Judge Carolyn H.
Nichols, was elected to a ten year term in the Pennsylvania Superior Court in
2017 and previously was elected in 2011 to serve as a judge in the
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, primarily conducting felony jury
trials in the criminal division. She supports activities promoting positive
reentry to prevent recidivism, including community relations initiatives of
the Southwest Police Division, such as Turn A New Corner, to assist returning
citizens gain employment, and Blades, Fades and Engage, a town hall style
dialogue in neighborhood barber shops with the local community and law
enforcement. In 2019, Judge Nichols co-founded the Southwest Division Youth
Advisory Committee to facilitate positive activities for youth to move their
lives forward with confidence and purpose. In 2020, during the pandemic,
Judge Nichols participated in food and clothing distribution, and
neighborhood clean-up activities with grassroots organizations including
Unity in the Community and Ahari. Judge Nichols attended
Philadelphia public schools and received the Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree
from Temple University and graduated from Temple University Law School with
the Juris Doctor Degree and Master of Law Degree (LLM) in Trial Advocacy. Additionally,
Judge Nichols obtained the Master of Business Administration Degree (MBA),
from Eastern University. Her professional career spans over twenty years of
public service, including Legislative Assistant to former Philadelphia
Councilwoman, Augusta Clarke; Assistant City Solicitor, and Deputy Secretary
of External Affairs for the Mayor’s Office, in which she managed
appropriations, and legislative advocacy. As City Deputy Finance Director,
she managed the Minority Business Enterprise Council (MBEC), to ensure that
women and minority owned businesses received fair inclusion and participation
in City contracts. She maintained a solo litigation law practice before her
election to the Common Pleas Court Bench. In 2023, Judge Nichols was
appointed commissioner to America250PA for the U.S. Semiquincentenial.
Additionally, in 2022 and 2023, City and State Pennsylvania selected Judge
Nichols as one of the influential leaders of the Power of Diversity: Black
100. Additionally in 2023, she was honored as one of the Wonderful Women of
2023, by the Lawyers of Color. The Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Minority
Bar Committee awarded Judge Nichols the A. Leon Higginbotham Lifetime
Achievement Award along with U.S. Third Circuit Judge, Theodore McKee in 2021.
The Rutgers Law School Black Law Students Association honored Judge Nichols
with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Champion of Social Justice and Equality
Award in 2019. During 2018, she received the Judicial Council/Clifford Scott
Green Chapter’s Pinnacle Award for her service to the Court of Common Pleas
and was the inaugural recipient of the Judge Carolyn H. Nichols Drum Major
for Justice Award, instituted in the 164th Pennsylvania House of
Representatives District. Philadelphia City Council honored Judge Nichols in
2014, for receiving the City Office of Economic Opportunity’s Guardian of
Economic Inclusion Award for her service as MBEC Director. Judge Nichols has
received recognition for her community service, including induction to the
Overbrook High School Hall of Fame. In 2007 and 2008, Judge Nichols was
honored by the Philadelphia Tribune as one of the City’s Most Influential
African Americans. In 2019, Gov. Tom Wolf appointed Judge Nichols to the
Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and serves on its Adult
Racial and Ethnic Disparity Subcommittee. Judge Nichols joined the Criminal
Justice Committee of the Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission for Gender,
Racial and Ethnic Fairness, and is active in mentoring, and peace building
programs in public schools to prevent violence, and to stop the school to
prison pipeline with groups including the NAACP, Philadelphia School
District, Black Male Educators (BMEC), and Muslims 4 Humanity. She promotes
inclusion, dialogue and understanding with groups such as the Truman Project,
Masjidullah, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, and NewCore.
Judge Nichols initiated a dialogue group with African American and Jewish
professional women with the American Jewish Committee. Judge Nichols is a
member of the Philadelphia Education Fund’s Education First Compact to
improve public education in local schools. Judge Nichols is a Fellow of the
American Bar Foundation and was elected to membership in the American Law
Institute. She is co-chair of the Courts Committee within HEAL PA, Criminal
Justice Action Team (CJAT), an initiative of the Governor’s Office. She is a
member of the Montgomery County Bar Association and its Diversity Committee;
the Pennsylvania Bar Association and its Appellate Advocacy Committee and the
Minority Bar Committee; and the Philadelphia Bar Association and its
Diversity Advisory Panel, the American Bar Association, as well as the
Judicial Council, and the International Association of Women Judges. She
conducts CLE and CJE programs and has traveled internationally to participate
in cultural exchanges and dialogue with judges concerning constitutional and
judicial reform.

