Judge Stephanie Abraham was appointed to the circuit court bench in Kanawha County in August 2023. She was elected in 2024 to an eight-year term that began January 1, 2025.

She presides over the Kanawha County Juvenile Treatment Court, is a member of the Mass Litigation Panel, and is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association’s Legislative Committee.

Judge Abraham received a bachelor’s degree in finance from Syracuse University in 2000 and a law degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Law in 2003. She is licensed to practice law in West Virginia and Maryland.

Her legal career has included civil litigation, corporate matters, and representing state and county governmental agencies. She also owned and operated a law firm as a solo practitioner engaged in real estate and property law (2017-2023). She has been General Counsel for the West Virginia Board of Education, an attorney for the Department of Education, and was previously a judicial law clerk in Logan County. She was also an Instructor of Business and Lead Faculty for Career Programs at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College and has served on that school’s Board of Governors.

She and her husband, Brian, have two sons and live in South Charleston.

Governor Jim Justice appointed Clay County attorney Michael W. Asbury, Jr., to the bench in the then-Fourteenth Judicial Circuit (Braxton, Clay, Gilmer, and Webster Counties) in August 2023. He was elected in May 2024 to an eight-year term that began January 1, 2025. Judge Asbury serves on the Legislative, Education, and Re-Alignment Committees of the West Virginia Judicial Association.

Judge Asbury is a native of Clay County. He is a 1993 graduate of Clay County High School, a 2002 graduate of West Virginia State University, and a 2005 graduate of West Virginia University College of Law. Before his appointment, he owned his own law practice in Clay County and served clients throughout central West Virginia.

He has been married to his high school sweetheart, Carrie Asbury, since 1995, and they have four children and six grandchildren. The couple actively serve in Fairview Baptist Temple in Clay, and Judge Asbury is an outdoor enthusiast.

Judge Anita Harold Ashley was elected in May 2016 to a new seat in the Fifth Judicial Circuit (Calhoun, Jackson, Mason and Roane Counties) and was re-elected in 2024.

A Glenville native, she has a 1978 bachelor’s degree in English, summa cum laude, from Glenville State College and a 1981 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.

At the time of her election in 2016, Judge Ashley had practiced law for 35 years. She served as a family law master from 1986 to 1999 and was a Jackson County assistant prosecutor in 2022.  During her tenure as family law master, she served on the Judicial Investigation Commission and was on several select committees of the Supreme Court. She also received several state and national awards as a practicing attorney.

As a circuit judge, Judge Ashley was selected by her peers to hold several offices in the West Virginia Judicial Association, including president in 2023. In 2023, she was named a West Virginia Bar Foundation fellow, and she was named the 2022 West Virginia Judge of the Year by Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for her work with abused and neglected children.

Judge Ashley is active in the community.  She is a member of the Spencer Rotary Club, where she served as the first female president, the Roane County College Scholarship Foundation, Inc., the Roane County Chamber of Commerce, and St. John’s United Methodist Church.  She has also been an active volunteer with scouting organizations.

Judge Ashley and her late husband, former legislator Bob Ashley, have two adult sons, Ben and Sam.

Judge Kenneth Ballard was appointed to the circuit court bench in Kanawha County on April 26, 2021. He was elected in 2022 and re-elected in 2024. He is the former Kanawha County Juvenile Drug Court Judge.

Judge Ballard was born in 1974 and grew up in Charleston. He graduated from George Washington High School in 1992. He was a member of the 1991 AAA Boys’ West Virginia Cross-Country Championship team, and he was the AAA 800-meter State Champion.

He has a 1997 bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Marshall University and a 2001 law degree magna cum laude from the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, where he was an associate editor of the Law Review.

After graduating from Marshall University, he worked for a year as an environmental scientist for Roy F. Weston. After graduating from law school, he worked at the Charleston firm Bickley & Jacobs, where he had worked during summers since high school. He then opened his own practice in 2004, focusing on family law, abuse and neglect, guardian ad litem, and criminal cases. He also worked as a Kanawha County Mental Hygiene Commissioner from 2006-2008.

Judge Ballard was elected to the family court bench in Kanawha County in 2008 and re-elected in 2016. He was Chief Kanawha County Family Court Judge from 2010 until his appointment to the circuit court bench in 2021. He was President of the Family Court Judges Association in 2013 and 2017.

He is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia and the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

Judge Ballard is married to Allison Ballard, and they have three children.

Judge J.D. Beane was appointed to the circuit court bench in 2006, was elected in 2008, and was re-elected in 2016 and 2024.

Judge Beane served as Chief Circuit Judge from 2011 to 2020. He has been appointed to serve on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia when a justice has been recused, and he is a former member of the Judicial Investigation Commission.

Judge Beane attended Wood County public schools. He graduated from West Virginia University and Capital University Law School in Columbus. He attended summer law programs at Ohio State University College of Law and Oxford University. He was in private practice in Parkersburg for 16 years before he was appointed to the bench.

He was a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from 1990 to 2006. In the House, he served on the following committees: Government Organization (Chairman), Joint Committee on Government Operations (Co-Chairman), Insurance (Chairman), Banking (Vice-Chairman), Judiciary, Finance, Constitutional Revisions, Industry and Labor, Joint Committee on Interstate Cooperation (Co-Chairman), Rules, and West Virginia Law Institute. Then-Governor Bob Wise appointed him to the Governors Cabinet on Children and Families and the Commission on Governing in the Twenty-First Century.

While a legislator, he also served on the following regional and national committees: Property and Casualty Insurance, Workers’ Compensation, Subcommittee on National Disasters Insurance Legislation, and the Executive Committee of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators; Public Safety and Justice Task Force of the Council of State Governments; Law and Criminal Justice Committee of the National Conference of State Legislators; Human Services and Public Safety Committee of the Southern Legislative Conference.

He is married to Jill L. Redinger. 

Judge Hilary M. Bright was elected to the bench in the Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit (Preston and Tucker Counties) and took office on January 1, 2025. 
 
Judge Bright was raised in Terra Alta, West Virginia and graduated from Preston High School in 2007. She received a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Alderson Broaddus College in 2011 and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 2014. 
 
She practiced law at McNeer, Highland, McMunn and Varner, LC, in Kingwood from 2014 to March of 2019 practicing civil litigation, domestic relations, estate planning and handling real estate transactions. In March of 2019, Judge Bright opened her own law firm, The Bright Law Firm, PLLC, in Kingwood, where she expanded her areas of practice to include abuse and neglect cases. Judge Bright also served as a Mental Hygiene Commissioner for Preston County (2019 – 2024). 
 
