C. Dallas Kayser is the senior member of the firm and focuses his practice in the areas of personal injury, wrongful death, and real estate transactions. Dallas is a 1973 Summa Cum Laude graduate of Marshall University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the West Virginia University College of Law in 1976. In law school, he served as an Associate Editor of the West Virginia Law Review and was honored with selection to Order of the Coif, the most prestigious award given to law students.
Dallas entered the practice of law in 1976, practicing in Huntington and Point Pleasant, West Virginia. In 1979, he founded the Law Offices of C. Dallas Kayser, L.C., the predecessor of Kayser Layne Clark PLLC.
Dallas has extensive experience in representing clients in the areas of wills and estates, real estate transactions, contracts, and health care law in addition to his litigation work. Dallas holds the distinction of obtaining the largest product liability verdict in the history of Mason County, West Virginia, in the case of Terry v. CMI, a 1990 case. His direct examination of a psychologist in that trial was featured in Trial Manual for Proving Hedonic Damages (Preiser, Bodine and Preiser).
In addition to his legal work, Dallas has served and chaired numerous volunteer boards and committees. He is a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the United Methodist Foundation of West Virginia, Inc., and a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Pleasant Valley Hospital. He is also a former member of the Board of Governors of the West Virginia State Bar. He continues his volunteer work serving as a charter member of the Board of Directors of the Mason County Community Foundation, and serves on the Pleasant Valley Hospital Foundation and on various committees at Trinity United Methodist Church and Pleasant Valley Hospital.
He is a former adjunct professor with the Marshall University Community and Technical College, where he taught courses on real estate law, trusts and estates, business law, and legal research and writing.
Dallas resides near Point Pleasant, West Virginia, with his wife Lee Anne and is the proud father of one son, Matthew, and three daughters, Jennifer, Emily, and Katie. He is also now a grandfather. He enjoys travelling, hunting, fishing, and cooking.