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CHARLESTON - Stephanie Abraham, a South Charleston attorney and legal counsel for the West Virginia Board of Education, was appointed to a vacant judicial seat by Gov. Jim Justice on Wednesday.
But Abraham is also the wife of Justice's chief of staff.
Justice announced the appointment of Abraham as a circuit court judge for the 13th Judicial Circuit in Kanawha County during his weekly administration briefing Wednesday from the Capitol.
"Stephanie I've known for a long, long, long time. She's super-bright," Justice said. "She's done a lot of great work in education and in a lot of different areas … I'm really proud to be able to appoint her."
Abraham will replace Kanawha County Circuit Judge Duke Bloom, who retired from the bench in June after 23 years as a circuit judge. Abraham has worked as legal counsel for the state Department of Education since last summer and as a staff attorney for the department since 2020.
A 2000 graduate of Syracuse University and a 2003 graduate of the Francis King Carey School of Law at the University of Maryland, Abraham was a judicial law clerk in Logan County, opened up her own law firm in 2017 and worked as an instructor at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College.
Abraham is also married to Brian Abraham, chief of staff for the Governor's Office. Brian Abraham joined the Justice administration in 2017 as general counsel, becoming chief of staff after Mike Hall, the previous chief of staff, retired. When asked about the appointment, Justice defended his actions.
"For anybody who knows Stephanie Abraham, whether she is the wife of my chief of staff or whoever it may be, we're not going to penalize a great candidate and somebody who is as qualified as she is just because she is a hard worker and the wife of my chief of staff," Justice said. "There is no possibility we're going to penalize this great girl. Her career absolutely speaks for itself."
Stephanie Abraham was one of 12 attorneys who applied to the Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission for the open judicial seat. Members of the commission are appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the state Senate. Justice also announced the appointment of Michael Asbury to the 14th Judicial Circuit covering Braxton, Clay, Gilmer and Webster counties.
"In years past, West Virginia has been a judicial hellhole. I hate to say that, but it has been exactly that," Justice said. "We've appointed a lot of good, rock-solid conservative folks to the courts and everything … I can say now, without any question, businesses are coming back and absolutely people are looking at West Virginia in an entirely different way right now.
"It makes a big difference who is on the bench," Justice continued. "With all of that being said, we want the world to step up and take notice, but we don't want them to turn their nose up at West Virginia because of all the judicial hellhole issues we've had in the past. We're going to continue to appoint good, rock-solid judges, and they'll just make life better for each and every one of us every day."