Charleston Attorney to Run for Judge’s Seat

A Charleston divorce attorney whose license was once suspended is running for one of Kanawha County’s five Family Court judge seats. The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports 64-year-old James Wilson Douglas said he plans to run for the seat held by Judge Sharon Mullens. The West Virginia Supreme Court suspended Douglas’s license for six months in 1989 for arguing that a client being sued for child support had been promised a $5,000 “stud fee” to impregnate the child’s mother. The State Bar’s Ethics Committee also once considered suspending Douglas’s license for dressing up like the movie character Rambo to protest a gag order issued by two judges. The state Supreme Court ruled Douglas could not be disciplined for exercising his First Amendment rights.