West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals issued the following announcement on Apr. 26.
On Monday, Supreme Court Chief Justice Evan Jenkins congratulated Family Court Judge Kenneth Ballard on his appointment to a vacant circuit court seat in Kanawha County.
“Judge Ballard’s exemplary service to Kanawha County as a mental hygiene commissioner and a family court judge will serve him well in his future work as a circuit judge. I congratulate him on his appointment and look forward to working with him in this new capacity,” said Chief Justice Evan Jenkins. Judge Ballard was elected to the Eleventh Family Court Circuit (Kanawha County) in 2008 and re-elected in 2016. He is a past president of the Family Court Judges Association and a past Kanawha County Juvenile Drug Court Judge. Governor Jim Justice announced Monday that he appointed Judge Ballard to the circuit court seat that became vacant when former Judge Tod Kaufman retired on March 31.
Judge Ballard was born in 1974 and grew up in Charleston. He graduated from George Washington High School in 1992. He was a member of the 1991 AAA Boys West Virginia Cross Country Championship team, and he was the AAA boy 800-meter State Champion. He has a 1997 bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Marshall University and a 2001 law degree magna cum laude from the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, where he was an associate editor of the law review. After graduating from Marshall University, he worked for a year as an Environmental Scientist for Roy F. Weston.
After graduating from law school, he worked at the Charleston firm Bickley & Jacobs, where he had worked during summers since high school. He then opened his own practice in 2004. He also worked as a Kanawha County Mental Hygiene Commissioner from 2006 to 2008.
He is admitted to practice before The West Virginia Supreme Court and the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. Judge Ballard is a softball coach of Mountaineer Little League and a Boy Scout volunteer. He is married to Allison Ballard, and they have three children.
Original source can be found here.
