Judge David M. Hammer

Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit (Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties)

Judge Hammer was elected in May 2018. He is a 1985 graduate of Temple University and a 1988 graduate of the College of William & Mary, Marshall Wythe School of Law. Judge Hammer currently serves as the Supervising Judge of Jefferson County as well as its Drug Treatment Court Judge. He is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association.

Before his election he worked for 26 years at Hammer, Ferretti & Schiavoni, which he co-founded in 1992. He concentrated his practice primarily in employment law, wage and hour, and municipal law. He served as President of the West Virginia Employment Lawyers and as President of the West Virginia Association of Justice. He also served as chairman of the Amicus Curiae committees of both organizations. He is a co-drafter of the West Virginia Voluntary Farmland Protection Act and was appointed by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin to serve on the West Virginia Agricultural Land Protection Authority.

Judge Hammer is a volunteer youth soccer referee. He and his wife, Effie, live in Shepherdstown and have two daughters and a son.

Judge Jay M. Hoke

Twenty-Fifth Judicial Circuit (Boone and Lincoln Counties)

Judge Hoke is a native of Lincoln County, where he was educated and was graduated from Guyan Valley High School in 1970.  In 1974 he received his bachelor’s degree from Concord College.  He received his master’s degree from Marshall University in 1976, followed by his law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1982.

Judge Hoke was first elected in 1988 as the Lincoln County prosecuting attorney, having previously been the assistant prosecutor and having been appointed prosecutor in 1987 and 1988. Prior to that appointment, Judge Hoke served as legal counsel to the West Virginia Public Service Commission from 1982 to 1987 and also served as Lincoln County administrator from 1977 to 1979, prior to entering  the College of Law in 1979.

In 1992 Judge Hoke was elected to the bench in the Boone and Lincoln County circuit.  He was re-elected in 2000, 2008, and 2016. He currently serves as Chief Judge of the Twenty-Fifth Judicial Circuit. He also is one of seven judges on the West Virginia Mass Litigation Panel, which processes complex litigation for the entire state.

Judge Hoke and his wife, Jann, have been married for twenty-five years and have three daughters. 

Judge Gregory L. Howard

Sixth Judicial Circuit (Cabell County)

Judge Howard was elected in May 2016 to a seat in the Sixth Judicial Circuit (Cabell County). He took office on January 1, 2017.

He has a 1995 bachelors of business administration degree from Marshall University and a 1998 law degree from the West Virginia University College of Law.

Judge Howard was the first law clerk to the four circuit judges in Cabell County. After one year as a clerk, he became an Assistant Cabell County Prosecutor. As an assistant prosecutor, he helped establish the Cabell County Juvenile Drug Court in 1999.

From 2004 until he took the bench, he was a partner at the law firm of Bailey & Howard, handling civil and criminal matters. He also served as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from 2002 to 2006 and was chief counsel to West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland.

Judge David W. Hummel, Jr.

Second Judicial Circuit (Marshall, Tyler, and Wetzel Counties)

Judge Hummel is a cum laude graduate of Marshall University with a bachelor’s degree in business management. He attended the University of Oklahoma College of Law, where he graduated with distinction.

Judge Hummel is licensed to practice in the highest courts of West Virginia, Ohio, and Maryland.  From 2003 to 2008 he had a solo law practice, Hummel Law Offices, and was an assistant prosecuting attorney in Marshall County. 

In 2008 Judge Hummel was elected to the bench in the Second Judicial Circuit (Marshall, Tyler, and Wetzel Counties) and re-elected in 2016.  Judge Hummel leads a highly experienced and motivated team of professionals in the Second Judicial Circuit’s Drug and Mental Health Court. 

In April 2011 Judge Hummel was appointed and served as a Temporary Justice on the  Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in a complex toxic tort civil action.

He is one of five circuit judges appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals to hear and rule upon statewide applications for orders authorizing the interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications (wiretaps).  Additionally, he serves as a member of the Mass Litigation Panel handling cases across the State of West Virginia. 

Judge Robert A. Irons

Thirty-First Judicial Circuit (Monroe and Summers Counties)

Judge David R. Janes

Sixteenth Judicial Circuit (Marion County)

Judge Janes was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Fairmont, West Virginia. He has a 1973 bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University and earned a law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1977.

He practiced law in Fairmont for twenty-three years as a partner in the firm of Tharp, Liotta, Janes and Yokum. He was elected to the bench in the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit (Marion County) in 2000 and re-elected in 2008 and 2016.

During his years in private practice, he tried numerous civil and criminal cases and served as a member of the Board of Governors of the West Virginia State Bar, as special counsel to the West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission, and as president of the Marion County Bar Association.

He is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association and serves on its Education Committee. He is an adjunct lecturer at the West Virginia University College of Law, where he teaches a class in pretrial litigation to second- and third-year students.

Judge Janes is married and has three grown children.

Judge Tod J. Kaufman

Thirteenth Judicial Circuit (Kanawha County)

Judge Tod J. Kaufman was born and raised in Charleston. He was educated in the public schools of Kanawha County and attended preparatory education at George School in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He graduated cum laude from Tufts University in 1975 with a double major in English and political science. He worked as a paralegal in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Covington & Burling, and received a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1980. He served a clerkship on the United States Tax Court during law school before joining his late father’s Charleston law firm of Kaufman & Ratliff in 1980.

While in the private practice of law, then-Governor John D. Rockefeller IV appointed him to the West Virginia State Senate in 1982 and he was elected in 1984. After his legislative term ended, he was elected to the bench in the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit (Kanawha County) in 1988 and re-elected in 1992, 2000, 2008, and 2016, serving as Chief Judge of West Virginia’s largest circuit four times.

Judge Kaufman has lectured by invitation at an international law conference in Croatia (his speech in Croatia on class actions in America was published internationally); on Constitutional law as a judicial scholar at Hampton-Sydney College in Virginia; at Trinity College Law School in Dublin, Ireland; and at Harvard College (on the judicial process in America, 2015, where he was the introduced by historical and West Virginia native Henry Louis Gates, Jr.).

Judge Kaufman is a former member of the Mass Litigation Panel of the West Virginia Supreme Court, and past president and executive officer of the West Virginia Judicial Association. He is married to artist Barrie Kaufman and they have three grown children.

Judge Charles E. King

Thirteenth Judicial Circuit (Kanawha County)

Judge H.L. Kirkpatrick, III

Tenth Judicial Circuit (Raleigh County)

Judge H.L. Kirkpatrick III is a native of Beckley and grew up in the coalfields of Fayette and Raleigh Counties. He is a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School, a 1973 graduate of the University of Kentucky, and 1976 graduate of West Virginia University College of Law.