Judge Bright is an active alum of the running programs at Preston High School and coached the track and field teams in 2018 and 2019. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Kingwood, and an avid supporter of the youth agricultural programs in her area. Judge Bright also served as the District 15 representative for the Young Lawyers’ Section of the West Virginia State Bar (2018-2022).

She and her husband, Matthew, reside in Preston County with their two children.

Judge Joshua Butcher was elected to the bench in the then-Seventh Judicial Circuit (Logan County) in 2016 and re-elected in 2024 to the new Eleventh Judicial Circuit (Logan and Mingo Counties).

Judge Butcher was born and raised in Logan County and is a 1998 graduate of Beth Haven Christian School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Marshall University in 2003 and a law degree from the West Virginia University College of Law in 2006.

Judge Butcher worked a short stint in private practice and served as a Logan County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney (2012-2013). He served nearly 10 years (2006-2015) as a law clerk to now-former Circuit Judge Roger Perry in Logan County and to former Circuit Judge Miki Thompson in Mingo County. He is a former President of the Logan County Bar Association and current member of the West Virginia Judicial Association.

Judge Butcher is married to Jamie Dempsey Butcher; they have two daughters and one son.  

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.
 

Judge H. Charles Carl, III, was appointed to the then-Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit (Hampshire, Hardy, and Pendleton Counties) in 2013. He was elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2016. In 2024, he was elected to the new Twenty-Sixth Judicial Circuit.

Judge Carl served a full seven-year term as judge in the Business Court Division from 2015-2022. He is also the supervising judge of the South Branch Adult Treatment Court and has served by temporary assignments as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. He is a past President of the West Virginia Judicial Association.

Judge Carl is a native of Springfield in Hampshire County. He graduated from Hampshire High School in 1980, earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in 1984, and earned a law degree from Capital University Law School in 1987.

He started practicing law in Romney with his grandfather, William. H. Ansel, Jr., in 1987, and the firm grew into Carl, Keaton, Frazer & Milleson, PLLC. While engaged in the general practice of law for over 25 years, Judge Carl was a criminal, civil, domestic, and estate litigator. He was also General Counsel for the Bank of Romney, where he served as a director for more than 20 years. He was President of the South Branch Valley Bar Association from 2006 until his appointment to the bench.

Judge Carl coached youth basketball for many years and is a member of the Hampshire County Athletic Hall of Fame. He resides in Romney with his wife, Lisa. They have three daughters and two granddaughters.
 

Judge Kelly Gilmore Codispoti was appointed to the Ninth Family Court Circuit (Logan County) in 2001. She was elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2008 and 2016. In 2022, she moved from family court to circuit court when she was appointed to the then-Seventh Judicial Circuit. She was elected in 2024 to the new Eleventh Judicial Circuit (Logan and Mingo Counties).

Judge Codispoti was born and raised in Logan County. She has a 1977 bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University and a 1980 law degree from Ohio Northern University.

She began practicing law in Logan County in 1980 with Valentine, Wilson & Partain; Cagle & Garten; and as a solo practitioner before becoming a Child Advocate Attorney (now Bureau of Child Support Enforcement) in both Logan and Mingo Counties. She was also a Public Defender in Logan County and an Assistant Logan County Prosecuting Attorney before her judicial appointment. codi

Judge Codispoti is married to former Logan County Magistrate Leonard L. Codispoti, and they have two children and five grandchildren.
 

Judge Cohee was elected in May 2016 to the bench in the then-Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit (Berkeley, Jefferson, and Mogan Counties) and re-elected in 2024 to the newly formed Twenty-Eighth Judicial Circuit (Jefferson County). She presides over all types of circuit court cases including civil, felony, abuse and neglect, and juvenile cases. Judge Cohee also serves on the Judicial Investigation Commission and the Court Improvement Project, supervises Jefferson County Youth Treatment Court, and has been appointed to sit on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia to hear cases in which a Justice was recused.

Judge Cohee is a member of the Executive Committee for the West Virginia Judicial Association and co-chairs the Education Committee. Judge Cohee is active on the Women in the Profession (WIP) Committee of the West Virginia State Bar and co-chairs the annual Law Day contest for students in grades K-12

Prior to her election, Judge Cohee practiced law as a civil defense attorney for 16 years and was the managing member of the Martinsburg office of Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC. She also accepted court-appointed cases representing children as their guardian ad litem in abuse and neglect cases.

Judge Cohee has served on the West Virginia University College of Law Visiting Committee, the Shepherd University Board of Governors, and the United Way of the Eastern Panhandle Board of Directors.

Judge Cohee earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Mt. St. Mary’s University, her masters of science degree in education/counseling from the University of Kentucky, and her law degree from the University of Kentucky College of Law. She was admitted to practice in West Virginia, Maryland, and before the United States Supreme Court.

Judge Cohee lives in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, with her husband, Gerard Nevin, with whom she has one adult daughter.

Judge Jeffrey D. Cramer was appointed to the bench in the Second Judicial Circuit (Marshall, Tyler, and Wetzel Counties) in June 2015. He was elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2024.

Judge Cramer is a native of McMechen, West Virginia. He has a B.A. degree in political science from West Virginia University and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.  

Judge Cramer began his career in 1997 as an associate at Berry, Kessler, Crutchfield & Taylor in Moundsville. He was a Marshall County Assistant Prosecutor from 1999 to 2005. He was appointed Prosecuting Attorney in 2005, elected in 2006, and re-elected in 2008 and 2012. He was greatly involved in the formation of the Marshall County Drug Task Force and served as a special prosecutor in Ohio, Brooke, Wetzel, and Tyler Counties.

Since taking the bench, he has served by temporary assignments on the Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virginia (ICA) and Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia when an ICA Judge or Supreme Court Justice was recused.  

He and his wife, Denise, live in Marshall County. They have one son. 
 

Judge Jason A. Cuomo was born in Steubenville, Ohio, and was raised in Follansbee, West Virginia. He has a 1993 bachelor’s degree in communications with a minor in political science from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and a 1996 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law. While in law school he was a member of the Order of the Coif and Law Review, and he served as executive editor of Volume 98 of the Law Review.

He practiced law with his father, Frank Cuomo, at the Wellsburg firm Cuomo and Cuomo from the time he graduated from law school until Governor Earl Ray Tomblin appointed him to the bench on July 10, 2015. Judge Cuomo was named to fill the vacancy in the First Judicial Circuit (Brooke, Hancock and Ohio Counties) created by the retirement of Judge Martin J. Gaughan on June 30, 2015. He was then elected in 2016.

He has served on a number of boards and commissions, including the Brooke County Schools Education Foundation and the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education. He has coached several youth sports teams.

He and his wife, Dana, have a daughter and a son, and the family lives in Follansbee.

