Judge Jim Douglas was born in Sutton and raised in Charleston; Ohio; and Ivydale, Clay County. He has a 1973 bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Morris Harvey College (now the University of Charleston); a 1975 master’s degree from West Virginia University in German history and literature and a 1977 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law, where he served as president of the Student Bar Association. 

He was elected to the bench in the Eleventh Family Court Circuit (Kanawha County) in 2016 and was re-elected in 2024. 

Judge Douglas was a solo practitioner from 1977 until his election, specializing in divorce and family law. He also served as the Braxton County prosecuting attorney from 1985 to 1988. 

The Braxton County native was/is a member of the American Bar Association Family Law Section and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. He also was a faculty member for the Lawyer Education Institute, which formerly met annually in Colorado. Judge Douglas is a (judicial inactive) member of the Colorado Bar.

Judge Douglas has lived in Charleston since 2004. His hobbies include skiing (#1!), scuba diving, boating, walking his dog (Aspen) and the New England Patriots. 

He is divorced and has three children, one of whom is an ENT, M.D., in Lewisburg; one is an assistant U.S. attorney in Wheeling and one is a paralegal.