He practiced law in Wyoming and Raleigh Counties for more than twenty years until he was appointed to the bench in the Tenth Judicial Circuit (Raleigh County) in 1995 by then-Governor Gaston Caperton. Judge Kirkpatrick was elected in 1996 and re-elected in 2000, 2008, and 2016. During his time in private practice, he was with the law firm of Bailey, Worrell and Viars in Pineville, beginning in 1976; in a solo practice in Pineville from 1979 to 1985; and at Ashworth & Kirkpatrick from 1985 to 1995.

Judge Kirkpatrick is a two-term member of the Judicial Investigation Commission and has served as vice-chairman of the Judicial Realignment Committee of the West Virginia Judicial Association. He currently is vice-chairman of the Judicial Education Committee of the Judicial Association and chairman of the Region Three Fatality Review Team.  He helped organize in Beckley the first LAWS (Legal Advancement for West Virginia Students) program, in which the Supreme Court hears an argument docket in front of local high school students at a county courthouse. He also hosted a Media and the Courts conference in Beckley.

Judge Kirkpatrick was named Outstanding Young Man of West Virginia, President of the Pineville Lions Club, President of the Central Wyoming County Chamber of Commerce, and received the Distinguished Service Award form Wyoming County Jaycees, all in 1983. He was a member of the Common Council, Town of Pineville, from 1982 to 1985. He was President of the Beckley Lions Club in 1988. He was an instructor at Beckley College’s Paralegal Department from 1988-1991, a member of the Board of Trustees of Beckley College from 1988 to 1990, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Beckley College and the College of West Virginia from 1990 to 1995. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Raleigh in 1995.

He and his wife, the former Rebecca Nicewonder, have twin sons.

Judge Michael D. Lorensen

Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit (Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties)

Judge Lorensen is a native of Morgantown. He has a 1981 bachelor’s degree in journalism from West Virginia University and a 1984 law degree from West Virginia University College of law.

He worked three years as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Charles Haden in the Southern District of West Virginia before practicing law for twenty-five years in Martinsburg at the firm Bowles Rice. His practice focused on civil litigation, although he also did criminal law and for seven years was a member of the panel of court-appointed attorneys in federal courts.

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin appointed him to the Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit (Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties) in 2012 and he was elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2016. He was a member of Governor Tomblin’s 2014 West Virginia Intergovernmental Task Force on Juvenile Justice He was a member of the Judicial Hearing Board, a member of the local rules committee for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, and a former member of the board of the West Virginia Board of Law Examiners. He formerly served thirteen years on the Shenandoah Community Health Control Board of Directors, including two years as President of the Board.

Judge Lorensen and his wife, Maria, have two children.

Judge James A. Matish

Fifteenth Judicial Circuit (Harrison County)

Judge Matish is a native of Owings, Harrison County, and graduated from Shinnston High School. He has a 1975 bachelor’s degree in business administration (magna cum laude) from West Virginia University and a 1978 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.

He had a general law practice in Clarksburg from 1978 to 2000, concentrating in criminal defense work, civic litigation, family law, real estate, and bankruptcy.

He was elected to the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit (Harrison County) in 2000 and re-elected in 2008 and 2016. He has been appointed several times to sit on the Supreme Court when a Justice has been recused from a case.

He is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association, West Virginia State Bar, and the Harrison County Bar Association. He is past president and vice president of the Harrison County Bar Association, and a founder and past president of the West Virginia Society for Criminal Justice.  He has taught at Salem International University and numerous continuing legal education classes at West Virginia University College of Law and at other locations in the state for lawyers, law enforcement personnel, and magistrates.  He has served as a judge for the WVU College of Law Moot Court Board.

He and his wife, Peggy, have one daughter.  

Judge Christopher McCarthy

Fifteenth Judicial Circuit (Harrison County)

Judge McCarthy was elected to a seat in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit (Harrison County) in May 2016. His term began January 1, 2017.

A native of Harrison County, his mother is a retired school teacher and his father, Daniel L. McCarthy, served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Harrison County Commissioner, and Circuit Court Judge.

Judge McCarthy has a 1991 bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Dayton in Ohio and a 1994 law degree from Virginia University College of Law.

He practiced law in Martinsburg for several years before co-founding the Clarksburg law practice Booth & McCarthy in 1999. The law firm maintains offices in Harrison County and has had a branch office in Winchester, Virginia, since 2010. Judge McCarthy’s practice concentrated on contract enforcement, bankruptcy disputes, and commercial and consumer creditor rights. At the time of his election, Judge McCarthy was managing partner at the firm and also was the Municipal Court Judge for the City of Bridgeport.

He is licensed to practice law before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, Supreme Court of Ohio, United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, and the United States Bankruptcy Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia.

Between 2000 and 2014, Judge McCarthy served on the Bridgeport Police Civil Service Commission, and he was president for six years. In 2011, he became a trustee of the Barbara B. Highland Charitable Lead Trust. In 2014, he was appointed to the West Virginia Central Transit Authority (CENTRA) Board of Directors and was immediately elected to the position of secretary/treasurer. Between 2011 and 2014 he was a volunteer judge for The American Legion Mountaineer Boys State moot court competition.

Judge McCarthy is a member of All Saints Catholic Church. He resides with his wife, Meredith, and four children in Harrison County.

Judge Warren R. McGraw

Twenty-Seventh Judicial Circuit (Wyoming County)

Judge McGraw was born on May 10, 1939, in Wyoming County. He attended Wyoming County public schools and graduated from Morris Harvey College (now the University of Charleston) with a bachelor’s degree in political science, history, and economics in 1960. He attended graduate school at West Virginia University and earned his law degree in 1963 from Wake Forest University.

Judge McGraw was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1968 and 1970 and the West Virginia Senate in 1972, 1976, and 1980; he was President of the state Senate from 1980 to 1985. He was honored by Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics as a National Outstanding Legislator in 1971.

In 1986 he was elected to the Wyoming County Board of Education; in 1996 he was elected Wyoming County prosecuting attorney; in 1998 he was elected to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia and was elected Chief Justice in 2001; and in 2008 he was elected Circuit Judge of the Twenty-Seventh Judicial Circuit (Wyoming County) and re-elected in 2016.

In addition to being an attorney in private practice, he also has been a steel and chemical worker, a U.S. Department of Justice trial lawyer, a legal services attorney, and an instructor at the West Virginia University Extension Agency.