Judge Klein spent 28 years as a trial and eight years as an appellate court judge in Pennsylvania. He served as a trial judge in all parts of Philadelphia’s courts.  When first appointed, he was the youngest judge in the history of Pennsylvania. When Judge Klein was elected to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, its intermediate appellate court, he received a “highly recommended” rating from the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the endorsement of every major newspaper in the State that made judicial endorsements. Retired from the bench, he is serving as a mediator, arbitrator and appellate consultant as “Of Counsel” with McElroy and Deutsch in Philadelphia. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Amherst College and an honor graduate of Harvard Law School. He won a National Merit Scholarship when he graduated from Friends’ Central School. He is co-author of the West Publication book, Trial Communication Skills, written with Body Language author Julius Fast and international lawyer Roberto Aron. He was awarded the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Sir Francis Bacon award, given to an individual who excels in the area of alternative dispute resolution and has had a significant professional impact in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the area of ADR. He also received the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s highest award for effective writing, the Clarity Award. He served for ten  years as co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution committee. He is founder and co-chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Plain English Committee. He is chair of the Pennsylvania Futures Commission in the 21st century, starting again to review and update a long-term plan for the Pennsylvania Justice system originally prepared 20 years ago. He served as educational leader for legal-study tours sponsored by the Corporation for Professional Conferences, having led 18 such trips, including trips to Russia, China, Greece, Thailand, Vietnam, France, Egypt, and the Czech Republic and Hungary, and South Africa. He served for fifteen years as an adjunct lecturer at Temple University Law School. Judge Klein frequently lectures on Alternative Dispute Resolution, Effective Writing, Trial and Appellate Advocacy, Legal Ethics, and other topics. He is past president of the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra. He also is the drummer and leader of the jazz groups, “The Reading Terminals” and “The Moonlighters.”

Retired Judge Lally-Green served as the Dean at Duquesne University School of Law from 2016-2019 and continues to teach as an adjunct professor of law. Before that, she served as Associate General Secretary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh for six years until she retired in August 2015. Judge Lally-Green served as a Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge from June 1998 through July 2009. She also served Duquesne University School of Law earlier, where she was a professor of law and earlier, as a lawyer with Westinghouse Electric Corporation and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Judge Lally-Green received her B.S. from Duquesne University and her J.D. from the Duquesne University School of Law. She serves as a member of the Boards of Directors of UPMC Mercy Hospital, Saint Vincent Seminary, Catholic Charities of Pittsburgh, Federated Mutual Fund Complex and CNX Resources, Inc. Judge Lally-Green is a member of the Allegheny County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations. 

John is a shareholder and appellate chair at Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, which has more than five hundred attorneys based in nineteen offices in seven states.  He oversees a group of ten full-time appellate lawyers.  As litigation and amicus counsel, he has been involved in hundreds of appeals in state and federal appellate courts.  He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel, serves as chair of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Civil Procedural Rules Committee, and formerly served on the Board of Governors of the Bar Association of the Third Federal Circuit and as co-chair of the amicus curiae committee of the Pennsylvania Defense Institute.  John also regularly writes and speaks on appellate topics and has edited and co-authored two books on Pennsylvania appellate courts. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; Life and Law in the Commonwealth, 1684-2017, was published by the Pennsylvania State University Press in 2018.  Keystone of Justice: The Pennsylvania Superior Court, 1895-1995, was published by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 2000.  He received his B.A. from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from Duquesne University. He also received an M.A. in Legal History from the University of California, Berkeley, and he completed Ph.D. coursework in Legal History at Princeton University.