Perri Jo DeChristopher was appointed to the circuit court bench by Governor Jim Justice, and she took office January 27, 2023. She was elected to the Twenty-First Judicial Circuit, Division 3, in 2024.

Judge DeChristopher was born and raised in Monongalia County and attended Morgantown High School. She is a graduate of West Virginia University and West Virginia University College of Law.

Judge DeChristopher’s career in public service began when she accepted a position in the Harrison County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in 1994. In 1998, she began working in the Monongalia County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, and she became Chief Assistant in 2000. She was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Monongalia County in 2016 and re-elected in 2020.

For more than 20 years, Judge DeChristopher was responsible for prosecution of murder charges, violent felony offenses, felony drug cases, and sexual assault crimes involving children and adults. She was a member of the Monongalia County Sexual Assault Response Team, Chair of the Mon Metro Drug Task Force Board of Directors, a founding member of the Monongalia County Adult Drug Court, Vice President of the West Virginia Association of Counties, and a Past President of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Association.

She was appointed by the governor to the Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) Commission and was the Vice Chair of the West Virginia Sentencing Commission under the Governor’s Committee on Crime, Delinquency, and Correction.

Outside of her legal career, Judge DeChristopher was an officer on the board of Mon General Hospital and is an executive board member of Your Community Foundation of North Central West Virginia (YCF).

She was inducted as a West Virginia Bar Foundation Fellow in 2023.

She and her husband, retired West Virginia State Trooper Chuck Porter, have two children.
 

Judge Catherine “Catie” Wilkes Delligatti was elected to the bench in the Twenty-Seventh Judicial Circuit (Berkeley and Morgan Counties) in 2024 and took office January 1, 2025.

She was raised in Berkeley County and has a 2008 bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Shepherd University. In 2011, she received both a law degree and a master’s degree in business administration from West Virginia University.

She worked at Bowles Rice LLP in Martinsburg from 2011 to 2016 practicing tax, corporate, and municipal law, including acting as city prosecutor. During this time, she was a member of the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation’s Investment Management Committee.

She was elected Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney in 2016 and re-elected in 2000. She served as a member of the Eastern Panhandle Bar Charitable Foundation Board and was previously appointed by Gov. Jim Justice to serve on the West Virginia Sentencing Commission. She was previously recognized as part of The State Journal’s “Generation Next: Forty under Forty.”

At the time of her election to the bench, she was immediate Past-President of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Association and a member of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute Executive Council.

She and her husband, Anthony, have two children. 
 

Judge Matthew Delligatti was elected to the bench in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit in 2024 and took office on January 1, 2025.

Judge Delligatti is a lifelong resident of Fairmont and a graduate of Fairmont Senior High School. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from West Virginia University (2008) and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law (2011). While at WVU, Judge Delligatti became the University’s 18th recipient of the prestigious Harry S. Truman Scholarship and was also named to the Order of Augusta.

He was elected to the Fairmont City Council at age 20 and became Fairmont Mayor two years later, in 2019, while in his first year of law school.

After law school, Judge Delligatti was a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Irene Berger in the Southern District of West Virginia and later to then-Marion County Circuit Judge Michael Aloi. In 2013, he co-founded Kettering Delligatti Law Offices in Fairmont and later was a sole practitioner (2019-2024), handling a wide variety of civil, family law, and criminal defense cases.

At the time of his election to the bench, Judge Delligatti was a member of the Fairmont Senior High School Foundation, President of the Marion County Community Corrections Board, President of the Marion County Sheriff’s Civil Service Commission, and a member of the West Virginia State Bar District Character Committee.

He is married to Caitlin Rexrode Delligatti, and they have two children. 
 

Judge Andrew Dimlich was elected in 2016 to a new seat in the Tenth Judicial Circuit (Raleigh County) and he was re-elected in 2024 to the same seat in the renumbered Fourteenth Judicial Circuit (Raleigh County).

Judge Dimlich was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and raised in Centerville, Ohio. He has a 1988 bachelor’s degree in business from Indiana University and a 1992 law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law.

He began his legal career as an associate at the law firm Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown, and Poe. He managed civil litigation and defense cases. From 1996 to 1997, he served as an Assistant West Virginia Attorney General and was counsel for all the state’s public colleges and universities. From 1999 until his election, he was an Assistant Raleigh County Prosecutor.

He and his wife, Family Court Judge Suzanne McGraw, have adult twins. 
 

Judge Laura V. Faircloth was elected to a new seat in the Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit (Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties) in 2016 and re-elected in 2024 to the new Twenty-Seventh Judicial Circuit (Berkeley and Morgan Counties).

Judge Faircloth is a native of Berkeley County. She has a 1981 bachelor’s degree with honors in political science from Shepherd College (now University) and a 1984 law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.

At the time of her election, she led the six-person Law Offices of Laura Faircloth in Martinsburg. Previously, she was a partner in a multi-state law firm of Preiser, Tabor, Lindsey & Coltelli. Earlier on, she was an associate with the following firms: Askin, Pill, Scales & Burke; Martin and Seibert; and Lewis, Ciccarello, Masinter & Friedberg.

She has been board-certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy since 1989 in the field of civil trial work, including pretrial practice. She has provided pro bono legal services to Berkeley County volunteer fire departments, the Berkeley County Historical Society, and the Berkeley County Farm Bureau.

Judge Faircloth is a past President of the Berkeley County Bar (1990-91) and a former member of the Board of Governors for the Young Lawyers Section of the West Virginia State Bar (1988-91). She served on the Berkeley County Civil Service Commission for Deputy Sheriffs (1991-92) and as President of the West Virginia Trial Lawyers Association (1996).

Judge Faircloth is a lifetime member of the Berkeley County Historical Society, Girl Scouts of America, and the National Rifle Association. She is also a supporter of the Children’s Miracle Network.

She lives in Martinsburg and has two children.
 

Judge Thomas K. Fast was elected to the bench in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit (Fayette County) in 2024 and his term started January 1, 2025.

Judge Fast was born in Fairmont and raised on a farm in Marion County. He is a graduate of North Marion High School (1984). He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Fairmont State College (now University) in 1989 and a law degree from Regent University School of Law in 1993. While at Fairmont State, he served on student government as the Board of Regents representative, making him a member of the governing council for higher education in West Virginia. He also participated in an internship at the West Virginia Legislature, where he was assigned to the House of Delegates. 

After law school, he worked at Conrad and Clay/Conrad Law Offices (1993-1996). In 1996, he opened his solo law practice in Fayetteville, where he continued to work in the general practice of law until he took the bench. During his 31 years practicing law, he handled a wide variety of cases in multiple courts in West Virginia. He also served for a time as Level II Hearing Examiner for the Board of Education.

