CHARLESTON – For what is believed to be a first nationally, a West Virginia parent and child are becoming Fellows of the American Bar Foundation together.
Jim Douglas
Jarod Douglas
Kanawha Family Court Judge Jim Douglas and his son Jarod Douglas, who works for the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of West Virginia, are among a handful of West Virginia attorneys suggested for nomination this year.
Jim Douglas said he believes there are eight new members from the state this year. He also said he has been told he and Jarod are the first parent-child combination ever to become fellows in the same year.
Douglas, who previously has run twice for the state Supreme Court, filed pre-candidacy papers for the Intermediate Court of Appeals earlier this week.
“The Fellows comprise a global honorary society of attorneys, judges, law faculty and legal scholars who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and professional distinction, and membership in the Fellows is limited to one percent of lawyers admitted to practice in each jurisdiction of the United States to a small percentage of international lawyers,” the ABF says.
Jim Douglas graduated from Morris Harvey College (now the University of Charleston) and has a master’s degree in German history and a law degree from West Virginia University. He was a solo practitioner from 1977 until he was elected as a family court judge in 2016. He was reelected last year. He also served as Braxton County’s prosecuting attorney from 1985 to 1988.
He also is a member of the American Bar Association Family Law Section and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
Jim Douglas also was nominated this week by the American Bar Association Family Law Section to be the Chief Judge (Chair) of the National Howard C. Schwab Essay Contest for the entire ABA, not just the Family Law Section. He’ll oversee a select group that will judge essays for the 2025-2026 year to award substantial scholarships in June 2026 to three law students.
Jim Douglas said he is thrilled to be nominated for the ABF Fellows with his son.
“When you look at the list of people who has held this distinction over the 70-year history, there have been some very distinguished people,” Jim Douglas said. “I’m honored and humbled to be included in that group. And what is of special significance to me is that my son Jarod James Douglas and I are being honored at the same time.
“I’m proud of Jarod. He (Jarod) was nominated independently of me. We didn’t know about it until one day when he told me about his nomination, and then I received my letter about my nomination the next day.”
Jarod Douglas is an assistant U.S. Attorney and a 2009 graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law. He prosecuted the 2022 case of a Maryland couple who plotted to sell secrets about nuclear-powered submarines as well as the 2020 case involving a Clarksburg VA Medical Center nursing assistant who killed seven veterans with insulin injections.
Jarod Douglas, a 2002 Clay County High School graduate, received the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service for Outstanding Work in Investigation Threats to Critical U.S. Navy Technology for his work in the submarine case. He also was recognized for his work in the VA case at the Annual Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency Awards.
