West Virginia Chief Justice Robin Jean Davis will be the featured speaker at today’s luncheon presented by “Elevations,” the Charleston Area Alliance’s Professional Women’s Network. Chief Justice Davis is the most senior member of the Supreme Court of Appeals.

The luncheon, to be held at the University of Charleston Erma Bryd Gallery, begins at 11:30 a.m. with an optional informal networking reception, followed by lunch and formal presentation at noon.

The mission of the 1,700-member Elevations group is to “enrich, empower and elevate women to achieve success.”  Through bi-monthly luncheons and other events featuring high-profile speakers, Elevations provides an affirmative network that connects women with the information, contacts and resources that can help them, their businesses and their communities achieve success.  Elevations is presented through the generous support of its title sponsor, The Dow Chemical Company.

Chief Justice Davis was elected to West Virginia’s highest court in 1996 to fill an unexpired term, and was re-elected in November 2000 to a full 12-year term.   She previously served as chief justice in 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2007.   As chief justice, she has initiated a number of programs which have proved essential to the court’s continuing work with children and families and that have allowed the judicial branch to remain current with the constant changes in technology.

A Boone County native, Chief Justice Davis earned a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia Wesleyan College, and her master’s and law degrees from West Virginia University. She was engaged in the private practice of law from 1982 until 1996. Before her election to the Supreme Court of Appeals, she practiced law at the six-person law firm of Segal and Davis, L.C.  She concentrated in the field of employee benefits and domestic relations. In 1993, she became the first lawyer in West Virginia to be inducted into the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. In 1991, the Supreme Court of Appeals appointed her to the seven-person West Virginia Board of Law Examiners, on which she served until 1996.