MORGANTOWN — After 22 years on the bench, Monongalia County Circuit Court Judge Russell M. Clawges Jr. retired. Thursday was his last day as a circuit court judge.
Clawges was named a senior status judge, effective Feb. 1, by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. His first assignment is to continue to hear cases in Monongalia County until his replacement can take over.
Interviews to replace Clawges were held by the Judicial Advisory Vacancy Commission on Thursday. Gov. Jim Justice will then appoint someone to the position and after a 20-day public comment period, that person will take the bench, Clawges said.
As a senior status judge, Clawges can be assigned by the chief justice to replace judges that are ill, suspended or unable to hear a specific case, he said
Clawges is a Monongalia County native and has lived here his entire life, except the four years he spent in Columbus, Ohio, as a JAG officer in the United States Air Force — a result of his membership in ROTC as an undergrad, he said.
Clawges said he grew up on Harvey Street, in Westover, went to Westover Elementary and graduated from Morgantown High School. He graduated from WVU’s College of Law in 1974 and returned to Morgantown after he left the Air Force in 1978.
“Once we were back here there wasn’t any leaving,” Clawges said. “Never really thought about going anywhere else.”
After returning home to Morgantown, Clawges said he signed up for the court-appointed lawyer list, defending those who couldn’t afford a lawyer, at the request of Larry Starcher, then a circuit court judge and now former justice of West Virginia’s Supreme Court.
He also began working at Furbee, Amos, Webb & Critchfield, practicing mostly as a civil defense lawyer, until 1997, when Gov. Gaston Caperton appointed him to the Monongalia County Circuit Court. Clawges filled the vacancy left by Starcher who joined the Supreme Court.
Starcher, who met Clawges when he was a young lawyer, said Clawges is a good scholar, well liked among his peers and a person of high moral character.
“He is just a solid guy that goes to work, does his job, doesn’t party around, doesn’t fool around and works hard,” Starcher said. “He’s a little more reserved and a little more quiet than I am.”
Transitioning from a lawyer to a judge required a big change in mindset, Clawges said.
“The nice thing about being a lawyer is you represent a client, and your job is to, within the bounds of the law and ethics, to represent the interest of your client,” he said. “And the right or wrong is determined by someone else.”
That someone else could be a jury or a judge, Clawges said.
“When you become a judge and you’re on the other side of the bench your job is to be right,” Clawges said. “Your job is to decide what’s right. So, you listen to both sides and then you have to decide. So, when I became a judge, I felt a greater obligation and still do feel a great obligation to try to be right.”
Clawges said he knows he’s not always right or perfect, nobody is, but there’s comfort in knowing the Supreme Court can, and has, told him when he’s wrong through the appeals process.
His biggest regret entering retirement isn’t a ruling he made long ago, but the fact he won’t get to watch his staff retire, Clawges said.
“In fact, I can say I’m proud to work for him,” Robin Bailey, Clawges’ administrative assistant for 32 years, said.
In addition to Bailey, Clawges’ staff includes Kathy Foreman, law clerk, and Sharon Vincent, court recorder.
Bailey described Clawges as kind, professional and said he always treats everyone with respect. Clawges praised Bailey’s handling of all things scheduling and said she ran his office.
“My replacement would be crazy not to keep my staff,” he said.
Retirement will hopefully bring more golf, one of Clawges’ hobbies. He said he hopes to resurrect his game, which he said has tanked over the past several years.
Expanding his role as a teacher at WVU is also a possibility, Clawges said. He currently teaches
a class called court testimony, which teaches forensic students how
to testify in court as expert witnesses.
More travel and time with his two kids and seven grandkids are also on his retirement agenda, he said. His oldest daughter, Heather, is a doctor in Lewisburg, and his youngest, Megan, is the office manager for Hillcrest Veterinary Clinic. Clawges said he doesn’t have a bucket list of places he wants to travel but he has some golf courses he wants to play.
Twitter @WillDean_DP