Judge Poling was appointed to a seat in the Tenth Judicial Circuit on March 18, 2019, by Governor Jim Justice. He replaced John Hutchison, whom Governor Justice appointed to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

He is a lifelong resident of Beckley, Raleigh County. He is a 1980 graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School, where he was the Senior Class President. He graduated from West Virginia University in May 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and he graduated from the West Virginia University College of Law, where he was a member of the Moot Court Board, in May 1988.

Judge Poling began his legal career in Beckley with the law firm of Abrams, Byron, Henderson & Richmond. Judge Poling served as a Public Defender for the Public Defender Corporation for the Tenth Judicial Circuit 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 board member of Hospice of Southern West Virginia and Beckley Babe Ruth Baseball. He has been a coach in local sports, having coached basketball and baseball including Little League Baseball, Babe Ruth Baseball, YMCA basketball, AAU basketball, USSSA basketball and baseball, as well as travel baseball and travel basketball. 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 has been a teacher in Raleigh County Schools for more than thirty years. They have one son, Sean.