Meshea Poore is the first African-American woman to serve as president of the West Virginia State Bar.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports Poore was set to be sworn in Sunday for a one-year term, succeeding John R. McGhee Jr. She was named president-elect last year and previously served as vice president.
The 41-year-old Charleston resident credits U.S. District Judge Irene Berger in Beckley as her mentor. Berger previously served as a circuit judge in Kanawha County, and Poore remembers being part of a mock trial in Berger’s courtroom when Poore was a student.
Berger was the first African-American woman to serve as both a circuit and federal judge in the state.
Poore attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., and earned a law degree from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.