He was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 2014 and was re-elected four times. He was Chair of the Industry and Labor Committee, as well as Vice-Chair and Chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

Judge Fast and his wife, Lisa, have one child and two grandchildren. He and his wife served more than 10 years as state Youth Directors for the West Virginia Free Methodist Church. He led a chapter of the Christian Coalition in the 1990s and is a member of Faith Community Church. He has also coached Upward Bound Basketball and is a past President of the Fayette County Bar Association.
 

Judge Hall is a native of Brunswick, Ohio. He has a bachelor’s degree (1990) in Mining Engineering Technology from Fairmont State University and worked as a project engineer/Certified Mine Foreman’s Assistant before earning a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1995.

Judge Hall was elected to a new seat in the Twenty-Sixth Judicial Circuit (Lewis and Upshur Counties) in May 2016. He took office on January 1, 2017.

He was a law clerk in an Elkins law firm, a public defender in the Second Judicial Circuit (Marshall, Tyler, and Wetzel Counties) and then a Randolph County assistant prosecuting attorney. He was an assistant prosecuting attorney in Harrison County for eleven years before then-Governor Earl Ray Tomblin appointed him to the circuit bench in the Twenty-Sixth Judicial Circuit (Lewis and Upshur Counties) in 2013. He served sixteen months but was unsuccessful in retaining the seat in the 2014 election. He went on to work as a Lewis County assistant prosecuting attorney.

Judge Hall is a member of the Hopes Point Baptist Church and the Lewis County Senior Center Board of Directors. He and his wife, Liz, live in Jane Lew with their three children.

Judge David Hammer was elected in May 2018 to fill an unexpired judicial term and re-elected in May 2024. He served as the Supervising Judge of Jefferson County until January 1, 2025, when he became the Chief Judge of the new Twenty-Eighth Judicial Circuit (Jefferson County).

Judge Hammer is one of seven judges on the West Virginia Business Court, presiding over complex business disputes throughout West Virginia. He also supervises the Jefferson County Adult Treatment Court; he and a treatment team meet weekly with people to address their substance use disorders and recovery. He has sat by temporary assignment on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in place of a justice who was recused from a case.

As a lawyer and then a judge, he has been a presenter at legal symposia on employment, class action, and evidentiary topics.

He is a 1985 graduate of Temple University and a 1988 graduate of the College of William & Mary, Marshall Wythe School of Law.

He co-founded Hammer, Ferretti & Schiavoni in 1992 and continued to work there until his election in 2018. He concentrated his practice primarily in employment law, wage and hour, and municipal law.

He has served as President of the West Virginia Employment Lawyers and as President of the West Virginia Association of Justice. He also served as chair 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 then-Governor Earl Ray Tomblin to serve on the West Virginia Agricultural Land Protection Authority. He currently serves as a statutory representative on the West Virginia Investment Management Board.

He and his wife, Effie, live in Shepherdstown and have two daughters and a son.

Judge Dave Hardy was sworn in as a judge in the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit (Kanawha County) on January 12, 2024. Governor Jim Justice appointed Judge Hardy to the bench to replace Judge Joanna Tabit, who passed away September 29. 

Judge Hardy is a native of Pratt in Kanawha County. He has two bachelor’s degrees: one in history and government and another in accounting from West Virginia University Institute of Technology. He has a law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law. He is also a certified public accountant.

Judge Hardy was a member of Charleston City Council (1995-2001), a Kanawha County Commissioner (2001-2017), and Cabinet Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Revenue (2017-2023). While a cabinet secretary, he was also the governor’s designee on the Municipal Home Rule Board, Investment Management Board, and the Board of Treasury Investments.

He has more than 33 years of experience in the private practice of law. He became a partner at Jackson Kelly in 1993 and, in 2012, he formed the Hardy Pence law firm. He has been named a “Best Lawyer in America” in energy law, as well as a “Top Lawyer” in West Virginia. He has lectured throughout the United States on occupational and mine health and safety law and, at the time of his appointment to the bench, he taught graduate classes on public budgeting and contract management at West Virginia State University.

Hardy lives in Charleston with his wife, Nadia. They have two children.

Judge Gregory L. Howard was elected in 2016 to a seat in the Sixth Judicial Circuit (Cabell County) and was re-elected in 2024.

Judge Howard has served as the Chief Circuit Judge in Cabell County since 2017. He has also presided over the Cabell County Adult Drug Court since 2016. Judge Howard is the Chair of the Mass Litigation Panel and served as a Resolution Judge during the settlement of the Opioid Litigation.

He has a 1995 bachelor’s degree in business administration 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 a Cabell County Assistant Prosecutor. As an Assistant Prosecutor, he helped establish the Cabell County Juvenile Drug Court in 1999, which was the first drug court in West Virginia.

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 Thomas B. Hoxie was appointed to the bench and took the oath of office on February 24, 2023. He was elected to the position in 2024 and serves in the Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit (Barbour and Taylor Counties).

Judge Hoxie grew up in Philippi and graduated from Philip Barbour High School. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law.

Judge Hoxie practiced law in Barbour and Taylor Counties, representing clients in both civil and criminal litigation, until he was elected Barbour County Prosecuting Attorney in 2016. He was re-elected in 2020 and served as prosecutor until he was appointed to the bench.

He has been a soccer coach and served on several local boards and committees, including the boards of the Barbour County Senior Center and Broaddus Hospital.

He and his wife, Gemma, have three girls and live in Philippi. The whole family enjoys visiting West Virginia state parks, hiking, and camping.
 

Judge Kirby was elected to the circuit court bench in Raleigh County in May 2024. When his predecessor retired before his term ended, Judge Kirby was appointed to finish that term, which ended on December 31, 2024.  

Judge Kirby is the son of Stephen and Beverly Kirby and was raised in Fairdale, West Virginia. He graduated from Liberty High School in 2003 and has degrees in political science, history, and international studies from Marshall University. In 2011, he earned his law degree from Liberty University School of Law in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Judge Kirby opened a law firm in Beckley, where he worked from 2011-2024. He also served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Raleigh County from 2023-2024, where his focus was abuse and neglect cases. In 2022, he was elected to represent the 44th District in the West Virginia House of Delegates. He resigned from that position to become a judge.

He lives in Beckley with his wife, Beth, and two children.
 

Judge Richard David Lindsay II was elected to the bench in the Eighth Judicial Circuit (Kanawha County) in 2024 and took office January 1, 2025.

Judge Lindsay was born and raised in Charleston. He received a bachelor’s degree in history from Wingate University in 2000, a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University in 2003, and a law degree from Appalachian School of Law in 2008.