Co-chair of the Appellate Department and member of Lamb McErlane’s Executive Committee, Maureen Murphy McBride concentrates her practice on appeals in medical malpractice and complex commercial cases, as well as in litigation for Fortune 500 companies, smaller companies and individuals. Maureen provides counseling and advice to a number of corporate clients and individuals. She is named one of the “Top 50 Women Lawyers in Pennsylvania” and a “Top 100 Philadelphia by Super Lawyers”. Maureen was also recognized as “Best of the Bar” 2020 by the Philadelphia Business Journal, a “Five-Star Top Attorney” by Suburban Life Magazine, a Main Line Today “Top Lawyer,” and one of the “Best Lawyers in America”. Prior to joining Lamb McErlane in 1997, Maureen worked for a number of years at a large Philadelphia firm where her practice focused on complex commercial litigation, class actions and product liability claims in both the individual and class action settings. Maureen was recently appointed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania as Chair of the Civil Procedural Rules Committee and she is Co-Chair for the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Appellate Advocacy Committee. In 2011 she was appointed to serve on the PA Supreme Court’s Committee on Rules of Evidence where she served as Chair from 2016-2018. Maureen also served a six year term as a Hearing Committee member serving the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Previously, Maureen served as Vice-Chair and Treasurer for the Pennsylvania Lawyer’s Fund for Client Security and was a member of the Merit Selection Panel to recommend candidates for United States Magistrate Judge. Maureen also is an active member of the Inn of Court of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. As a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Appellate Advocacy Committee Maureen frequently shares her experience with her fellow attorneys through the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s continuing Legal Education courses. Maureen has presented on appellate issues to the Pennsylvania State Trial Judges’ Association conference. Maureen graduated from King’s College with a BA in Communications and English and earned her Juris Doctor degree from Villanova University School of Law where she was an editor of the Law Review.

Judge Dubow was sworn
in as a judge on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania on January 4, 2016. Prior
to her election to Superior Court, she served as a judge on the Court of
Common Pleas of Philadelphia County for eight years. Before becoming a judge,
Judge Dubow practiced law for 23 years in a variety of areas. She served as
Deputy General Counsel of Drexel University as well as Divisional Deputy City
Solicitor. She also worked at Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen and Fineman
and Bach. When she first graduated from law school, she clerked for the
Honorable Edward G. Hiester. Judge Dubow graduated from the University of
Pennsylvania School of Law in 1984 and the University of Pennsylvania,
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, cum laude, in 1981. The Brandeis Society
awarded her the “Justice, Justice, You Shall Pursue Award,” the
University of Pennsylvania Law School awarded her the Howard Lesnick Pro Bono
Award, and the Lawyers’ Club of Philadelphia has recognized her dedicated
service. Judge Dubow is a member of the American Law Institute and serves on
the Judicial Conduct Board. She is former Chair of the Juvenile Court
Procedural Rules Committee and former Vice Chair of the Continuing Judical
Education Committee. Judge Dubow is serving or has served on numerous
non-profit Boards of Trustees, including the Stoneleigh Foundation, Carson
Valley Children’s Aid, the Beck Institute, the Opera Company of Philadelphia,
and Congregation Or Ami.

Justice Stevens is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University and The Dickinson School of Law, where he served as Associate Editor of the Dickinson Law Review. Elected to the statewide appellate Superior Court in 1997, he is a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District Attorney and Trial Judge. Justice Stevens teaches evening courses at tthe college level, judges the PBA mock trial competitions, and regularly makes presentations in continuing legal education programs and to community groups.  In 2011 he began a five year term as President Judge, chosen unanimously by his colleagues. In 2013, upon recommendation by the Governor and unanimously confirmed by the Senate, he was appointed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.He has had his private pilot license and recently published a novel.

