Circuit Court Judge Christopher C. Wilkes served admirably as Chair of West Virginia’s Business Court Division until his retirement last week, effective January 31, 2019. West Virginia Chief Justice Elizabeth D. Walker issued an Order outlining the transition, and appointing Business Court Division Judge Michael D. Lorenson to serve as the new Business Court Division Chair. Judge Lorenson began his tenure as chair last Friday, February 1, 2019.
Judge Wilkes original three-year appointment as chair started on October 12, 2012, and he was re-appointed to a second three-year term in 2015, which was extended until the end of January 2019. Judge Wilkes will continue to sit as a Senior Judge with the Business Court Division until October 2019.
In addition to his work in West Virginia, Judge Wilkes served as a Business Court Representative to the ABA Section of Business Law from 2016-2018. He is Co-Chair of the E-Discovery Subcommittee and Vice-Chair of the ADR Subcommittee within the Section’s Business and Corporate Litigation Committee. He is also a member of the American College of Business Court Judges. Judge Wilkes has spoken about business courts with great clarity and insight in interviews and on panels, including a February 27, 2017 multi-part interview with WDVM, publicly available online.
