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WEST VIRGINIA RECORD

Saturday, November 2, 2024

New Eastern Panhandle circuit judge to take office Friday

CHARLES TOWN – Michael Douglas Lorensen will be sworn in as West Virginia’s newest circuit judge in a brief ceremony on Dec. 14 at 10 a.m. in the second floor courtroom of the Jefferson County Courthouse.

Lorensen will begin work that day as a judge for the Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit, which covers Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties.

Chief Circuit Judge David H. Sanders will conduct the oath of office.

A public investiture ceremony will be held on Jan. 10 at 4 p.m. at the Berkeley County Judicial Center in Martinsburg.

Circuit Judge Christopher C. Wilkes will conduct the oath of office in that ceremony.

A public ceremony also will be scheduled at a later date in Morgan County.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin appointed Lorensen on Nov. 16 to fill a vacancy created earlier this year when Judge Gina Groh was named to the federal bench in the Northern District of West Virginia.

Lorensen is a partner at Bowles Rice in Martinsburg. He was a reporter at The Dominion Post in Morgantown before he attended West Virginia University College of Law.

Lorensen is a former law clerk to U.S. District Judge Charles Haden II and is a current member of the West Virginia Judicial Hearing Board.

He is a former president and board member of the Shenandoah Community Health Center.

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