He is a member of the Wyoming and Raleigh County Bar Associations and Rotary International. He is a Paul Harris Fellow and a recipient of the Friend of Education Margaret Baldwin Award from the West Virginia Education Association.

Judge McGraw is married to Peggy Shufflebarger, and they have three children and six grandchildren.

Judge Alan D. Moats

Nineteenth Judicial Circuit (Barbour and Taylor Counties)

Judge Moats was born and raised in Grafton. He has a 1974 bachelor’s degree in English from West Virginia University and a 1977 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.

He was the assistant prosecutor in Taylor County from 1977 to 1984 and was the elected Taylor County Prosecutor from 1985 to 1996. He maintained a private law practice from 1977 to 1996.

In 1996 then-Governor Gaston Caperton appointed him to the bench in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit (Barbour and Taylor Counties). He was elected in 2000 and re-elected in 2008 and 2016.

Judge Moats is the Chairman of the Mass Litigation Panel, a past president of the West Virginia Judicial Association, an advisory member of the West Virginia Courthouse Facilities Improvement Authority, and a state delegate to the National Conference of State Trial Judges.

He and his wife, Connie, have a son and a daughter.

Judge Rudolph J. Murensky, II

Eighth Judicial Circuit (McDowell County)

Judge Murensky was born and raised in Welch, West Virginia. He is the son of the late Circuit Judge Rudolph Murensky and Hazel T. Murensky and has one sister, Susan Murensky, who also is an attorney. He graduated from Concord College magna cum laude in 1975 with a double major in history and political science. He has a 1978 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.

Judge Murensky practiced law in Welch from 1978 to 2000. He served in the West Virginia House of Delegates from 1980-1992; he was Majority Leader from 1987 to 1990 and Finance Committee Chairman from 1991 to 1992.

He was elected to the bench in the Eighth Judicial Circuit (McDowell County) in 2000 and re-elected in 2008 and 2016.

He was a member of the Judicial Hearing Board for nine years and served as its chairman and vice-chairman. He has been active in the Robes to Schools civic education program and is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association.

He received the McDowell County Liberty Bell Award in 2012.

He and his wife, Sandra, have two children and five grandchildren.

Judge Shawn David Nines

Nineteenth Judicial Circuit (Barbour and Taylor Counties)

Judge Shawn David Nines took the bench in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit (Barbour and Taylor Counties) on January 2, 2019. Governor Jim Justice appointed Nines on December 11, 2018, to the new judicial position created in the 2018 legislative session.

Before his appointment, Judge Nines had been an attorney with his own law practice in Grafton since 2007. He also has served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in either Taylor or Barbour County from 2007 until his appointment. He previously was City Attorney for Grafton, a lawyer for Huddleston Bolen LLP., and was a law clerk for Judge Moats from 2003 to 2005. He is a registered Patent Attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Judge Nines has a 1998 bachelor’s degree and a 2000 master’s degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from West Virginia University and a 2003 law degree from the University of Akron Law School.

While he was in private practice, he was assistant football and strength training coach at Grafton High School and play-by-play broadcaster for Grafton High School football games on WGYE Radio and its affiliated stations.

He and his wife, Donette, live in Thornton have young twins.

Judge Lynn A. Nelson

Twenty-First Judicial Circuit (Grant, Mineral, and Tucker Counties)

Judge Nelson was born in Keyser and raised in Ridgeley. He has a 1984 bachelor’s degree in political science from West Virginia University and a 1988 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law. He also studied law at Magdalen College, University of Oxford, England.

He was the elected Mineral County prosecutor from 1989 to 2008.

He was elected to bench in the Twenty-First Judicial Circuit (Grant, Mineral, and Tucker Counties) in 2008 and re-elected in 2016. Judge Nelson has been the Frankfort Colts Pee-Wee football coach since 2000 and that same year became the lead singer in the band “Public Menace.”

He is married to Suzanne Sites.

Judge Eric H. O'Briant

Seventh Judicial Circuit (Logan County)

Judge O’Briant is a native of Logan, West Virginia. He has a 1974 bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a 1978 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.

He engaged in the general practice of law from 1978 to 1987 with the firm of Valentine, Wilson, and Pantain and also as a solo practitioner.

Then-Governor Arch A. Moore Jr. appointed him to the bench in 1987 in the Seventh Judicial Circuit (Logan County). He waselected in 1988 and re-elected in 1992, 2000, 2008, and 2016.

He is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association and the Logan County Bar Association. He is the Chief Judge.

He and his wife, Diana, have five children and four grandchildren.

Judge Michael J. Olejasz

First Judicial Circuit (Brooke, Hancock, and Ohio Counties)

Judge Michael J. Olejasz took office in the First Judicial Circuit (Brooke, Hancock, and Ohio Counties) on December 19, 2018, after being appointed by Governor Jim Justice on November 28, 2018.

A native of Wheeling, he has a 1995 bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from West Liberty University, where he received the Criminal Justice Faculty’s Criminal Justice Award. He has a 2002 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law. As a law student he had an externship (2001) with U.S. District Court Judge Frederick P. Stamp, Jr.

Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Olejasz had been an assistant Ohio County Prosecuting Attorney for ten years. He previously was managing partner of the Wheeling law firm Ferro & Olejasz from 2003 to 2009. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Ohio County Bar Association and on the Wheeling Police Civil Service Commission. Before attending law school, he was a Wheeling police officer from 1994 to 1998. He was the valedictorian of his West Virginia State Police Academy class.

He has been a Board Member of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a Member of the Lewis Wetzel Rifle and Pistol Club, a Life Member of the Wheeling Symphony Auxiliary, a Member and Trustee of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 38, and a Member of the West Virginia Bar Association Young Lawyers Section Executive Committee.

He and his wife, Roberta Robinson Olejasz, have two children.

Judge Darrell Pratt

Twenty-Fourth Judicial Circuit (Wayne County)

Judge Pratt was born and raised in Fort Gay and graduated from Fort Gay High School in 1971. He received a bachelor’s degree in history and education from Marshall University in 1975 and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1981.

He was a teacher at Buffalo High School from 1975 to 1978 and spent several summers as an intern at Cabot Oil and Gas and the U.S. Department of Labor. He had a private law practice from 1981 to 1992.

He was elected Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney in 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996, and served in that position part-time from 1985 to 1992 and full-time from 1992 to 1997, when then-governor Gaston Caperton appointed him to the bench in the Twenty-Fourth Judicial Circuit (Wayne County). He was elected judge in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, 2008, and 2016.

