Civil Practice Essentials: Eastern District of Pennsylvania 2026

The Honorable Scott W. Reid serves as a United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In addition to his traditional judicial duties, Judge Reid also presides over the Supervision to Aid Reentry Court Program and serves on the Information Technology, Social, Court Security and Criminal Business Rules Committees.
Before his May 2021 appointment as a Magistrate Judge, Judge Reid served for over six years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. His experience included defending federal agencies and employees in Title VII, Federal Tort Claims Act, Administrative Procedure Act, Bivens, immigration, quiet title, and appellate litigation. His duties also included prosecuting affirmative cases on behalf of the United States under the False Claims Act, Controlled Substances Act, and federal civil rights statutes. He served on the Critical Incident Response Team, Chair of the Summer Internship Committee, Black Affairs Program Lead, Co-Chair of the Youth Court program, and as a member of the Diversity Committee. Before joining the United States Attorney’s Office, Judge Reid was employed as a Member Attorney with the Cozen O’Connor law firm. Judge Reid formerly served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Temple University Beasley School of Law as a Trial Advocacy professor.
Judge Reid has dedicated his career to serving the legal community. Currently, Judge Reid is a member of the Widener University Board of Trustees, Delaware Law School Board of Overseers, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School Inn of Court. Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Reid served the following organizations as: an advisory board member and past president of the Barristers Association of Philadelphia; a Leadership Council for Legal Diversity Fellow; member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association House of Delegates and Minority Bar Committee; chair of the Diversity in the Profession Committee and member of the Board of Governors for the Philadelphia Bar Association; member of the American Bar Association TIPS Leadership Academy; and member of the National Bar Association.
Judge Reid has been honored by a number of organizations, including: the Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia J. Austin Norris Award; National Bar Association-Women’s Law Division President’s Award; Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia Outstanding Young Lawyer Award; Under 40 Award by The Philadelphia Tribune; National Bar Association 40 Under 40 Award; West Chester University “Drum Major for Justice Award”; Induction into the West Chester University Alumni Legacy of Leadership; the West Chester University President’s Award; recipient of the Kappa Alpha Psi, Kappa Gamma Chapter Webb Hallman Alumni Achievement Award; and Kappa Alpha Psi, Chester Alumni Chapter Achievement Award.
Judge Reid received a Bachelor of Arts degree from West Chester University and a Juris Doctor from Widener University School of Law. While in law school, Judge Reid served as the president of the Black Law Students Association, senior staff on the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, and received the Outstanding Student Service Award.

Judge Kai Scott was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. She was educated in the Philadelphia public school system, attending the Julia R. Masterman School and the Philadelphia High School for Girls. Subsequently, she enrolled at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, graduating cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology. She then furthered her education at the West Virginia University College of Law and graduated from that same institution. After graduation from law school, Judge Scott began her legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable Donald Poorman. In 1998, she embarked on her path as a criminal defense attorney when she began working as an Assistant Defender at the Defender Association of Philadelphia. During her tenure as an Assistant Defender, Judge Scott tried over one hundred misdemeanor and serious felony trials to verdict, handling both bench and jury trials. In order to expand her knowledge and experience in defending complex criminal cases, in 2004, Judge Scott accepted a position as an Assistant Federal Defender at the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In 2010, Judge Scott was named as Chief of the Trial Unit at the Federal Community Defender Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She served in that position for four years. In 2015, Judge Scott campaigned and ran for election as a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia. She was elected to a ten year term in November 2015, and began her term in January, 2016. In July 2022, President Joseph Biden nominated Kai for a position as a district court judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. On December 7, 2022, she was confirmed by the United States Senate. Along with her commitment to the legal profession, and her many social and community activities, Kai is a dedicated mother of a fifteen year old daughter.

