News

West Virginia University College of Law continues to prepare graduates to provide legal services in communities throughout the state. 

For the Class of 2023, WVU Law reported 90 graduates with full employment – full-time, long-term work in a Bar Pass Required or J.D. Advantage position. That’s a rate of more than 87 percent. 

In fact, 62 percent of these graduates stayed in West Virginia. The biggest share of graduates (24.3 percent) is employed at firms that employ up to 10 attorneys only. 

"WVU Law is thankful for the investment the legal community of West Virginia makes in hiring our graduates as they begin the next steps in their careers as attorneys,” said Lauren McCartney, WVU Law’s Director of the Meredith Center for Career Services and Professional Development. 

Morgantown, West Virginia native and Lecturer in Law at West Virginia University’s College of Law Amy Cyphert chose a career in law because she was inspired by people who made a difference in their communities. 

“I was drawn to law for many reasons, including that I was inspired by people who made a difference in their communities through impact litigation,” said Cyphert. “I also appreciated that so many lawyers were leaders, including as elected representatives. I also really liked the logic of law, and the way you could use the persuasive writing techniques I learned as an undergraduate to help accomplish justice for your clients.” 

Cyphert’s law career took her from Morgantown to Manhattan. 

“After clerking for a judge in Manhattan, I practiced law there for several years,” she said. “I knew I wanted to get home to Morgantown, where I have a large extended family I’m very close with. A position opened up in WVU’s Honors College just as I was thinking about next steps. It was an unexpected path and one that many of my Big Law colleagues were confused by, but I have never looked back. Within a couple of years of settling in at WVU, I began teaching as an adjunct at the College of Law and then eventually had a formal joint appointment between Law and Honors.” 

The fields of cyberlaw and AI law may be relatively new, but West Virginia University College of Law students are already mastering them on an international stage. 

Originally from Richwood, West Virginia, Mary Claire Davis, Teaching Associate Professor at the West Virginia University College of Law, admits she didn’t always want to be a lawyer but knew she wanted to stay in her home state and serve its people. 

Davis comes from a family of public servants – her mother and sister have served as West Virginia public school teachers; her father has been a prosecutor, judge, and mayor; and her grandfather was a delegate in the West Virginia Legislature, county sheriff, and public school teacher.

“At the time I applied to law school, I was seeking a new personal and professional challenge,” said Davis. “Law seemed to be a good fit. I enjoyed reading and writing, and I knew you did a lot of both in law school.” However, she quickly realized that earning a law degree would present more ways to carry on her family’s long history and tradition of service.

After earning her J.D. from WVU Law in 2008, Davis served as a judicial law clerk for twelve years, working for three federal judges at both the trial court and appellate court levels.

On Friday, May 10, West Virginia University College of Law celebrated its 102 graduates at the Coliseum. 

Brad Grimes, Esq., Assistant Director for West Virginia University College of Law’s Meredith Center for Career Services and Professional Development, recently had the privilege of attending and speaking at the National Association for Law Placement’s (NALP) 2024 Annual Education Conference in Boston, Massachusetts. That conference is the single largest, most comprehensive, and most well-respected educational program in the legal placement profession, covering all areas of the profession from recruiting and career counseling to professional development, law student PD, diversity management, and more.

The conference, which ran from April 16-19, 2024, was NALP’s largest to date, with over 1,800 attendees from the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. The educational content offered included much to choose from — over 90 concurrent sessions presented by law school and law firm placement professionals, along with two plenary sessions.

Brad presented one of those concurrent sessions, a well-received program titled LGBTQ+ Safe Zone Training for Legal Professionals. This training instructed participants on contemporary LGBTQ+ core vocabulary, pronouns and appropriate usage, and inclusive language. It also discussed gender diversity as it relates to gender identity and expression and non-binary identities. The session examined some of the obstacles and challenges faced by members of the LGBTQ+ community, historically and presently, along with a discussion of intersectionality and its relationship to the marginalization of sexual and gender minorities. The session’s overall focus was exploring ways that the law placement professionals can work toward becoming better LGBTQ+ allies for their law students and law firm colleagues.

"I am very honored to have had my presentation proposal accepted by NALP, and to be able to represent WVU College of Law’s Career Services and Professional Development office on a national stage," said Grimes. 

Twelve graduates of the West Virginia University College of Law Class of 2024 – approximately 12 percent of the class – have been accepted to prestigious clerkships with state and federal judges across the country. Of these, nine were awarded federal clerkships, constituting nearly nine percent of the graduating class. This statistic places WVU Law among the top law schools in the country for federal clerkship placement.