Judge Pratt has been appointed numerous times to sit as a temporary Justice on the Supreme Court of Appeals to hear cases in which a Justice was recused. He also served as Chairman of the Business Court Committee, which researched and developed a proposal for what became the Business Court Division of Circuit Court.

His community service includes serving as a volunteer laborer for home improvement and weatherization programs for the Family Resource Network and United Methodist Organization. He is a former board member of the Southwestern Community Action Council; former Charter Member of Wayne Jaycees; former past president and board member of Stepping Stone, Inc.; former past president and current board member of Green Acres Regional Center; former past president and current board member of Wayne County Community Services; current board member of BISON Organization; former officer and member of Prichard Elementary PTO and LSIC and Spring Valley High School Athletic Boosters; and former officer, board member, and coach of Buffalo youth basketball, baseball, and Wayne County soccer.

Judge Pratt and his wife, Barbara, have two children.

Judge R. Steven Redding

Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit (Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties)

Judge Redding is a native of New Carrollton, Md. He has a bachelor’s degree in government and politics from the University of Maryland and a law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law, where he graduated with honors and was a member of the Law Review.

On Feb. 22, 2018, Governor Jim Justice appointed him to the bench in the Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit (Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan Counties) and he was elected to the seat in May 2018.

Judge Redding attended law school at night while starting his family and working full-time on the Prince George’s County, Md., Fire Department. After he became a lawyer, he continued to work at the fire department as an attorney and firefighter until ending his firefighting career, in 1997, as a Lieutenant. He was awarded a Medal of Valor for rescuing a small child from an apartment fire.

Judge Redding entered private practice in 1990 and concentrated on insurance and medical malpractice defense law before becoming a partner at Franklin & Prokopik, PC., managing the firm’s Hagerstown office. He took four years off from the practice of law to recover from injuries sustained in a serious car accident. He returned to work part-time in 2011 as a guardian ad litem, representing children in abuse and neglect cases, and returned to full time practice in 2013, continuing his representation of children, as well as practicing criminal defense. In February, 2017, Judge Redding joined the Public Defender Corporation for the Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit, where he worked until his appointment to the bench.

He has coached high school and AAU basketball for a number of years in the Eastern Panhandle. He and his wife, Kristie Tobin Redding, live in Hedgesville. They have six adult children, four grandchildren, and also unofficially “adopted” one of his basketball players, caring for him from the 6th grade until he left for college in 2015.

Judge Joseph K. Reeder

Twenty-Ninth Judicial Circuit (Putnam County)

Judge Reeder was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia. He is a graduate of the West Virginia University College of Business and Economics. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics (Accounting) in 1987. He received his legal education at the West Virginia University College of Law. Judge Reeder graduated from law school with honors, as a member of the Order of the Coif, in May 1991. While in law school, he was active in the Lugar Trial Association and Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity.

Following law school, Judge Reeder practiced law as an associate and then partner in several Charleston law firms. In 2003, he founded his own firm in Hurricane, West Virginia, where he practiced until his election to the bench in November 2012. He was re-elected in 2016. As a lawyer, Judge Reeder tried numerous cases and represented both individual and business clients in state and federal courts throughout West Virginia.

Judge Reeder was elected to the bench in the Twenty-Ninth Judicial Circuit (Putnam County), as a Republican. As judge, he has been particularly concerned with drug abuse issues and their effect on the community. He started the Putnam County Adult Drug Court and has been the presiding judge in that court since it was founded.

He is a member of the American Bar Association Judicial Division and a member of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.

Judge Reeder is a member of the Pine Grove Church of Christ. He also is active as a leader of Troop 17 of the Boy Scouts of America and served as Membership Chairman (2014-2015) for the Pioneer District. He is a member of the Scott Teays Lions Club and was a Charter Member of the Putnam County Kiwanis Club. He was also instrumental in starting a BSA Legal Explorers Club in Putnam County for young people who may be interested in pursuing a career in the legal profession.

Judge Reeder resides in Hurricane with his wife, Linda, a Putnam County teacher, and their two sons.

Judge Jacob E. Reger

Twenty-Sixth Judicial Circuit (Lewis and Upshur Counties)

Judge Reger was born and raised in Buckhannon. He graduated from Buckhannon-Upshur High School in 1978. He graduated from West Virginia University in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and from West Virginia College of Law in 1992.

Judge Reger was engaged in the general practice of law from 1992 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2004, both in his own practice and with the law firm of Coleman and Wallace. He served as Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Upshur County from 1993 to 1998. He was an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Kanawha County and served as the Director of the Fraud and Investigations Unit for the Bureau of Employment Programs from 1998 to 2002. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney for Upshur County in 2004, 2008, and 2012. Judge Reger served on the Board of Directors of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorney’s Association and served as President of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Association from 2013 to 2014.

He was elected Judge for the Twenty-Sixth Judicial Circuit (Upshur and Lewis Counties) in 2014 and re-elected in 2016.

Judge Reger is a member of First United Methodist Church in Buckhannon, where he has served on the Board of Trustees, Administrative Board, and as Chairman of the Staff Parrish Relations Committee. He has served on the Board of Directors of a number of community service organizations, including the Upshur County Senior Center, United Way, Literacy Volunteers, and the Child Development Center.

He and his wife, Beverly, live in Upshur County.

Judge Robert E. Richardson

Eleventh Judicial Circuit (Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties)

Judge Richardson grew up in Lewisburg and graduated from Greenbrier East High School in 1980. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from West Virginia University in 1984. While a student at WVU, he was the University’s first recipient of the Truman Scholarship (a national award presented to recognize leadership potential in public service), and also served as the WVU Mountaineer mascot during the 1982-83 academic year. Judge Richardson attended law school at the University of Virginia School of Law (J.D., 1987), where he was an editor of the Virginia Law Review, and at the Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M. , 1989).

Judge Richardson began his legal career with the Institute for Public Representation in Washington, D.C., where he worked primarily on matters concerning the civil rights of persons with disabilities. While in that position, he served as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. He returned to West Virginia in 1990 to work with West Virginia Legal Services Plan (now Legal Aid of West Virginia) as the managing attorney of its Clarksburg office and also taught part-time as an adjunct faculty member at the West Virginia University College of Law. After a decade of public interest legal work, he returned to his hometown of Lewisburg in 1997 to pursue the private practice of law and opened his own firm in 2000. Judge Richardson was appointed to the bench in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit (Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties) by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin on May 21, 2014. He was then elected to the bench in 2016.

