photo from e-WV
The title of his address was Virtue: The Meekness of Wisdom.
West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Franklin D. Cleckley is a graduate of Huntington High School and Indiana University School of Law. After three years of service as a Navy JAG Officer, where he earned the reputation as “the most requested lawyer in Vietnam,” he was admitted to Harvard Law School and earned a master’s degree of law. In 1969, he began his teaching career at the School of Law at West Virginia University. Three years later, he became the first African-American to be named a full professor at WVU. In addition to teaching at WVU, he served as visiting professor at six major university law schools. He has authored numerous books and articles in the legal field, including the Handbook on Evidence for West Virginia Lawyers, considered the definitive reference for all state lawyers and judges. He is the only attorney in West Virginia history to earn the Public Service Award from all three of the state’s major bar associations. On May 3, 1994, Governor Gaston Caperton named Franklin Cleckley to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, which was effective September 1994. He is the first African-American justice in West Virginia History.
Note: Dr. Cleckley received the Honorary Doctor of Laws on May 14, 1995 at Commencement.
Sources:
Commencement Program, May 14, 1995
Sonis, Larry “Franklin D. Cleckley.” e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 15 August 2017. Web. 09 July 2018.
PLM 7/9/18