What I’ve Learned About Life on the Way to the Courthouse is a collection of lessons learned in the author’s upbringing in his home state of West Virginia, the values he learned from his hard-working parents, and his inspiration as a college student to become a lawyer. Many of the lessons in the stories recounted are from his rough and tumble days as a young lawyer, the character lessons learned in striking out from an established large firm to build his own successful firm, and the common sense lessons he has observed about what it takes to build a life of substance, service and purpose. Many true-life stories of other well-known lawyers—Lincoln, Mandela, Leland Stanford, among others—chronicle their own challenges and lessons learned in rising from obscurity to their lives of leadership and accomplishment.

Mr. Wells graduated from the University of Virginia and Wake Forest University Law School. He and his wife of forty-five years, Janet, have three children. He often speaks to groups about the lessons he has learned. His pieces appear in a number of regional and statewide publications, and he has recorded them for the Winston-Salem affiliate of National Public Radio.