His community service includes work on the boards of directors of several local and statewide organizations, including Almost Heaven Habitat for Humanity, Habitat for Humanity of West Virginia, Legal Aid of West Virginia, the Greenbrier Youth Camp, and HospiceCare. For twenty-five years, he served as the director of the West Virginia Older 4-H Members Conference, a weeklong leadership development program for high school and college age youth, and he has been inducted into the West Virginia 4-H Hall of Fame.

He and his wife, Susan, live in Greenbrier County.

Judge William J. Sadler

Ninth Judicial Circuit (Mercer County)

Judge Sadler is a lifelong resident of Mercer County and graduated from Bluefield High School. He graduated summa cum laude from West Virginia University College of Business and Economics in 1985 and graduated in 1988 from West Virginia University College of Law.

He practiced law in Princeton from 1988 to 1998. He was the elected Mercer County prosecutor from 1998 to 2006 when he was appointed by then-Governor Joe Manchin to the bench in the Ninth Judicial Circuit (Mercer County). Judge Sadler took office January 1, 2007, and was elected to the seat in 2008 and re-elected in 2016.

He is a member of the Judicial Association; a past member of the National District Attorneys’ Association; and is a past member, past board member, and past president of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys’ Association.

Judge Sadler has attended courses at the National College of Advocacy in Columbia, South Carolina, and at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada.

He is a member of Delta Theta Phi, Beta Alpha Psi, and Beta Gamma Sigma.

He and his wife, Barbara, have two daughters.

Judge Tera Salango

Thirteenth Judicial Circuit (Kanawha County)

Judge Tera L. Salango was elected on November 6, 2018, to the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit to fill the unexpired term of Judge James C. Stucky, who retired. She took office on November 16, 2018

Judge Salango is a native of Nitro, West Virginia, and has a 1999 bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from West Virginia State University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and was recognized for earning the highest grade-point average in her major. In 2003, Judge Salango graduated in the top 20 percent of her class from West Virginia University College of Law, where she was a member of the Order of the Barristers and a finalist in the WVU Mock Trial Competition. She also received the Best Brief Award in the Baker Cup appellate advocacy competition.

Upon graduation, Judge Salango worked for the law firm of Spilman, Thomas & Battle and focused primarily on defense litigation. In 2005, she joined the Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney's office and spent more than a decade handling a wide range of cases including violent felonies, misdemeanors, and juvenile matters.

In late 2016, Judge Salango joined her husband's civil litigation law firm, Preston and Salango, where she handled a wide range of civil cases.

In August 2018, Judge Salango received the Lawyers and Leaders Award from West Virginia University College of Law and West Virginia Executive Magazine recognizing her distinguished legal career. She was previously recognized as a Generation Next: 40 Under 40 professional by The State Journal.

Judge Salango lives in Charleston with her husband, Ben, and two sons. She is active in the Charleston community, having served on numerous boards that focus on helping children.

Judge Steven L. Shaffer

Eighteenth Judicial Circuit (Preston County)

Steven L. Shaffer was sworn in as a Judge in the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit (Preston County) on May 18, 2018, and began work May 29.

Judge Shaffer was elected to fill the remainder of the term of Judge Lawrance Miller, who retired in 2017. The term ends in 2025.

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 the West Virginia University College of Law in 2003. He worked for then-Preston County Prosecutor Ron Brown before entering private practice.

Judge David J. Sims

First Judicial Circuit (Brooke, Hancock, and Ohio Counties)

Judge Sims was born in Wheeling in 1961 and graduated from The Linsly School in 1979. He has a 1983 degree in history from Georgetown University and a 1987 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.

He was an Ohio County Commissioner from 1995 to 2012 and the owner of Sims Law Offices in Wheeling from 1987 to 2012, where he focused on real estate and litigation, before being appointed to the bench in the First Judicial Circuit (Brooke, Hancock, and Ohio Counties) by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin in 2012. He ran and won the seat in 2014 and was re-elected in 2016.

He is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association.

Judge Sims and his wife, Lisa, have two children.

Judge Booker T. Stephens

Eighth Judicial Circuit (McDowell County)

Judge Stephens was born in Bluefield and grew up in Warrior Mines, West Virginia. He graduated from West Virginia State College in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and Spanish and from Howard University School of Law in 1972.

He served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968. He had a private practice in Welch from 1972 to 1984 and was an assistant prosecutor in McDowell County from 1976 to 1977.

In 1984 he was to the Eighth Judicial Circuit (McDowell County) and re-elected in 1992, 2000, 2008, and 2016. He has been appointed numerous times by to sit as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia when a Justice has been recused from a case.

He has been a member of the Mass Litigation Panel since 1997. He was a member of the executive committee of the National Conference of State Trial Court Judges from 1996 to 1997 and was a member of the House of Delegates from 1978 to 1982.

Judge Stephens has received numerous awards including Outstanding Judge of the Year (1993); Governor’s Living The Dream Award, Martin L. King, Jr., Holiday Commission (2003); West Virginia Bar Foundation Fellow (2003); and Layman of the Year (1995) from the West Virginia Baptist State Layman’s Auxiliary.

He is admitted practice before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia and the Supreme Court of the United States of America. He is a member of the Board of West Virginia State University Foundation, a member of the Multi-Cultural Affairs Advisory Committee at Bluefield State College, and a former member of the Executive Committee of the American Bar Association’s National Conference of State Trial Judges and Standing Committee on Minorities in the Judiciary.

He and his wife, attorney Gloria M. Stephens, have two children.

Judge Phillip M. Stowers

Twenty-Ninth Judicial Circuit (Putnam County)

Judge Stowers was born in Charleston and raised in Alkol, West Virginia. He graduated from Duval high School in 1978. He attended Morehead State University on a four-year Presidential Scholarship and graduated magna cum laude in 1982 with dual bachelor’s degrees in speech communication and business administration with an emphasis on economics. He has a 1986 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law, where he won the 1985 Baker Cup Award, was a member of the West Virginia Law Review (he wrote an article on Wainwright v. Witt) and the College of Law Moot Court Board.

He began his legal career as an associate for Huddleston & Bolen in Huntington. In 1989, he moved to Charleston and continued in private practice. In 1991 he formed Stowers & Associates Attorneys at Law and primarily engaged in civil litigation there until 2008. He has served as a special assistant attorney general in West Virginia and as counsel to the West Virginia Senate Committee on Government Organization.

