Teaching Associate Professor & Program Director, West Virginia Innocence Project Clinic
By Kristen Uppercue
Melissa Giggenbach was raised in a farming community in Roanoke, WV, a town mostly located under Stonewall
Jackson Lake.
The Stonewall Jackson Dam was created as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood-control project in the 1980s, which formed the Stonewall Jackson Lake reservoir and inundated Roanoke. To complete construction, the government enacted eminent domain, displacing approximately 1,800 people.
Experiencing the dam’s impact on her community inspired Giggenbach to pursue a career in law, as she watched many lawyers help community members, often pro bono, through this process.
“I saw firsthand the direct impact a lawyer could have on improving people’s lives,” she says. “Watching my community fight to protect its land and seeing the power of government to overwhelm ordinary citizens informed my world view at a young age. I realized I wanted to stand up to power and speak for ordinary citizens, so education was vital.”
Giggenbach received her undergraduate degree in government with a minor in environmental studies from Sweet Briar College in Virginia before continuing her education at the West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law, graduating in 1999.
Following graduation, Giggenbach started a solo practice in Morgantown, WV, where she took criminal appointments and accepted one personal injury case and one divorce case.
“I learned a lot from this experience, namely that clinical education in law school is vital to learning how to actually practice law. I would have been lost without my mentors, and I loved criminal defense,” she says.
Giggenbach then accepted a position at the Preston County Public Defender’s Office with Randy Goodrich. Later, after having her first child, she moved to a home practice focusing on post-conviction matters, including appeals and petitions for habeas corpus.
She currently serves as a teaching associate professor and program director of the West Virginia Innocence Project Clinic at the WVU College of Law, where she oversees administrative tasks and fundraising. There, she also teaches the seminar portion of the clinic class—a course where students learn skills such as interviewing, client counseling and petition drafting. She then supervises students as they practice these skills by representing live clients who have been wrongfully convicted. Giggenbach also teaches criminal law to first semester, first-year law students.
“Through my role as associate professor and working in the clinic, I have a dual purpose,” Giggenbach says. “I can continue helping clients with legal problems, and I also teach law students how to practice law in a client-centered way. Teaching criminal law is a bonus because I see the students at the beginning of their legal journey and then I see them again at the end as third year law students in the clinic. The progression is fascinating. Post-conviction innocence work can be difficult and draining, but no matter the outcome, I always get the satisfaction of watching students learn and grow.”
At the WVU College of Law, Giggenbach serves on the board of directors of The Fund for Law in the Public Interest, Assessment and Curriculum Committee at West Virginia Law Institute. She is also a member of the Innocence Network, where she serves on the awards committee.
“I firmly believe society functions best when everyone pulls together toward a common goal while not leaving our community members behind,” she says. “Not everyone is born with the same advantages, so fair doesn’t always mean equal. Sometimes one person needs more of a boost than another person. Providing that boost levels the playing field and adds to the diversity of perspectives and viewpoints that benefit society as a whole.”
Giggenbach is thankful for many mentors who supported her early in her career, including her husband, Bader Giggenbach, Morgantown Attorney Natalie Sal and Goodrich.
“They were incredibly generous with their time and advice,” she says. “As a clinician at the College of Law, long-time faculty member Professor Marjorie McDiarmid was also instrumental in teaching me how to effectively guide students to become lawyers.”
Inspired by that support, she not only mentors students in the WVU College of Law but also often reaches out to former students to offer encouragement, answer questions and provide information when needed. She considers herself to be a resource to any lawyer in the state with post-conviction questions.
“Growing up poor on a farm in rural West Virginia, I wouldn’t be where I am without many people’s support, both direct and indirect,” Giggenbach says. “From the guidance counselor who helped me find the funds to pay for college to the family friends who supported me with small gifts along the way and parents who believed in me, I was able to attend college and law school and achieve my goal of gaining a degree that can be used to help others. Because of the example of my supporters, I see how lending a hand, big or small, can mean the most to those in the greatest need of an advantage. So that’s what I do—I look for ways to encourage people who might need a boost.”
Giggenbach resides outside of Morgantown with her husband, where they enjoy gardening, hiking, fishing and taking care of their beehives.
“I feel very fortunate to not only directly help fellow West Virginians but to also train the next generation of lawyers who will do the same,” Giggenbach says. “Working in the public interest is incredibly satisfying and even more so when it’s your fellow Mountaineers.”
