Background
GOODWIN, JOSEPH was born on December 23, 1942 in Ripley, West Virginia, United States.
GOODWIN, JOSEPH was born on December 23, 1942 in Ripley, West Virginia, United States.
West Virginia University (Bachelor of Science, 1965). West Virginia University College of Law (Juris Doctor, 1970). Order of the Coif; Phi Alpha Delta.
Editor-in-Chief, West Virginia Law Review, 1970.
President, Moot Court Board, 1969-1970. Chairman, Governors Task Force on Drunk Driving, 1981-1982.
Member, West Virginia University Board of Advisors, since 1982.
Born in Ripley, West Virginia, Goodwin received a Bachelor of Surgery from West Virginia University in 1965 and was in the United States Army, Adjutant General Corps during the Vietnam War, from 1965 to 1967. He received a Juris Doctor from West Virginia University College of Law in 1970. Goodwin was a city attorney for Ripley from 1971 to 1972, and was than a municipal judge for the city until 1973.
He then entered private practice in Charleston, West Virginia, until 1995.
On February 28, 1995, Goodwin was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia vacated by the retirement of Robert Jackson Staker. Goodwin was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 8, 1995, and received his commission on May 10, 1995.
He became chief judge of the district in 2007. Goodwin"s son, R. Booth Goodwin, was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama to serve as United States Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia.
Goodwin"s nephew is former West Virginia Senator Carte Goodwin.
Jackson County, West Virginia State and American Bar Associations. The West Virginia State Bar. American Judicature Society.