In 2008 he was elected to the bench in the Twenty-Ninth Judicial Circuit (Putnam County) and re-elected in 2016. He has been appointed several times to sit on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia to hear cases in which a Justice was recused. He sits on the Juvenile Justice Commission and on the West Virginia Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act Board. He is chairman of the Region Three Fatality Review Commission. He presides over the Putnam County Juvenile Drug Court, the first drug court in Putnam County; the Putnam County Veterans Initiative program; and Truancy Triage, a county truancy diversion program.

He is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association, the National Association of Drug Court Judges, and the West Virginia Commission on Residential Placements of Children.

He and his wife, Terri, have one son.

Judge Timothy L. Sweeney

Third Judicial Circuit (Doddridge, Pleasants, and Ritchie Counties)

Judge Sweeney was raised in Pleasants County and graduated from St. Marys High school in 1974. He was a 1978 bachelor’s degree in business administration from West Virginia University and a 1981 law degree from West Virginia University College of law.

He spent thirty years in private practice with law firms that include White & Sweeney, Sweeney & Ballard, the Sweeney Law Firm, and as general counsel for Pleasants County Bank. He was the elected prosecutor of Pleasants County from 1985 to 2010.

In December 2010 Governor Earl Ray Tomblin appointed him to the bench in the Third Judicial Circuit (Doddridge, Pleasants and Ritchie Counties). He was elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2016.

He is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association. He is a former president of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Association and a former member of the West Virginia Trial Lawyers Association and the National College of District Attorneys.

Judges Sweeney is president of the Pleasants County Library Board and volunteers with several other community organizations.

He and his wife, Charlene, have four children.

Judge Derek C. Swope

Ninth Judicial Circuit (Mercer County)

Judge Joanna I. Tabit

Thirteenth Judicial Circuit (Kanawha County)

A Charleston native, Judge Tabit earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Marshall University in 1983 and her law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1986.

She began her legal career in 1986 as a personal law clerk to former Supreme Court Justice Thomas E. McHugh. Following her clerkship, she served as an Assistant and then as Deputy Attorney General of the Appellate Division in the Office of the Attorney General from 1989 to 1992 under the administrations of Attorneys General Roger Tompkins and Mario Palumbo. In 1992, Judge Tabit joined the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson PLLC, where she was a member attorney until October, 2014, when she was appointed to the Kanawha County bench by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin. She was elected to the bench in 2016.

Judge Tabit also worked as an Adjunct Lecturer teaching Summer Appellate Advocacy for the West Virginia University College of Law. She is active in professional and civic organizations. Among other things, she has served as Co-Chairman of the Campaign for Legal Aid of West Virginia; served on the Board of Directors for the YWCA of Charleston; chaired the Access to Justice Foundation; served as a member of Board of Governors of the West Virginia State Bar; and served as a Commissioner on the City of Charleston Human Rights Commission. Judge Tabit currently is a member of the Juvenile Justice Commission.

While in private practice, Judge Tabit was rated an AV lawyer by Martindale Hubbell and recognized by Chambers USA as a Leader in the Field with a specialty in commercial litigation. Additionally, she was recognized by The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers in various practice areas. In 2009, Judge Tabit received the “Outstanding Private Practice Attorney” award presented by the Women’s Law Caucus at West Virginia University College of Law. She also was recognized as “Charleston’s Finest” by the Kentucky/West Virginia chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for her charitable work for the organization.

Judge Richard Craig Tatterson

Fifth Judicial Circuit (Calhoun, Jackson, Mason, Roane Counties)

Judge Tatterson is a native of Point Pleasant. He has a 1995 bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from West Virginia University and a 1998 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.

He was elected in May 2016 to seat in the Fifth Judicial Circuit (Calhoun, Jackson, Mason and Roane Counties). His term began January 1, 2017.

He previously was the elected Mason County Prosecutor for four years and helped establish the Mason County Drug Court. He was a partner in Shew & Tatterson, L.C. from 1998 to 2012. He also served as an assistant professor at Marshall University’s Mid-Ohio Valley Center.

He is a member of the Mason County Community Corrections Board, has been a teen court judge, and has assisted in Mason County Law Day. He is former president of the Point Pleasant Rotary and has coached numerous youth sports teams.

Judge Miki J. Thompson

Thirtieth Judicial Circuit (Mingo County)

Judge Thompson is a native of Floyd County, Kentucky. She graduated from Wheelwright High School and has a 1975 bachelor’s degree in communications and a 1992 law degree, both from the University of Kentucky.

Judge Thompson began her career as assistant prosecuting attorney in Mingo County in 1992. She also ran her own law practice, Thompson Law Office, until 2008.

She was elected family court judge in the Eighth Family Court Circuit (Mingo County) in 2008 and was appointed circuit judge for the Thirtieth Judicial Circuit (Mingo County) in 2014 by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin. Judge Thompson had won the 2014 primary for the circuit judge position before being appointed by Governor Tomblin and she went on to win the 2014 election and was re-elected in 2016.

She is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association.

She and her husband, West Virginia native Gary Thompson, have two daughters (one of whom is deceased), and one granddaughter.

Judge William S. Thompson

Twenty-Fifth Judicial Circuit (Boone and Lincoln Counties)

Judge Thompson was born in Charleston and raised on Lick Creek near Danville. He graduated Salutatorian from Scott High School in 1988. He has a 1992 degree in civil engineering from West Virginia University and graduated from West Virginia University College of Law in 1995.

He was an engineer for American Electric Power in Columbus, Ohio, in 1992; Vice President of Danville Lumber Company from 1992 to 2007; and President of Madison Health Care, Inc., from 1998-2007.

He was an attorney for Cook and Cook in Madison from 1995 to 2007and a Mental Hygiene Commissioner for Boone County from 2003 to 2007.

Then-Governor Joe Manchin III appointed him to the bench in the Twenty-Fifth Judicial Circuit (Boone and Lincoln Counties) in 2007. Judge Thompson was elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2016.

Judge Thompson has been appointed to be a temporary Justice on the Supreme Court to hear cases in which as Justice was recused.

He is a member of the Madison United Methodist Church and is actively involved in coaching youth sports for both boys and girls. He and his wife, Keri Dawn, have four children.

Judge Susan Tucker

Seventeenth Judicial Circuit (Monongalia County)

Judge Tucker was born in Charleston, W.Va., raised in Parkersburg, W.Va., and came to live in Morgantown, W.Va., in 1966. She received her undergraduate degree in secondary education in 1969, her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction in 1972, and her law degree in 1977, all from West Virginia University. She has, since that time, worked in private practice and served in public office in numerous and varied capacities.

