U.S. District Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia
Photo by Matt Harvey.
By Ken Magill
Keenly intellectual. Always prepared. Trailblazer. Willing to listen to both sides. Fair and consistent. A judge’s judge. These are the acclamations colleagues use to describe Irene Keeley, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Keeley, who retired in September 2022 after 30 years on the bench, earned her law degree from the West Virginia University (WVU) College of Law in 1980, where half of her class’ graduates were women. From there she took a job at the law firm Steptoe & Johnson PLLC in Clarksburg, WV, where she was among just four women attorneys and one of the firm’s first two female litigators.
She was also the first woman to have a baby at the firm, where previously there had been no maternity leave policy. Keeley requested and was granted three months leave, and along with Keeley’s second daughter, Steptoe & Johnson’s three-month maternity leave policy was born.
Between college and law school, Keeley taught middle school in Maryland and high school in Clarksburg, WV, experiences she says profoundly affected her law career.
“During my years of teaching, I learned various ways to communicate ideas clearly and to confirm that my students had learned the lessons taught,” she says. “These teaching skills helped me as a litigator and later as a judge. I believe a good litigator is as much a teacher as an advocate. And a judge must write instructions on the law in plain English to assure that the jury understands how to perform its duties.”
Keeley says her childhood inspired her legal aspirations, honed her intellect and competitive spirit and taught her the value of public service.
“My father, a career attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, was one of the original attorneys to serve in the department’s Civil Rights Division,” she says. “My mother, while raising a large family, was very active in civic and charity organizations in the local Washington area. Ours was a boisterous, competitive family of three boys and two girls. Dinner conversations were animated.”
Keeley says she always dreamed she’d become a lawyer. Then, in 1992, President George H.W. Bush appointed her to the federal judiciary, where she quickly earned a reputation as a highly disciplined jurist with a firm command of the courtroom who often knew more about the cases in front of her than the attorneys litigating them.
She was also the first woman appointed as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
She says her greatest challenges—albeit welcome ones—were having three children, the second of whom was born during law school and the third during her second year of practice.
“I have been blessed in my life with a wonderful, supportive and understanding husband and three amazing daughters who tried not to complain too much when I had to be away from home for work,” she says. “Achieving a successful work-family balance is so important, and our whole family worked hard at setting our priorities and trying to stick to them.”
Keeley has had many mentors, but two stand out as the most influential. The first is her dad.
“He believed that the practice of law is much more than a job,” Keeley says. “It is a privilege and a commitment to serve the public.”
The second is her highly respected Steptoe & Johnson colleague, the late Herbert Underwood.
“He was my mentor, advisor, law partner and friend throughout my years at the firm,” she says “He taught me the necessity of diligent and thorough preparation in order to effectively represent a client’s interests. He was a respected adversary and congenial colleague who achieved a standard of excellence that few can match.”
Not only will Keeley’s legacy live on through all the lawyers, litigants and defendants who came through her court but also through the many law clerks who worked with her. She typically had two full-time clerks, and as many as five interns during the summer and each school semester.
“Throughout my 30 years on the bench, I have hired numerous law clerks, usually for two-year terms, and have tried to help them launch their legal careers following their clerkships,” she says. “Mentoring my clerks has been a privilege, and it has been memorable to watch them succeed in their respective careers.”
While it would be impossible to say where Keeley had the most impact, one area that certainly stands out is her work with defendants on supervision struggling with substance use. West Virginia has the highest overdose death rate in America, according to the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. West Virginia’s drug mortality rate in 2020 was 81.4 people per 100,000 in population, compared to the second on the list, Kentucky, which experienced 49.2 overdose deaths per 100,000.
During her time on the bench, Keeley regularly scheduled status conferences with defendants with substance use issues under her supervision to follow their treatment and recovery progress. These one-on-one meetings were not a job requirement.
Mainly, Keeley wanted defendants under her supervision to succeed, and the key to their success was persuading them to view their parole officers as resources to help them reorient their thinking as they return to their communities.
“We know that adjustment can be really hard, and our supervisees do not always know where to begin or what their goals should be,” she says. “My hope is that they will work hard to reconnect with their families, find employment and maintain their sobriety.”
However, achieving these goals takes hard work, and the opportunity to use drugs or commit new crimes with old friends can be very tempting.
“My goal is that, by meeting with supervisees, I can help them to stay accountable and succeed,” Keeley says. “When defendants try to do the right thing and rebuild their lives, they have hope, their families are better and the community is safer.”
According to Keeley, the American justice system is the envy of the world, in large part, because of its transparency.
“We do not conduct our proceedings in closed courtrooms away from public scrutiny and without explanation,” she says. “Our judges are public servants who reach out to their communities to welcome the public into the courtroom to observe how the law works.”
In her free time, Keeley enjoys boating with her husband, Jack, and supporting the community.
“We have sailed around different parts of Europe, New Zealand and the Caribbean,” she says. “We have also frequently chartered canal boats in France and England and have a bucket list of places yet to be visited.”
Keeley says she and her family believe it is very important to support the educational mission of WVU, especially its law school and medical school. They also strongly support their community’s United Way, local library and the arts communities.
“West Virginia has been my home since I married my husband, and I thank God every day that I live here,” she says. “The legal community in our state is very collegial and supportive. I am proud to serve with such outstanding lawyers and judges.”
