Judge Stephen O. Callaghan was elected to the bench in the then-Twenty-Eighth Judicial Circuit (Nicholas County) in 2016 and re-elected in 2024.

Judge Callaghan grew up in Richwood, West Virginia, and graduated from Richwood High School in 1984. He has a 1988 bachelor’s degree in English from West Virginia University and a 1994 law degree from The Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan.

After law school, he and his wife, Julia, whom he met in law school, joined the Summersville law firm of Callaghan & Callaghan, PLLC, where he was a third-generation lawyer. The Callaghan family has provided legal services in Nicholas County continuously since 1937.

Before he was elected to the bench, he practiced law for 22 years, concentrating in the areas of real estate and natural resources with an emphasis on legal issues related to the acquisition of mineral estates and development of natural resources. In addition to handling all types of criminal matters, he was heavily involved in representing children who had been abused and neglected.

He leads Nicholas County’s first Adult Diversion Program and Family Treatment Court.

He is a member of the West Virginia State Bar and enjoys playing in a bluegrass band and mountain biking. He lives in Summersville with his wife and son, who attends West Virginia University.