HUNTINGTON – A Putnam County judge has been named a new U.S. Magistrate Judge.
Joseph K. Reeder soon will take over the U.S. District Southern District job created by the retirement of Cheryl Eifert, according to a release issued May 20. Chief Judge Thomas E. Johnston said an order of appointment will be issued once required background reports form the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service are received.
Reeder was selected by the Southern District judges after a seven-member merit selection panel composed of attorneys and other members of the community reviewed all applicants and made its recommendations. He will be appointed to an eight-year term. Eifert’s retirement is effective August 31.
He was born in Parkersburg and graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in business and economics (accounting) in 1987 before graduating with honors from the WVU College of Law. There, he was a member of the Order of the Coif and was active in the Lugar Trial Association and Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity.
After law school, Reeder practiced law as an associate and then partner in several Charleston law firms before founding his own firm in Hurricane. He practiced there until 2012 when he was elected to the bench. He was re-elected in 2016 and 2024, and his is a member of the Business Court Division.
Reeder also started the Putnam County Adult Drug Court and has been the presiding judge in that court since it was founded. Last year, he founded the Putnam County Family Treatment Court. He is a member of the American Bar Association Judicial Division and a member of All-Rise (formerly the National Association of Drug Court Professionals).
He regularly speaks to new lawyers at the West Virginia State Bar’s Bridge the Gap seminar and recently was named Mentor of the Year by the West Virginia State Bar Young Lawyers Division.
Reeder resides in Hurricane with his wife, Linda, a retired Putnam County teacher, and their two sons.
Once Reeder steps down from his Putnam Circuit Court post, West Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Tim Armstead will appoint a temporary replacement – likely a senior status judge – until the state Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission interviews applicants and Gov. Jim Justice names the replacement.