2019 AWARDS
Irene C. Berger
Judge, U.S. District Court
I have been very fortunate to have had
people take an intertest in my personal and
professional development. That has made
challenges easier to overcome.”
Photo by Kensie Hamilton Fauber.
BY OLIVIA MILLER. The youngest of nine
children, Judge Irene Berger was raised
in McDowell County, the southernmost
county in West Virginia, where her father
worked in the coal mines for nearly 41
years. Her mother was a housewife, and
both were bright and well read despite not
having a high school education. Berger’s
parents made many sacrifices to ensure
she received an education that would set
her up for a prosperous future. To honor
those sacrifices and the road they paved
for her, Berger proudly kept her maiden
name when she got married.
Today, Berger is known as a pioneer
in the Mountain State. She was the first
African American to be named a federal
judge in West Virginia, a position she
was appointed to by President Barack
Obama in 2009 and confirmed to by the
U.S. Senate with a sweeping 97-0 vote.
In addition, Berger was the first African
American female lawyer to serve as an
assistant prosecuting attorney in the state’s
largest county and be elected to serve as a
circuit court judge.
“These accomplishments are important
but are not ones I achieved without help
from others,” she says. “I have studied,
worked hard and tried to treat people
well and conduct myself in the manner
our profession demands, but at each and
every stage of my career there has been
someone ready to push me or help me
take the next step.”
As a child, Berger was inspired by the
teachers who guided her through elemen-
tary and high school. She loved her English
and mathematics classes and at one time
desired to become an educator herself.
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
“These teachers inspired me, helped
bolster my self-confidence and opened
doors for me through education,” she
says. “Today I can still think of no career
more impactful than teaching.”
Berger’s undergraduate career was
driven by her love for numbers. She earned
a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from
West Virginia University (WVU) before
beginning law school there in 1976.
Despite the demanding nature of law
school, she enjoyed the camaraderie of
her law school cohort and appreciated the
legal issues presented in the coursework.
“Law school was challenging in that
the manner of studying and the necessary
preparation was very different than what
had been required of me and what I had
experienced in undergraduate school,”
she says. “I mostly enjoyed the classes in
which we discussed the practical aspects
of practicing law and those in which we
were required to present oral argument.”
Throughout her studies, she was heavily
influenced by her criminal procedure and
evidence class, which was taught by the
late Professor Frank Cleckley, the first
African American justice of the West
Virginia Supreme Court.
“He was very knowledgeable, and be-
cause he also practiced law, he could give
us a perspective from practical experience
that made the theory more understand-
able,” she says. “He would literally strut
into class, cite cases and teach without
notes. Many of us who attended WVU
College of Law are fortunate to have
been taught evidence by him. He was
one of the country’s premier lawyers and
professors.”
Berger completed her law degree in
1979, after which she began her career
as a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society
of Charleston. There, she represented
low-income clients who could not afford
an attorney in civil matters.
“This position was a great fit for me
because the desire to help people was my
motivation to become a lawyer,” she says.
“The work and its immediate impact for
the clients were very gratifying.”
This position also afforded her the
opportunity to learn from other profes-
sionals in her field.
“I was fortunate to work with very
supportive lawyers who taught me by ex-
ample how important the work was and
the impact it had on others,” she says.
“They taught me substantive law, but,
more importantly, they also taught me
how to be an effective advocate for my
clients, to respect the opposition and to
guard my personal credibility as well as
the credibility of the office.”
After almost three years with the legal
aid society, Berger accepted the position
of assistant prosecuting attorney for
Kanawha County. In 1994, she was named
an assistant U.S. attorney for the South-
ern District of West Virginia. Ten weeks
into that job, she was appointed circuit
judge in Kanawha County. Berger held
this position for 15 years before being
nominated to serve as a U.S. District
Court judge.
“In all of these positions, I learned to
be a better listener,” she says. “I found
that it is not sufficient to simply hear what
someone says but that it is also necessary
to think about what they say from their