He was an Associate at Tabor Lindsay & Associates from 2008 to 2024, where he specialized in personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death litigation.

He was a member of the West Virginia Senate, representing Kanawha County, from 2018 to 2022.

He is a current board member of Covenant House, a past board member of West Virginia’s Helping, and a participant in the Read Aloud program.

He and his wife, Allison Cook, have two sons.
 

Judge Michael D. Lorensen was appointed to the bench in 2012 to serve a circuit that included Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties. He was elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2016. In 2024, he was elected to the new Twenty-Seventh Judicial Circuit (Berkeley and Morgan Counties).

Judge Lorensen is Chair of the Business Court Division and the Judicial Hearing Board.

He 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 25 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.

He was a member of Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s 2014 West Virginia Intergovernmental Task Force on Juvenile Justice and the local rules committee for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. He is a former member of the West Virginia Board of Law Examiners. He formerly served 13 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 Chad Lovejoy was elected to the bench in the Sixth Judicial Circuit (Cabell County) in 2024 and took office on January 1, 2025. 

Judge Lovejoy is a native of Huntington and graduate of St. Joseph’s Central Catholic High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from West Virginia University in 1994 and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1997. At law school, he was elected Editor-in-Chief of Volume 99 of the West Virginia Law Review and inducted into the Order of the Coif and Order of the Barristers.

After law school, he returned to Huntington to practice law from 1997 to 2023 as a civil litigator in West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, completing his practice as a partner with the firm of Duffield, Lovejoy & Boggs, PLLC.

Judge Lovejoy also taught courses in the Legal Assisting Program at Marshall University Community and Technical College from 2000 to 2008. He was a frequent lecturer on the use of technology in both the law office and courtroom.

In 2016, he was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates, and he was re-elected twice.  While representing portions of Cabell and Wayne Counties, he served as a member of the following committees: Judiciary (Minority Chair); House Rules; Banking & Insurance; Women, Children & Families; and Volunteer Fire Departments & Emergency Medical Services.

Judge Lovejoy previously served on the boards of several Huntington-based charitable organizations, including more than 20 years on the board of the Huntington City Mission.

He and his wife, Sara, live in Huntington. They have four children and one grandchild.
 

Judge Amy L. Mann was elected to the bench in the Thirtieth Judicial Circuit (Monroe and Summers Counties) in 2024 and took office on January 1, 2025.

She was born in Clifton Forge, Virginia, and lived in Covington, Virginia, until age 5, when her family moved to West Virginia. She was raised in Hinton. She received a bachelor’s degree in education from Concord College (now University) in 1986 and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 2002.

She worked briefly for the Summers County Board of Education (1987-1990) as a teacher and then worked as a paralegal for her late father, Perry Mann, at Mann & Mann Attorneys at Law in Hinton (1990-1999) and then was a law partner there in 2002.

She was a part-time Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Monroe County (2003-2005) and Summers County (2003-2006) and part-time Municipal Prosecutor for the Town of Alderson (2004-2009). She was appointed Summers County Prosecuting Attorney in 2007, elected to that position in 2009, and re-elected in 2012.

At the time of her election to the bench, she had been a Mental Hygiene Commissioner in Summers and Monroe Counties since 2017 and was serving her third term on the West Virginia State Bar Character Committee (having been appointed by the Supreme Court).

She was also on the Boards for the Hinton Area Foundation, the Monroe Health Center, the Summers/Monroe County Corrections Board, and was a member of the Summers County Historic Landmark Society.

She received the 2020 Children’s Hero Award from the Monroe Multidisciplinary Investigative Team.

She is a widow and has one son. 
 

Judge Leslie L. Maze was elected to a new seat in the Third Judicial Circuit (Doddridge, Pleasants, Ritchie, and Wirt Counties) and took office on January 1, 2025.

She was born in Parkersburg and raised in Elizabeth in Wirt County. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from West Virginia University (1994) and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law (1998).

She was the elected Prosecuting Attorney of Wirt County (2001-2012) and was a solo practitioner in Elizabeth (2013-2024).  

She is active in her church, the Big Island Run Church. She and her husband, Bradley Snodgrass, have one child.
 

Judge Debra McLaughlin was re-elected to the bench in the Twenty-Seventh Judicial Circuit (Berkeley and Morgan Counties) in 2024. She had been appointed to the same seat in August 2017 and served through May 2018. She was re-appointed in March 2019 and elected in May 2020. 

Since 1999, Judge McLaughlin has been a resident of West Virginia, where she practiced law and raised a family. Judge McLaughlin served 15 years as the Morgan County Prosecuting Attorney prior to her appointment to the circuit court.

In 1990, Judge McLaughlin earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology with a concentration in criminal justice from St. Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania, where she was an Honors Program graduate. She earned her law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1993. 

Judge McLaughlin began her legal practice at the law firm of Bochetto & Lentz (Philadelphia, Pa.) and later at Katherman & Heim (York, Pa.). In 1999, she joined the law firm of Harmison & Savasten in Berkeley Springs, WV. She had a small litigation practice while working as a part-time Assistant Prosecutor for Morgan County.

Judge McLaughlin has been an active Rotarian in Berkeley and Jefferson Counties since 2017. She currently serves on the Finance Counsel of St. Peters Catholic Church in Maryland. She misses the time she served as a coach and league president for the Morgan County Soccer League. She is proud of the time she was able to serve on the Court Appointed Special Advocates’ Board of Directors. As the Morgan County Prosecutor, Judge McLaughlin was part of a team that started Teen Court at Berkeley Springs High School, which has been a model program for neighboring counties.

Judge Debra McLaughlin has been married to her husband, Kevin, for more than 30 years, and both are very proud of their three adult children.

Judge D. Andrew McMunn was elected to the bench in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit (Harrison County) and took office on January 1, 2025.

He was born and raised in Clarksburg. He received a bachelor’s degree in finance from West Virginia University in 1989, a law degree from Mississippi College School of Law in 1992 and a Master of Laws degree (L.L.M.) in taxation from Emory University School of Law in 1993. He was admitted to the West Virginia Bar in 1992, the United States District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia in 1993, the United States Tax Court in 1994, and the U.S. Supreme Court in 2014.  

Judge McMunn was a Staff Attorney in the Harrison County Public Defender’s Office (1993-1994), a Trust Officer at One Valley Bank in Clarksburg (1994-1995), an Associate and Member of Waters, Warner & Harris, PLLC (1996-2004), a Managing Member of Smith McMunn & Glover, PLLC (2005-2019) and a Managing Member of Steele McMunn PLLC (2019-2024). His law practice included criminal defense, civil litigation (both plaintiff and defendant), family litigation, municipal representation, business representation, contracts, tax, elder law, estate planning, estate and trust administration, adoptions, abuse and neglect of children, real estate related matters and civil and domestic mediation.  