In her years of public service, Judge Tucker was elected and served as Prosecuting Attorney of Monongalia County from 1985 to 1995. She also served as Director of the Fraud Investigations Unit of the Workers’ Compensation Division of the West Virginia Bureau of Employment Programs from 1995 to 1997. She was elected to Division One of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit (Monongalia County) in 2008 and re-elected in 2016.

As an attorney in private practice, Judge Tucker represented clients in cases involving personal injury, family law, real estate, probate, bankruptcy, corporate and business law, workers’ compensation, and criminal defense. She also has worked both as a solo practitioner and for law firms, representing both plaintiffs and defendants.

Judge Tucker is licensed to practice law in West Virginia and has been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, and the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.

She is a former or current member of the American Bar Association, the West Virginia State Bar Association, the Minnesota State Bar Association, the Kanawha County Bar Association, the Monongalia County Bar Association, the National College of District Attorneys, the National Organization for Victim Assistance, Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity, Student Trial Lawyers’ Association, the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys’ Association, the West Virginia Trial Lawyers’ Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Advisory Council for Visiting Homemakers of Monongalia County, Advisory Council for the Retired Senior Volunteers Program of Monongalia County, Charleston Women’s Forum, the Democratic Women’s Club, the Professional Women’s Council of Morgantown, and Soroptimist International. She is a former member of the Governor’s Judicial Advisory Committee and was on the Board of Directors for the North Central West Virginia Legal Aid Society. She has served as a volunteer with the March of Dimes, the Read Aloud Program, Special Olympics, and the United Fund of Monongalia County. She is a recipient of the Outstanding Woman of the Year Award from the Morgantown Jaycees and received the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center Recognition Award.

Judge Tucker was instrumental in establishing West Virginia’s first Victim/Witness Assistance Program. She also was instrumental in the formation of the Monongalia County Bar Association’s Committee for Civility and Professionalism, which is dedicated to promoting reforms in attorney conduct both among members of the Bar and between attorneys and the public.

Judge Robert A. Waters

Fourth Judicial Circuit (Wirt and Wood Counties)

Judge Waters was born and raised in Parkersburg. He graduated from Parkersburg High School in 1973 and has a 1976 bachelor’s degree in government and economics from West Virginia Wesleyan College and a 1979 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law, where he was a member of the West Virginia Law Review and won the AmJur Award in Criminal Law.

He was in private practice in Parkersburg from 1979 to 1992 and was an assistant Wood County prosecutor from 1979 to 1982 and from 1989 to 1992.

He was elected to the bench in the Fourth Judicial Circuit (Wood and Wirt Counties) in 1992 and re-elected in 2000, 2008, and 2016.

Judge Waters is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association and the West Virginia Bar Association. He also attended the National Judicial College at the University of Nevada in Reno and received a Diploma of Judicial Skills from the American Judges Association.

He is a past president of the Henry Logan Children’s Home and a longtime member of the Rotary and Boy Scouts.

He and his wife, Robin, have three children.

Judge Carrie L. Webster

Thirteenth Judicial Circuit (Kanawha County)

Judge Jason Wharton

Fourth Judicial Circuit (Wirt and Wood Counties)

Judge Wharton is a lifelong resident of Wood County. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from West Virginia University and a law degree from the West Virginia University College of Law.

Judge Wharton was elected in May 2016 in the Fourth Judicial Circuit (Wirt and Wood Counties). He took office on January 1, 2017.

He previously was the elected Wood County Prosecuting Attorney for eight years and before that was an assistant prosecutor for ten years. He previously had been cross-designated as a special assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia. Prior to joining the Wood County Prosecutor’s Office, he worked for the law firm Albright, Bradley and Ellison.

He served as a board member of the Arc of the Mid-Ohio Valley and United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley. He was a board member and past president of the West Virginia University at Parkersburg Foundation and a member and past chairman of the West Virginia State Bar Young Lawyer’s Executive Committee.

He and his wife, Heidi Starn Wharton, live in Vienna with their two children.

Judge Christopher C. Wilkes

Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit (Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties)

Judge Wilkes holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from West Virginia University (1980) and law degree from The Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law (1982) where he was inducted into the Willis Society of Legal Scholars having graduated in the top 10% of his class. He has successfully completed numerous courses at the National Judicial College and the Law and Economics program at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School.

He was a partner in the law firm of Wilkes & Wilkes, L.C., in Martinsburg from 1983 to 1993 and was a municipal judge in the cities of Martinsburg and Ranson from 1985 to 1993.

In 1992 he was elected to the bench in the Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit (Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties) and re-elected in 2000, 2008 and 2016.

Judge Wilkes is the chairman of the West Virginia Business Court Division. He is past chairman of the Youth Services Committee of the Court Improvement Board and is a member of the Juvenile Justice Commission and State Bar ADR committee. He is past President of the West Virginia Judicial Association, a member of the ABA National Conference of State Trial Judges and serves as a Business Court Representative to the ABA Business Law Section. He is a member of the American Judges Association, Eastern Panhandle Bar Association, and the American College of Business Court Judges. He has been honored as a West Virginia Bar Foundation Fellow.

He is the author of “Emerging Fronts in Alternative Dispute Resolution: Judicial Mediation in West Virginia Business Court,” and “West Virginia’s New Business Court Division: An Overview of the Development and Operation of Trial Court Rule 29”. He has been a guest lecturer, panelist and presenter at numerous trainings and conferences and has been appointed several times to sit as a temporary Justice on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia and authored two published opinions.

He and his wife, Patricia live in Martinsburg have two daughters and two grandchildren.

Judge C. Carter Williams

Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit (Hampshire, Hardy, and Pendleton Counties)

Judge Williams is a native of Hardy County. He has a 1988 bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University, and a 1991 law degree from the West Virginia University College of Law.

He was elected to the bench in the Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit (Hampshire, Hardy, and Pendleton Counties) in May 2016, and took office on January 1, 2017.

From 1999 through 2016 he was as an Assistant Attorney General with the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office, where he served as state-wide legal counsel for the Adult Protective Services Division of the Department of Health and Human Resources, and regional legal counsel for the Bureau for Children and Families in fifteen counties including the Eastern Panhandle.

Judge Williams was a member of the Court Improvement Program Oversight Board for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals from 2009 through 2012. At the time of his election he also was also a member of the West Virginia Financial Exploitation Task Force, and the West Virginia Working Interdisciplinary Network of Guardianship Stakeholders. He is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association.

