MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA — Judge Michael J. Aloi and attorney Bruce E. Stanley are the recipients of the 2018 Justitia Officium Award presented by the WVU Law faculty
The Justitia Officium recognizes outstanding contributions and service to the legal profession. Founded in 1978, it is the highest award presented by the law faculty. Aloi and Stanley will receive their award at the College of Law’s Commencement on May 11.
Aloi is the United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of West Virginia in Clarksburg.
He serves on the board of the West Virginia State Bar’s Judicial and Lawyer Assistance Program and he is a member of the bar’s Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being. He is also an Instructing Judge for Basic Criminal Advocacy at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina, and a faculty member at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, DC.
Prior to becoming a judge, Aloi worked in private practice for 28 years in Fairmont, West Virginia. He has mediated over 2,500 cases and is the only lawyer in the state selected to be a Fellow of the American College of Civil Trial Mediators.
Aloi earned his J.D. from the WVU College of Law in 1983 and his bachelor’s degree from West Virginia Wesleyan in 1980.
Stanley is the founding partner of Stanley & Schmitt, a personal injury, construction law, and commercial litigation firm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
As a long-time partner with the firm Reed Smith, Stanley represented Hugh Caperton in a 14-year-long litigation involving Don Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy. That case resulted in a landmark opinion by the United States Supreme Court addressing campaign contributions and judicial recusal. It is chronicled in “The Price of Justice: A True Story of Greed and Corruption” by bestselling author Laurence Leamer.
Stanley also represented the widows and estates of Massey coal miners killed in Logan County, West Virginia, and won significant settlements against both the mine operator and the United States government.
Stanley earned his bachelor’s degree in 1981 and his J.D. in 1989 from West Virginia University.
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