He also was a Harrison County Mental Hygiene Commissioner for 20 years.

When he was an attorney, Judge McMunn was a member of the Harrison County Bar Board of Directors, the Harrison County Court Advisory Council, and the former North Central West Virginia Estate Planning Council. He is a past President and Board Member of the Clarksburg Rotary Club and Clarksburg Columbian Club. He also served for many years as a Board Member Kappa Sigma Pi of West Virginia, Inc. and Northern Appalachian Teen Challenge, Inc.

As an attorney, Judge McMunn had a Martindale-Hubbell AV peer review rating for the Highest Level of Professional Excellence (2016-2024). He was named “Best Attorney in Harrison County” in 2020 and 2024 by The Exponent-Telegram newspaper. He received the Rotary College of Governors Award in 2005. He is a Bar Foundation Fellow (2016).

He is married to Deena R. McMunn, a Veterans’ Administration pharmacist, and they have three children and two grandchildren. 
 

Judge Joshua J. Miller was elected to the bench in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit (McDowell and Wyoming Counties) in 2024 and took office on January 1, 2025.

Judge Miller was born and raised in Crumpler, McDowell County. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science with minors in legal studies and history from Concord University (2010) and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law (2013).

He was a McDowell County Assistant Public Defender (2013-2015), an Associate at Evans Law Office, PLLC, in Oceana (2015-2017), a part-time McDowell County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney (2017-2019), and a part-time Wyoming County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney (2019-2024. He has been a partner at Ward Law Office, PLLC, in Beckley since 2019. 

He has coached little league and travel softball, serves on the McDowell County Public Defender’s Board, and is an avid outdoorsman.

He lives in Pineville with his wife, Brittany L. Miller, and their two children. 
 

Judge Jasmine R.H. Morton was elected to the bench in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit (Braxton, Clay, Gilmer and Webster Counties) and took office on January 1, 2025. 

A native of Webster Springs, she received a bachelor’s degree in political science and criminal justice from West Virginia Wesleyan College (2007) and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law (2010).

From 2010 to 2013, she was a law clerk for Circuit Judge Jack Alsop (Braxton, Clay, Gilmer and Webster Counties). She was an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Braxton County (2013-2016) and she practiced law at Bailey, Javins and Carter, LLC (2016-2017). She was the appointed and then elected Prosecuting Attorney for Braxton County (2017-2023) and was an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for Nicholas County (2023-2024). 

Judge Morton was named the Young Lawyer of the Year by the West Virginia State Bar in 2013 and served as Chairman of the Young Lawyers Section of the State Bar in 2016. She also was a member of the Investigative Panel of the Office of Lawyer Disciplinary Council from 2017-2023.

She is a member of the Landmark Studio of the Arts and is active in Gassaway United Methodist Church and Clay Royalty Cheer Athletics. She is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Nicholas County Public Defender Services. 

She and her husband, West Virginia State Police Sergeant Logan Mohr, have one daughter. 

Judge Shawn David Nines was appointed in December 2018 to a new seat in the circuit that includes Barbour and Taylor Counties, and he took office on January 2, 2019. He was elected in 2020 and re-elected in 2024 to the renumbered Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit (Barbour and Taylor Counties).

Judge Nines is one of seven circuit judges currently serving on West Virginia's Business Court, which handles complex cases involving corporate/business entities across the state. He is also active in the West Virginia Judicial Association.

Before he was appointed to the bench, Judge Nines was an attorney with his own law practice in Grafton and also served at different times as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Taylor County and Barbour County (2007-2018). He previously was City Attorney for Grafton, a lawyer for Huddleston Bolen LLP, and was a law clerk for Circuit Judge Alan Moats (2003-2005). 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. He was also the 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 and have young twins.
 

Judge Stacy L. Nowicki-Eldridge was appointed to the bench in the judicial circuit that includes Boone and Lincoln Counties and was sworn into office on December 3, 2021. She was elected to the same position in 2022 and re-elected in 2024 to the renumbered Ninth Judicial Circuit (Boone and Lincoln Counties).

Judge Nowicki-Eldridge graduated in 1996 from West Virginia University and, in 1999, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.   
                           
Before her appointment to the bench, she practiced as a West Virginia state government lawyer for 20 years, mostly as an Assistant Attorney General for the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office and as counsel for agencies in the former West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, now known as West Virginia Department of Homeland Security. She was Deputy General Counsel and legislative liaison for the department at the time of her appointment to the bench. During her career, she has also served as a law clerk to the Hon. Ronald Wilson, an assistant prosecuting attorney, and an assistant public defender. 
                                             
Judge Nowicki-Eldridge has one bonus son (who is married to an amazing woman), two daughters, and three grandchildren. She spends her free time taxiing her daughters around the state to the many sporting activities they are involved in. She has coached their soccer teams and has been a volunteer troop leader with the Girl Scouts of America. She and her family live in Lincoln County. 
 

Judge Michael J. Olejasz was appointed to the bench in the First Judicial Circuit (Brooke, Hancock, and Ohio Counties) and took office on December 19, 2018. He was subsequently elected in 2020 and re-elected in 2024.

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 Prosecuting Attorney in Ohio County for 10 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 State Bar  Young Lawyers Section Executive Committee.

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

Judge Poling was appointed to the circuit court bench in Raleigh County in 2019. He was elected in 2020 and re-elected in 2024.

He is a lifelong resident of Beckley. He is a 1980 graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School, where he was the Senior Class President. He graduated from West Virginia University in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and, in 1988, he graduated from West Virginia University College of Law, where he was a member of the Moot Court Board.

Judge Poling began his legal career in Beckley with the law firm of Abrams, Byron, Henderson & Richmond. He served as a Public Defender for the Public Defender Corporation for Raleigh County before forming the law firm of Canterbury, Poling & Roop in 1990. For 23 years prior to his appointment to the bench, he operated Poling Law Offices in Beckley.

He also served as City Councilman for the City of Beckley from 1991 until 1995, when he was appointed Municipal Court Judge for the City of Beckley, a position he held until his appointment to the circuit court bench.

Judge Poling has been active in numerous civic organizations. He is a board member of Hospice of Southern West Virginia and past President of Beckley Babe Ruth Baseball. He was a longtime coach in local sports, having coached basketball and baseball. Judge Poling also served as a high school baseball umpire through the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Commission for eight years and was selected to umpire the West Virginia State Baseball Tournament in 2017.

He is married to his high school sweetheart, Cindy Orren Poling, who retired from teaching in Raleigh County Schools after working there for more than 30 years. They have one son.
 

