CHARLESTON — Justice C. Haley Bunn has been designated to serve as chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals through June 30, 2027

The appointment and term are part of a transition for the court from a calendar year to fiscal year basis.

“I am honored to have been entrusted by my colleagues to serve as chief justice and lead the judicial branch over the next year and a half,” Bunn said.

Appointed in 2022 and elected to a full 12-year term that began Jan. 1, 2025, this will be Bunn’s first time serving as the chief justice. She succeeds William R. “Bill” Wooton, who concluded his first tenure as chief justice Wednesday.

“This was a year of significant transition across the West Virginia judiciary, with the legislatively mandated judicial realignment that took effect at the beginning of the year as well as the turnover on the Supreme Court with the retirement of Justice Beth Walker and unfortunate passing of Justice Tim Armstead,” Wooton said. “In spite of all the changes, our branch of government continued to operate seamlessly – a testament to the dedicated people we have working across the entire judicial branch. It has been a true honor to serve as chief justice this past year and I know Justice Bunn will continue our Court’s steadfast commitment to administering the judicial branch in a manner that promotes a fair, transparent and accessible justice system for the people of West Virginia.”

Bunn was born and raised in Oceana, W.Va., and is a 2007 honors graduate of West Virginia University. She graduated Order of the Coif and Order of Barristers from the WVU College of Law in 2010.

She worked in private legal practice in Charleston from 2010 to 2012 and from 2019 until her appointment to the Supreme Court, focusing primarily on civil defense litigation.

From 2012 to 2019, she was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia in its Criminal Division, with a focus on major drug distribution cases. In 2017, she was selected by the U.S. Department of Justice to serve in an Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit.

West Virginia typically rotates the position of chief justice every year, previously on a calendar year basis. In 2025, justices voted to realign the appointment to match the state’s fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30.

“Under our unified judicial system, justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia not only make decisions on matters of law, but they also serve as a board of directors to administer the operations of our state’s entire judicial branch, with the chief justice functioning essentially as a chairman of the board,” Bunn said. “Aligning the service of the chief justice to the state’s July 1 to June 30 fiscal year calendar will help us better plan and work with leaders in the executive and legislative branches to secure the Court’s budget and ensure efficient access to justice for all citizens. We hope this will afford each chief justice going forward the ability to approach the administrative, budget and legislative processes with a more collaborative and deliberate approach than we were previously able given that the new chief would assume the role on Jan. 1, just days before the start of a legislative session and the spring term of court.”

Additionally, Justice Charles S. Trump IV has been designated to serve as acting chief justice any time Bunn is unavailable during her tenure.