Margaret Lee Workman (born May 22, 1947) is a Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.
Video Margaret Workman
Life
Workman was born in Charleston, West Virginia, to Mary Emma Thomas Workman and Frank Eugene Workman. Her father was a coal miner, and his ancestors were some of the first settlers of Boone County, West Virginia. She attended public schools in Kanawha County, West Virginia. She attended Morris Harvey College (now the University of Charleston) for one year and received her undergraduate degree from West Virginia University. She received a degree in law from West Virginia University College of Law. She was the first person in her family to attend college. She has three children.
Maps Margaret Workman
Career
As a senior in high school, Workman wrote a letter to West Virginia Governor Hulett Smith seeking employment, and she was hired to handle correspondence at the governor's office. This job led her to enroll in law school. After graduating from West Virginia University College of Law, she worked in Washington, D.C., for U.S. Senator Jennings Randolph, where she drafted legislation and did legal research. In 1974, she served as assistant majority counsel to the United States Senate Public Works Committee. She later returned to West Virginia to work with Professor (later Justice) Franklin D. Cleckley in his private practice of law. She became a law clerk for the 13th Judicial Circuit (Kanawha County) in West Virginia. In 1976, she served as an advance woman for Rosalynn Carter in the Jimmy Carter Presidential Campaign. Workman then opened her own law practice in Charleston, West Virginia. In 1981, she was appointed a circuit judge by Governor Jay Rockefeller in Kanawha County, West Virginia, to fill a vacancy. She was subsequently elected in 1982. She inherited the largest backlog of cases in West Virginia, and during her tenure, reduced said backlog to the lowest in the circuit. She also held more jury trials than any other circuit judge during her tenure. She was elected to the Supreme Court in 1988 for a 12-year term, expiring in 2000, making her the first woman elected to this position and the first woman elected to statewide office in West Virginia. She, however, resigned in 1999 with 18 months left on her term. She returned to her private law practice.
She then entered the Democratic primary in 2002 and 2004 for West Virginia's 2nd congressional district seat, but lost both times. She then ran again for the court in 2008 and was elected. Workman previously served as Chief Justice in 1993, 1997, 2011, and 2015.
Awards & Honors
In 1993, Workman received the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Association's Excellence in Criminal Justice Award. She has also received the Susan B. Anthony Award, the Celebrate Women Award for Government and Public Service Award, and the WVU College of Law Women's Law Caucus Distinguished Women in the Law Award.
See also
- List of female state supreme court justices
References
External links
- Biography - Supreme Court of Appeals website
- Margaret Workman at Judgepedia
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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