Judge R. Steven Redding was appointed to the bench in the Eastern Panhandle on February 22, 2018. He was elected later in 2018 and re-elected in 2024 to the new Twenty-Seventh Judicial Circuit (Berkeley and Morgan Counties).

Judge Redding is a native of New Carrollton, Maryland. 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.

Judge Redding attended law school at night while starting his family and working full-time on the Prince George’s County, Maryland, 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 then served as an active member of the South Berkeley Volunteer Fire Department until the end of 2022. 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 Eastern Panhandle, where he worked until his appointment to the bench.

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

Judge Jacob E. Reger was elected circuit judge in the circuit that includes Upshur and Lewis Counties in 2014. He was re-elected in 2016 and 2024.

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 (1992-1998, 2002-2004), both in his own practice and with the law firm of Coleman and Wallace. He served as Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Upshur County (1993-1998). 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 (1998-2002). He was elected Prosecuting Attorney for Upshur County in 2004 and re-elected in 2008 and 2012. He is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association and a member of its board. Judge Reger has served by temporary assignments as a justice on the Supreme Court of Appeals.  

Judge Reger is a member of First United Methodist Church in Buckhannon and served on various boards and committees of the church. He has served on a number of boards of directors for several 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 was appointed to the bench in the circuit that covers Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties on May 21, 2014. He was elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2024 to the newly renumbered Twenty-Ninth 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 school’s first recipient of the Truman Scholarship (a national award presented to recognize leadership potential in public service). He also served as the WVU Mountaineer mascot during the 1982-83 academic year. Judge Richardson received a law degree in 1987 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was an editor of the Virginia Law Review, and he received a master of laws degree (LL.M.) from the Georgetown University Law Center in 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. He 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.

His community service has included 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 25 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 was appointed to the bench in Mercer County and took office on January 1, 2007. He was elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2016 and 2024.

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 from West Virginia University College of Law in 1988.

He practiced law in Princeton from 1988 to 1998. He was the elected Mercer County Prosecutor from 1998 until he took the bench.

He is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association; a past member of the National District Attorneys’ Association; and 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 and two grandchildren. 
 

Judge Tera L. Salango was elected in 2018 to the circuit court bench in Kanawha County. She was re-elected in 2024.

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. 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.

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

In late 2016, Judge Salango joined her husband's law firm where she focused on civil litigation until being elected circuit court judge in November 2018.

Judge Salango has received the Lawyers and Leaders Award from West Virginia University College of Law and West Virginia Executive Magazine recognized her distinguished legal career. She was previously recognized as a Generation Next: 40 Under 40 professional by The State Journal. In 2022, Judge Salango received the West Virginia Wonder Woman award presented by WV Living magazine, which honors and recognizes women who have represented change in their communities. In September 2022, Judge Salango was inducted into the Nitro High School Hall of Achievement, which recognizes graduates who have reflected honor on the school and community.

In 2024, a scholarship was established in her honor at West Virginia State University, which aims at instilling a passion for social justice in students studying criminal justice, social work, or political science.

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 Cindy Scott was elected in 2020 to the circuit court bench in Monongalia County. She was re-elected in 2024.

Judge Scott is a native of Morgantown and graduated from Morgantown High School in 1982. She received a bachelor’s degree in business administration-marketing from West Virginia University in 1986. After a brief career in banking, she returned to school and received a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1994.

Judge Scott began her legal career by engaging in the general practice of law for 12 years, focusing on the representation of defendants in misdemeanor and felony criminal cases and respondents in child abuse and neglect cases. She also served as a guardian ad litem in child abuse and neglect cases, practiced in family court, and engaged in civil litigation.

From 2006 to 2016, Judge Scott served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney with the Monongalia County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. In 2016, she joined WVU’s Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Office of Equity Assurance, where she addressed discrimination, harassment, and intimate partner violence involving WVU’s faculty, staff, and students. She led the Prevention and Education Team and reviewed Title IX Case Investigations.

As a circuit judge, Judge Scott supervises the Monongalia County Adult Drug Court. She previously served on the Monongalia County Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), the Monongalia/Preston Counties’ Violence Against Women Act - STOP Team, the Human Rights Committee for the Monongalia County Youth Services Center, and she worked directly with the Court Appointed Special Advocate Program (CASA).

She and her husband, Todd, live in Morgantown and have two adult children and one granddaughter. They are active members of Kingdom: A Community Church.

Judge Joseph F. Shaffer, Jr., was elected to the bench in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit (Harrison County) in May 2024 and took office on January 1, 2025. He was born and raised in Clarksburg. He received a bachelor's degree in business and economics from Fairmont State College in 1982 and a law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1994. 

He practiced law in Clarksburg as an associate at the Law Office of Scot Dieringer (1995-1997); as a solo practitioner at Shaffer Law Office (1997-2003); as a prosecuting attorney for Harrison County (2003-2015); and as a partner at Shaffer Madia Law, PLLC (2015-2024).       

He previously served as the Clarksburg Police civil service commissioner (1998-2003) and Clarksburg Fire Department civil service commissioner (2019-2024). He is a former city attorney for the Towns of Lumberport and Lost Creek and the Cities of Shinnston and Stonewood. 

He is a former board member and coach of the Harrison County Jerry West Youth Basketball League and a former board member of the Harrison County YMCA. He and his wife, Suzanne C. Shaffer, who is an elementary school teacher, have two adult daughters. 

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.
 

Judge Michael Simms was elected to the bench in the Twenty-First Judicial Circuit (Monongalia County) in 2024 and took office on January 1, 2025.

Judge Simms was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and raised in Wirt and Calhoun Counties.  He is the son of a public-school teacher and a solo practice attorney. He is a 2000 graduate of West Virginia University, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science/pre-law, and a 2005 graduate of California Western School of Law in San Diego, California.

After graduation, Judge Simms returned to West Virginia to work with his father, Alan Simms, as an Associate at Simms Law Office in Elizabeth, West Virginia. In 2007, Judge Simms moved to Morgantown and opened Simms Law Office, a solo practice focusing on criminal defense, student disciplinary defense, administrative law, and general civil litigation.

Judge Simms was appointed as a Commissioner of the Court in 2019 in the then Seventeenth Judicial Circuit (Monongalia County) and was appointed in 2021 to establish and lead the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Public Defender Corporation.

He is the 2006 recipient of the Wiley W. Manual Award for Pro Bono Legal Services, and the 2023 recipient of the John A. “Jack” Rogers Award for Outstanding Leadership in Public Service.  He is also a former Big Brother Big Sisters of America youth mentor; a former Board Member of Senior Monongalians, Inc.; the former pro bono attorney for Aspire Services, Inc.; and a member of Cheat Lake Rotary.  

