Judge Steven L. Shaffer was elected in 2018 to the circuit court bench in Preston County and was re-elected in 2024 to the new Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit (Preston and Tucker Counties).

He is a resident of Tunnelton and a graduate of Tunnelton High School. He spent 23 years in construction and as a coal miner before attending college and law school.

He graduated from Fairmont State College in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting and graduated from the West Virginia University College of Law in 2003. He worked for Preston County Prosecutor Ron Brown before entering private practice with Estep & Shaffer, L.C.