CHARLESTON – Bill Wooton has enjoyed the first few weeks of being chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
Wooton took over the position from Justice Tim Armstead on January 1. The position rotates annually to another member of the court.
“My plan is to support the strengths of the court,” Wooton said in a recent interview. “No big changes are needed. I just want to refine where needed. I’m just talking about little changes to make things work a little more smoothly when needed. Those little day-to-day things as they come up.
“As they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And, the court system ain’t broke.”
Wooton was elected in 2020 to a 12-year term which began in 2021. This is his first year serving as chief justice.
“I am honored to be selected by my colleagues to serve as chief justice in the coming year and look forward to this opportunity to lead our judicial branch,” Wooton said. “West Virginia is unique in that we rotate our chief justice every year. I believe this helps strengthen our court by allowing each of the five justices to share in the administrative work of the judicial branch while bringing our own individual perspectives to its leadership.”
Armstead just concluded his second stint as chief justice, also having served in the role in 2020.
“I’m proud of what we accomplished in 2024, including our efforts to make magistrate court records more accessible by launching an online search portal as well as the work we began toward clarifying the role of guardians ad litem in abuse and neglect matters,” Armstead said. “I know Justice Wooton will continue our court’s commitment to transparency and accountability while also strengthening the public’s trust in our court system.”
Wooton says he believes his primary job as chief justice, in addition to the day-to-day administrative duties, is to provide support to the entire court system.
“I want to make sure they know they all have the support of the court and have all of the resources they need,” Wooton told The Record. “In particular, I want to work more with our family court judges across the state.
I think our family court judges sometimes feel as if they are second-class citizens, and that just isn’t the case. I would like to heel that.”
Wooton said family court judges and circuit court judges have meetings a few times a year. He said he’d like to have them meet together at least once a year, but he added that logistics and planning might make that impossible to do this year. However, he said it’s something he’d like to make sure happens in the future.
Wooton said the structure of the court system is “excellent.”
“There are several people in new positions, but most of them have been with the court for a while,” he said. “It’s important to have that institutional knowledge.
And the camaraderie with the other justices is outstanding, and it has been since I’ve been here. We don’t always agree on legal matters, but we enjoy working together. It’s really congenial.”
Wooton also said the LAWS program will continue this year. LAWS stands for Legal Advancement for West Virginia Students, and is a partnership between the court system, bar, schools and community to educate students by having them study cases before the court and watch oral arguments for those cases. Attorneys review the cases and explain the court system with the students before they hear the arguments. Afterward, they are debriefed by attorneys who argued the case.
This spring, the justices will take the LAWS program to Marion County. In the fall, it is scheduled to visit Wayne County.
A native of Raleigh County, Wooton received a bachelor’s degree in business management from Marshall University and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law. He worked as a U.S. Court of Appeals law clerk, an assistant state attorney general and an assistant Raleigh County prosecutor before going into private practice in the 1970s. He also served as a member of the House of Delegates, where he was House Majority Leader, and the state Senate, where he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He also served more than 30 years in the U.S. Army Reserve and Army National Guard.
He and his wife Shir have three adult sons and five grandchildren. They live in Beckley.
The court already has selected Justice Haley Bunn to serve as chief justice in 2026. She also will serve as acting chief justice this year when Wooton is unavailable or has to recuse himself from a case.
“I’m grateful for this opportunity to serve the people of our state and look forward to working with Chief Justice Wooton throughout 2025,” Bunn said.