Judge Simms and his wife have two children. His interests include running, cycling, and international travel with his family.
 

Judge David J. Sims was appointed to the bench in the First Judicial Circuit (Brooke, Hancock, and Ohio Counties) in 2012. He was elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2016 and 2024.

Judge Sims was born in Bedford, Ohio, 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.

He is a member of the West Virginia Judicial Association.

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

Judge Mark Sorsaia was appointed to the circuit court bench in Putnam County and took office on November 6, 2024. At the time of his appointment, he was Cabinet Secretary for the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security, a job he had held since August 1, 2023.  

Judge Sorsaia received a bachelor’s degree in political science and public administration from West Virginia University in 1981 and a law degree from Ohio Northern University in 1984. He began his public service career in 1988 as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Putnam County. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney in 1996 and was re-elected several times, serving in that position until he became a Cabinet Secretary.                                                                                                                                                                             
He is a past Vice President of the West Virginia Association of Counties. He has served on the Board of Directors of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Association. He was also Chair of the Executive Committee of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute, West Virginia's representative on the Board of Directors of the National District Attorneys Association, and a member of the Board of Regents of the National College of District Attorneys and the National District Attorneys Association. As a prosecutor, he was a frequent lecturer at continuing legal education programs for law enforcement and prosecutors, including at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va. He taught about the use of forensic science, trial advocacy, and professional ethics.

Judge Sorsaia has family in Fraziers Bottom, Putnam County, and he lives in Hurricane. 
 

Judge Phillip M. Stowers was elected to the circuit court bench in Putnam County in 2008 and re-elected in 2016 and 2024.

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 was a member of the College of Law Moot Court Board and won the prestigious Baker Cup Award for appellate advocacy in 1985. He also was a member of the West Virginia Law Review and authored “Wainwright v. Witt: A New Standard for Death-Qualifying a Capital Jury,” 88 W. Va. L. Rev. 133 (1985).

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 to the West Virginia Attorney General and as counsel to the West Virginia State Senate.

Since he has been a judge, he has been temporarily assigned several times to sit on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia to hear cases in which a Justice was recused. He is the Chair of the Juvenile Justice Commission. He also presides over the Putnam County Juvenile Drug Court, the first drug court in Putnam County, and Truancy Triage, a county truancy diversion program.

He is a past President of the West Virginia Judicial Association and a member of the National Association of Drug Court Judges and the West Virginia Commission to Study the Residential Placement of Children.
 

Judge Timothy L. Sweeney was appointed to the circuit court bench in 2010. He was elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. In 2024, he was re-elected to the expanded Third Judicial Circuit, which now includes Wirt County, along with Doddridge, Pleasants, and Ritchie Counties.

Judge Sweeney was raised in Pleasants County and graduated from St. Marys High School in 1974. He has 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 30 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.

Judge Sweeney 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.

Judge 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 John H. Treadway, Jr., was elected to the bench in the Twenty-Sixth Judicial Circuit (Hampshire, Hardy and Pendleton Counties) and took office January 1, 2025.

Judge Treadway grew up on a farm. He attended Shepherd University and later earned a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law (2002). He was a member of the Shepherd University football team; he earned All-American Honorable Mention, twice earned First Team All-Conference Honors and is a member of the Shepherd University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Between college and law school he worked in the propane industry. He managed Southern States Petroleum in Moorefield and served as an officer of both the West Virginia Propane Association and the West Virginia Propane Education and Research Council.

Prior to managing Southern States Petroleum, he served in the U.S. Army National Guard in Company A, 1-115th Infantry.

As an attorney, Judge Treadway was a civil and criminal litigator. He was a Mental Hygiene Commissioner (2006-2024), participated in drug court, was an officer of the South Branch Valley Bar Association and was a founding member of the South Branch Valley Community Correction Board. He was a director on the Board of EA Hawse Health and is a long-time member of Baker Ruritan Club.

He and his wife, Wendy reside in Baker, West Virginia, and have one daughter.
 

Judge Gregory A. Tucker was elected to the bench in the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit (Nicholas County) and took office on January 1, 2025.

Judge Tucker was born in Fayette County and raised in Summersville. He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from West Virginia University in 1981 and a law degree from Capital University Law School in 1985.

He spent his legal career at his own law firm, Gregory A. Tucker, P.L.L.C., in Summersville. He was a part-time Administrative Law Judge for Workforce West Virginia (1994-2024), the elected Nicholas County Prosecuting Attorney (1989-1992), the part-time City Attorney for Richwood (2020-2024) and the City of Summersville (1993-2024), and part-time Counsel for the Nicholas County Commission (2022-2024).  

He represented the Eleventh Senatorial District in the West Virginia Senate from 2010-2014. The district at the time included Nicholas, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Randolph, Upshur, and Webster Counties and a portion of Grant County.

Judge Tucker is a past President of Summersville Youth Athletics, a past Board Member of Summersville Regional Hospital and Nicholas Old Main Foundation, and a member of the Summersville Rotary Club.

He is married to Sharon Tucker and has two children and seven grandchildren. 
 

Judge Wharton was elected to the bench in the Fourth Judicial Circuit (then Wood and Wirt Counties) in 2016. In 2024, he was re-elected to the new Fourth Judicial Circuit, now consisting of only Wood County.

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 presides over both the Mid-Ohio Valley Adult Drug Court and the Wood County Family Treatment Court. He also serves on the West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission and the Mass Litigation Panel.

He previously was the elected Wood County Prosecuting Attorney for eight years. Before that, he was an Assistant Prosecutor for 10 years and was 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.

Judge Wharton 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 former Chair of the West Virginia State Bar Young Lawyer’s Executive Committee. Judge Wharton is a member of the Parkersburg Lions Club.

He and his wife, Heidi, live in Vienna and have two children.

Judge C. Richard “Rich” Wilson was appointed to the Second Judicial Circuit (Marshall, Tyler, and Wetzel Counties) and began work on March 13, 2023. He was elected in 2024.

Judge Wilson is a lifelong resident of Marshall County who has a bachelor’s degree (1988) and law degree (1991) from West Virginia University. In his 30-year legal career, he was in private practice and served as a Marshall County Assistant Prosecutor, a Fiduciary Commissioner, and a Mental Hygiene Commissioner.

He and his wife, Jill, live in Moundsville and have four children and six grandchildren.
 

Judge Patrick N. Wilson was appointed to the circuit court bench in Marion County on January 6, 2016. He was elected later in 2016 and re-elected in 2024.

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

Judge Wilson began his legal 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 Marion County Prosecutor, a job he held until his appointment to the bench.

Judge Wilson has one adult son.