The 2017 Justitia Officium award winners are the Honorable Stephanie D. Thacker and attorney Elisabeth H. Rose.
Elisabeth H. Rose practiced law for 37 years with Rose Padden Petty Taylor & Lilly in Fairmont, West Virginia, until her retirement in December 2016.
She is a 1979 graduate of the WVU College of Law and a 1970 graduate of WVU. Ms. Rose has extensive experience in both medical and legal professional liability cases and frequently represented defendants in products liability, property damage, wrongful death, and personal injury cases. Her experience also includes representation in contract and insurance coverage cases, as well as real estate and probate matters. Ms. Rose is a permanent member of the Judicial Conference of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Association and the West Virginia Bar Foundation. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the West Virginia Humanities Council, currently as a Governor’s Appointee. She is a past President of the West Virginia Bar Association and served as the first female President of the Defense Trial Counsel of WV.
The Honorable Stephanie D. Thacker is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
She is a 1990 graduate of the WVU College of Law and a 1987 graduate of Marshall
University. During the course of her career, Judge Thacker has worked in civil
and criminal litigation, in private practice, and in public service. Judge Thacker
served as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern
District of West Virginia and as Principal Deputy Chief of the U.S. Department
of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. In September 2011, she was
nominated by President Barack Obama to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Fourth Circuit, and was confirmed by the United States Senate on April
16, 2012.
