Robing ceremony for new Supreme Court justice to be held Friday

CHARLESTON - Allen H. Loughry II will be sworn in as a justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in a public ceremony on Dec. 14 at 2 p.m. in the Chamber of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court Chamber is located on the third floor of the East Wing of the Capitol. The media is invited to attend; there will be no pool.

Justice Margaret L. Workman will deliver the oath of office.

Loughry will take office on Jan. 1, 2013. He was elected to a 12-year term on Nov. 6.

Loughry was born in Elkins in 1970 and raised in Tucker County. He obtained four law degrees: a Doctor of Juridical Science from The American University, Washington College of Law; a Master of Laws in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of London; a Master of Laws in Law and Government from The American University, Washington College of Law; and a Juris Doctor degree from Capital University School of Law, where he graduated with the honor of Order of the Curia.

Loughry studied law in England at the University of Oxford and received the program’s top political science award. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from West Virginia University. While there, he served on the West Virginia University Judicial Board.

Loughry was a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the West Virginia Attorney General's Office from 1997 to 2003. He served in both the Appellate and Administration Divisions. He was appointed as a special prosecuting attorney on numerous occasions to handle criminal cases throughout West Virginia.

Loughry has argued a significant number of cases before the West Virginia Supreme Court in addition to having argued or filed legal pleadings in the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Northern Districts of West Virginia and the Southern District of Florida, among other legal forums.

Loughry served as a special assistant to U.S. Rep. Harley O. Staggers Jr. and as a direct aide to West Virginia Governor Gaston Caperton.

In 1997, he completed a legal externship at the Ohio Supreme Court. He also served as a personal assistant to the Tucker County Prosecuting Attorney in 1988 and 1989 and wrote for two newspapers, The Parsons Advocate and The Dominion Post, and was a freelance writer for the Associated Press.

Loughry began working as a lawyer at the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in 2003. In 2006 he published a book titled “Don't Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay for a Landslide” which is a non-partisan look at West Virginia’s history of political corruption. Forewords were written by U.S. Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., and the late U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va.

Loughry began teaching political science at the University of Charleston in 2010.

Due to his academic and professional background, Loughry is a frequent speaker throughout the country on issues of government, ethics reform, politics, history, education and the election process.

Loughry and his wife, Kelly, a native of Morgan County, have one son, Justus. They live in Charleston.