I come from a rich and long legacy."
At the same time, when it comes to her practice, it's not about race, she said. Her firm, while perhaps the only all-black firm in the state, has clients of all races.
"It's not a matter of race," she said. "It's a matter of representing clients to the best of your ability and making sure that they get a fair shake of the law and that justice is served."
Cheryl Lynne Henderson
Job: Attorney, president of Henderson, Henderson & Staples law firm on 5th Avenue
Age: Declined to share, but said that she has been practicing law in Huntington for 30 years
Family: son Justin Phillips, 16. Sisters Gail Staples and Sherri Henderson, who practice law with Cheryl, along with Gail's husband, Dwight Staples. Another sister, Leslie Henderson Williams, is a pharmaceutical research analyst in Washington. Her late parents are Herbert and Maxine Henderson.
Education: Graduate of Huntington High School (1973), Fisk University in Nashville (1976); and West Virginia University School of Law (1980).
Community, civic involvement: Has been active with the West Virginia State Bar Association and the Mountain State Bar Association. Also involved with the Huntington Museum of Art board, the Ebenezer Outreach board, St. Mary's Advisory Board for Women's Health, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and Ebenezer United Methodist Church. Also recently appointed to the West Virginia Board of Medicine, and has served on the city's Board of Zoning Appeals and the Tri-State Airport Authority board.
Hobbies: Travel and collecting art. Favorite place to visit is New York City. One favorite piece of art is a sculpture by Ed Dwight of a man playing a horn. Also has a large piece of framed art by Leroy Campbell in her office, portraying African Americans in line to vote with a collage of newspaper articles documenting black history in America, from an 1870 report about blacks' right to vote to articles about U.S. President Obama.
