Stotler named Family Court Judge for circuit

Berkeley Springs attorney Glen Stotler was named Family Court Judge by Acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin last week. The appointment is effective immediately.

Stotler will fill the vacancy in the 23rd Family Court Circuit of Morgan, Hampshire and Mineral counties, which was caused when former Family Judge Charles Parsons was elected circuit judge for Hampshire, Hardy and Pendleton counties.

“Glen Stotler is an ideal candidate for Family Court Judge,” Tomblin said. “His many years of involvement in the Berkeley Springs community and knowledge of family law is a reflection of an individual in which the citizens of the Eastern Panhandle can place their confidence.”

Stotler said he has “big shoes to fill” in replacing Parsons, who presided in the family court system for more than two decades.

Stotler said he looks forward to working with the lawyers of the region. While he will be sitting in all three counties of the circuit, he expects his main office will be in Berkeley Springs and that it will be up and running by early April.

The appointment runs until the next general election in November, 2012.

Long on public service
A lifelong resident of Berkeley Springs, Stotler has practiced law here, mainly in the areas of family and real estate law, for 20 years.
From 1985 until 2008, he served as a Morgan County commissioner, much of that time as commission president.

Before being elected to the commission, he was a member of the Morgan County School Board and the Bath Town Council.

He is a former chairman of the Region 9 Planning & Development Council.
Stotler has also served with the West Virginia Regional Jail Authority. He was named by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush to the U.S. Architectural & Barriers Compliance Board.

In 2010, he was selected as the West Virginia Bankers Title Attorney of the Year.

Stotler is currently a member of the Eastern Panhandle Community Foundation as well as a member of the Physically Challenged Advisory Board to the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources.

He is a 1989 graduate of West Virginia University College of Law.

His wife Kate is a teacher at Berkeley Springs High School.