[1] On February 14, 2011, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin appointed Farrell to a seat on the West Virginia Sixth Judicial Circuit.
[1] One of the first matters Farrell presided over was the trial of comedian Andy Dick for felony sexual abuse charges stemming from a 2010 nightclub incident.
[2] In 2012, Farrell dismissed a hate crime charge against a former Marshall University football player who attacked two gay men, ruling that West Virginia civil rights law does not protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
[4] In 2013, Farrell sat by designation on the state supreme court to hear a mine safety case, in place of Justice Brent Benjamin, who was barred from hearing the case due to the involvement of a large campaign donor to Benjamin's 2004 election campaign.
[5] Due to the criminal indictment, and subsequent conviction of Allen Loughry, Farrell was again temporarily assigned to a seat on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia by Chief Justice Margaret Workman, for the Fall Term of 2018.