Supreme Court Chief Justice Brent D. Benjamin spoke at regional meetings of the West Virginia State Bar in five West Virginia county seats in October.

The regional meetings are held annually throughout the state, and the Chief Justice attended meetings in Beckley, Charleston, Logan, Martinsburg, and Moorefield. 

In each location, he tailored his speech to the local Bar and timely matters important to the West Virginia judicial system.

The meetings provided a total of three continuing legal credit hours in legal ethics, office management, substance abuse, and/or the elimination of bias.

At the meeting held in Moorefield, Chief Justice Benjamin talked about how professional and respectful the five Supreme Court Justices are of each other.

"While we are five very diverse individuals with very different backgrounds, we work very hard to pull together," said Chief Justice Benjamin. "It brings about better decisions."

Chief Justice Benjamin also discussed the expansion of some judicial programs, such as Drug Courts, Access to Justice Commission, and the Domestic Violence Registry, in the face of budget cuts.

"Of the three branches of government, the judicial branch touches people most often and most directly," he said. "We always have to be cognizant that we are here to protect people from the other two branches.

"Our job is to create an anchor for the state, create stability and predictability, and I think this Court has done that."

 
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