Ketchum
CHARLESTON -– Menis Ketchum will be sworn in as a justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia during a Dec. 18 ceremony.
The ceremony will be in the chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals, on the third floor of the East Wing of the West Virginia Capitol. Mingo Circuit Judge Michael Thornsbury will deliver the oath of office.
Ketchum was elected to a full 12-year term on the Supreme Court in November.
He was born in 1943 in Huntington and raised in Wayne County. He was educated in Wayne County public schools before attending Ohio University in Athens, where he played varsity baseball and was a member of the 1964 Mid-American Conference Championship baseball team.
Ketchum returned to West Virginia to attend West Virginia University Law School. While there, he was a contributing writer and associate editor for the West Virginia Law Review.
He received his law degree in 1967 and returned to Huntington to join his father, Chad W. Ketchum (1911-1998), in the practice of law with the firm of Greene, Ketchum & Baker. He practiced at that firm and its successors, eventually becoming the senior partner, until his election to the Court.
Ketchum's law practice included insurance defense, personal injury, and criminal defense. He was recognized continuously from 1989 to 2008 in "The Best Lawyers in America" and was a member of the Leading Honoraries, the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates. Throughout his legal career he published legal articles and presented numerous continuing legal education seminars.
Ketchum also served as a member of the Board of Governors of Marshall University from 2002 until his campaign for the Court, and he served as Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Board from 2003 until 2008.
At the time of his election to the Court, he served on the Boards of the Public Defender Corporations for the Sixth and 24th Judicial Circuits. He previously served on the Huntington Urban Renewal Authority, participated in the statewide Vision Shared Health Care Team and the Governor's Mine Safety Task Force.
Ketchum has been married to the former Judy Varnum since 1966, and they have three children, Kelli Morgan, Bert Ketchum, and Chad Ketchum, and six grandchildren.