Philadelphia lawyer Kathleen D. Wilkinson, a partner at Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP, past president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, was the 2021-22 president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Ms. Wilkinson was the 2020-21 president-elect. From April 27 to May 20, 2021, she served as president due to the resignation of the previous president. Her recent efforts to support the organized bar have focused on issues related to attorney wellness and wellbeing in the legal profession as well as issues dealing with the ongoing pandemic. She served on the PBA COVID-19 Task Force that provided timely information to assist lawyers in their practices during the pandemic. She was a member of the Joint Task Force on Continuity of Delivery of Legal Services that issued a comprehensive report offering recommendations such as technology enhancements so that citizens have access to justice during the current pandemic and future emergencies. Ms. Wilkinson is the current co-chair of the Legislative Committee of the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession. She also is a PBA appointed delegate to the American Bar Association House of Delegates and has served as an ABA delegate for many years. Ms. Wilkinson has represented Philadelphia lawyers on the PBA Board of Governors. She has served in the PBA House of Delegates and has been a member of numerous PBA committees and sections. She is the chair of educational programs for the Federal Practice Committee Executive Council, past co-vice chair of the PBA Planning Committee, a co-chair and past co-vice chair of the PBA Quality of Life/Balance Committee, past co-chair of the Commission on Women in the Profession Quality of Life Committee, past co-chair of the Commission on Women in the Profession and past chair of the PBA Civil Litigation Section. Ms. Wilkinson is a member of other committees, including the Bylaws, Membership Development and Minority Bar committees. She was chair of the PBA Membership Engagement Blue Ribbon Panel on Millennials, Mothers and Minorities. In addition, Ms. Wilkinson served on the board of directors for PBI (Pennsylvania Bar Institute) and was a zone one director for the PABAR-PAC, the PBA’s political action committee, and co-chair of the 2007 PBA Midyear Meeting. She is a Life Fellow of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation, the charitable affiliate of the PBA, and previously served as the foundation’s zone one director. In 2013, Ms. Wilkinson served as the 86th chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, only the sixth woman to serve in that position in the association’s history. She has filled a variety of leadership roles in the Philadelphia Bar Association since 1998 when she co-chaired the association’s Women in the Profession Committee, and later when she chaired the State Civil Litigation Section in 2005, for which she was one of the founding members in 2004. She was the bar association’s secretary, vice chancellor, chancellor-elect and a member of the bar association’s cabinet. She served on the Board of Governors for a total of 16 years. Ms. Wilkinson was the 2019 chair of the Federal Courts Committee. Ms. Wilkinson received the 2023 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Third Circuit. Ms. Wilkinson was named by named on the Power 100 2022 List of Pennsylvania attorneys by City & State PA, and as a “Power Woman,” and received an award from Main Line Magazine in 2021. Ms. Wilkinson is the recipient of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s 2019 Sandra Day O’Connor Award, which is presented to a woman attorney who has demonstrated superior legal talent, achieved significant legal accomplishments and has furthered the advancement of women in both the profession and the community. In 2019, Ms. Wilkinson received the C. Dale McClain Quality of Life/Balance Award, an annual award presented by the PBA Quality of Life Balance Committee that recognizes the substantial contributions made by Pennsylvania attorneys in identifying issues relevant to balancing the professional and personal lives of their peers, as well as the progress made in assisting attorneys in maintaining and improving their overall quality of life. She received the Gilbert Nurick Award from the PBA Conference of County Bar Leaders in 2014 for outstanding service to local bar associations. She was the recipient of the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession’s Anne X. Alpern Award in 2008 for her demonstrated leadership in the legal profession and professional impact on women in the law. The Legal Intelligencer and Pennsylvania Law Weekly named her “Woman of the Year” in 2007-2008. Ms. Wilkinson has been named as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for many years. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Kean University, which named her “Alumni of the Year” in 2010. She received her juris doctorate from the Villanova University School of Law. In 2013, the Villanova Law Alumni Association named her the recipient of the Gerald Abraham Alumni Association Award for service to the law school. She is also a member of the Alumni Association Board of Advisors of the law school. Ms. Wilkinson was a member of the Executive Council of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, a division of the ABA, from 2013 to 2016, and remains an active member of the NCBP Program and Diversity Committees. Wilkinson served on the boards of directors for the Philadelphia Bar Foundation, Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program (VIP) and Philadelphia Defender Association. She served on the board of the Forum of Executive Women from July 2014 until June 2016 and was the program chair. She has served on other boards in the community. Ms. Wilkinson is a member of the Chester County Bar Association, Delaware County Bar Association (honorary) and the Montgomery Bar Association. She has been a board member, secretary, and most recently vice-president of programs for the Philadelphia Association of Defense Counsel in 2020-2021, which presented her with the William J. O’Brien Award for achievements in legal advocacy and improvements in the legal profession in 2016. She is a founding member of Villanova University’s School of Law J. Willard O’Brien Inn of Court, was its first woman president in 2004 and serves as an Honorary Member of the Inn. Ms. Wilkinson received the Inn’s J. Clayton Undercofler III Award for exemplary leadership, integrity and dedication to the rule of law in 2013. Ms. Wilkinson is also a member of the Villanova Law School Alumni Board. A civil litigator with more than 30 years of experience, Ms. Wilkinson is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, defends complex cases involving employment, professional liability, construction, products, toxic tort, medical devices and pharmaceuticals. She also serves as a judge pro tem and special master in state and federal court. Ms. Wilkinson has been a member of Wilson Elser’s Women Attorneys Valued and Empowered (WAVE) initiative that focuses on advancement and well-being of women in the profession.