Judge Williams was an associate attorney at the law firm of Bowles Rice McDavid Graff & Love from 1991 to 1993, before becoming an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Hampshire County where he served until 1995. He was also employed as an associate with Geary & Geary, LC, from 1995 until becoming an Assistant Attorney General. Judge Williams has been a middle school football coach and an EMT in his community.

Judge Williams resides in Old Fields with his wife, Tona, and two children, where they are members of Believers Victory Center Church.

Judge Mark Wills

Ninth Judicial Circuit (Mercer County)

Judge Mark Wills was elected on May 10, 2016, to a Ninth Judicial Circuit (Mercer County) term that begins January 1, 2017.  On May 19, 2016, Governor Ear Ray Tomblin appointed him to the seat to serve the remainder of the term of Judge Omar Aboulhosn, who resigned earlier in the year to become a federal magistrate.

At the time of his election, Judge Wills had been practicing law at Wills Law Office in Princeton, a solo general practice, for eighteen years. 

A native of Princeton, he has a 1977 bachelor’s degree in political science from Concord University and a 1981 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.

He is the former chief operating officer of Taggart Global, LLC China, and negotiated contracts between American and Chinese coal interests from 2006 to 2008.  He also was a partner in the law firms of Wills and Sadler; Wills, Kilgore and Sadler; and Bayless and Wills.

Judge Wills served in the West Virginia Senate from 2010 to 2012 and in the West Virginia House of Delegates from 1999 to 2002.

He has been a member of the Salvation Army Advisory Board since 1994 and the chairman since 2013. He has been on the board of the Princeton Community Hospital since 2006.

He and his wife, Revonda Leigh Wills, have four children and two grandchildren.

Judge David H. Wilmoth

Twentieth Judicial Circuit (Randolph County)

Judge Wilmoth is a native of Elkins and graduated from Elkins High School in 1983. He has a 1988 bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Marshall University and a 1991 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.

He began his legal career in 1992 as an associate attorney at Jory & Smith L.C. In 1997, he started his own law firm, David H. Wilmoth LC, in Elkins.

He also served as the Randolph County fiduciary commissioner for ten years (2004-2015) and as the mental hygiene commissioner for Randolph County from 1996 to 2015 and Tucker County from 2010 to 2015. He worked as a discovery commissioner for the Randolph County circuit court and as a special commissioner for Barbour, Randolph and Upshur County circuit courts.

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin appointed him to the bench in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit (Randolph County) in February 2015. He won the election in 2016.

He is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association.

He is a former member of the Randolph County Ambulance Authority Board, Randolph County Committee on Aging, Inc., and the Deputy Sheriff’s and Randolph County Correctional Officer Civil Service Commissions.

He and his wife, Kris, have one daughter.

Judge Patrick N. Wilson

Sixteenth Judicial Circuit (Marion County)

Judge Patrick N. Wilson was born and raised in Marion County. He has a 1979 bachelor’s degree from Fairmont State College, now University. He is a 1985 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.

Then-Governor Earl Ray Tomblin appointed Judge Wilson to the bench in the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit (Marion County) on January 6, 2016, to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of former Circuit Court Judge Michael John Aloi, who became a federal magistrate. In May 2016 he was elected to a full eight-year term beginning January 1, 2017.

He began his law career in 1985 as an associate with Manchin, Aloi, and Carrick in Fairmont. Shortly after, he began serving in the Marion County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office as the Chief Assistant Prosecutor. He also worked as a part-time professor at Fairmont State College, where he taught courses in criminal law/procedure, legal ethics/communication, adjudication, and argumentation and debate. In 1991, he became a partner at Wilson, Fucillo, and Shields, LLC, where he worked until 2004. In 2005, he was elected county prosecutor, a job he held until his appointment to the bench.

Judge Wilson has one adult son, Cody.

Judge Ronald E. Wilson

First Judicial Circuit (Brooke, Hancock, and Ohio Counties)

Judge Ron Wilson is a graduate of Weir High School. He has a 1961 bachelor’s degree from American University and a 1965 law degree from the University of Maryland. In 1968 he was one of one hundred young lawyers to be awarded a U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship. After completing the educational portion of the program at the University of Michigan Law School, he was assigned to the Charleston Legal Aid program for one year and the Neighborhood Legal Services in Pittsburgh for two years.

In 1971 he joined the law firm of Jordon and Flowers in New Cumberland; that firm subsequently Jordan and Wilson. He served one term in the House of Delegates in 1971-72.

Then-Governor Jay Rockefeller appointed him to the bench in First Judicial Circuit (Brooke, Hancock, and Ohio Counties) in 1981. He was elected in 1982 and re-elected in 1984, 1992, 2000, 2008, and 2016.

Judge Wilson is chairperson of the Judicial Investigation Commission and has presided over all asbestos personal injury litigation in the State of West Virginia since 2003. He has served as president of the West Virginia Judicial Association and was chairman of the committees responsible for revising the West Virginia Judicial canons and updating the West Virginia Rules of Evidence.

He provided a civil law update for a number of years at the circuit judge’s educational conferences and has lectured on a variety of subjects – but with an emphasis on the rules of evidence – at those conferences. He also has taught evidence to West Virginia law clerks and Mental Hygiene Commissioners. Judge Wilson has taught courses for the West Virginia State Bar-WVU CLE programs, the West Virginia Association for Justice, and he has been an adjunct lecturer at West Liberty University and West Virginia Northern Community College. He also served on the Harvard Medical School, Department of Continuing Education faculty for its 2013 asbestos course.

In 2004, he was named a West Virginia Bar Foundation Fellow and in 2013 he was named Judge of the Year by the West Virginia Association for Justice. He has had articles published in the West Virginia Lawyer and his dissenting opinion in MacDonald v. City Hospital was published in full in the Advocate Magazine.

He married his wife Joyce in 1957 and they have four children.

Judge James H. Young, Jr.

Twenty-Fourth Judicial Circuit (Wayne County)

Judge Young is a native of Wayne. He graduated from Ceredo-Kenova High School in 1971, Marshall University in 1974, and West Virginia University College of Law in 1979.

He was a member of and partner in law firms in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Huntington, West Virginia. He served as the elected Wayne County prosecutor from 1997 to 2008, when then-Governor Joe Manchin III appointed him to a new judicial seat in the Twenty-Fourth Judicial Circuit (Wayne County). He took office January 1, 2009, and was elected to that position in 2010 and re-elected in 2016.

Judge Young is one of seven judges in the Business Court Division and is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association. He has been appointed several times to sit on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in cases in which a Justice was recused.

He is married to the former Shonda Donahue and has two daughters.