Judge McLaughlin is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in 1988. Judge McLaughlin graduated from Delaware Law School of Widener University in 1992. During her last year of law school, Judge McLaughlin clerked for then President Judge Vincent Cirillo of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Following graduation from law school, Judge McLaughlin worked as an Assistant Attorney in Philadelphia. Judge McLaughlin was appointed one of the youngest female Chiefs in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office where she worked for 19 years until 2011. In 2011, Judge McLaughlin was elected to a ten year term on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas where she presided over both family law and criminal law matters. During her years as both a prosecutor and while on the bench, Judge McLaughlin appeared often as an instructor for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, the Philadelphia Bar Association, The Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of Community Service, the Delaware County Bar Association and the Trial Lawyers Association. Judge McLaughlin has been a guest on numerous radio and television shows speaking on a variety of family law issues. Judge McLaughlin has been honored by numerous organizations including The Sons and Daughters of Italy, The Public Record Newspaper and the Delaware Law School Alumni Association. On the Court of Common Pleas, Judge McLaughlin took an active role in judicial education. She was the Vice-President of the Cipriani Family Law Inn of Court and co-chaired the FYI Judicial Education Committee for the First Judicial District. Judge McLaughlin is a member of the National Association of Women Judges, the Justinian Law Society, Brehon Law Society, the Sons and Daughters of Italy in Roxborough, a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Philadelphia Bar Association. Judge McLaughlin sits on the Alumni Board of Delaware Law School of Widener University. Judge McLaughlin is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She was admitted to the US District Court for the Eastern District of PA, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States of America. Judge McLaughlin was elected to the Superior Court in November 2017. Her chambers are in Philadelphia.

Judge Del Sole served on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania from 1984 until his retirement in 2006 and served as the Court’s President Judge from 2001 to 2006. Prior to being elected to the Superior Court, he served on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas from 1978 until 1984. From 1965 until assuming the bench, he was in private practice specializing in civil litigation and has extensive experience in civil cases, personal injury, professional negligence, commercial, employment and insurance disputes. He has completed the National Judicial College’s course on Civil Mediation and was an adjunct professor at Duquesne University School of Law lecturing on Pennsylvania Civil Procedure. Judge Del Sole is a member of the Allegheny County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations and the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County. He is a member of the Century Club of Distinguished Alumni of Duquesne University. During his tenure on the bench, he was the first Chair of the Judicial Conduct Board and served on the Appellate Court Rules Committee. He was appointed Chair of the Supreme Court’s Ad Hoc Committee reviewing post-trial practice in civil and criminal litigation and the Court’s Ad Hoc Committee establishing special procedures to resolve litigation resulting from silicone gel breast implants. He has lectured at the Pennsylvania School for New Judges and served as vice chair of the Supreme Court’s Committee on Judicial Education. Since returning to the private sector, Judge Del Sole has successfully mediated matters including copyright infringement, mineral rights, employment issues, personal injury, products liability, breach of contract, insurance coverage, and a wide variety of commercial issues and multiple party cases. He has been both a party appointed and jointly selected neutral arbiter in cases including those referred from the State and Federal Courts. He is on the roster of arbitrators and mediators for the American Arbitration Association, and accepted as a mediator by the United States District Court for Western District of Pennsylvania. He consults on a wide range of appellate matters, including brief preparation, Petitions for Reargument and Supreme Court Review, preparing counsel for oral argument, and providing expert opinion on the potential for success on appeal. Judge Del Sole received his B.S.M.E from Carnegie Institute of Technology, his LLB from Duquesne University School of Law and his LLM from the University of Virginia School of Law.

President Judge Jack Panella was elected to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in November 2003 and sworn into office as an appellate judge on January 9, 2004.  He was retained in 2013. He became the President Judge on January 7, 2019.  His election to the appellate court followed twelve years as a trial judge in Northampton County.  During his years as a practitioner from 1982 to 1991, President Judge Panella served as County Solicitor for Northampton County, and had an active private practice. His clients included Larry Holmes, the former world’s heavyweight boxing champion, and the late Albert Loquasto, a former champion professional racecar driver. As a trial judge, in recognition of his work on the Commonwealth Partners Program, he was given the President’s Award from the Conference of State Trial Judges in 2002. In 2004, President Judge Panella was appointed by the Supreme Court to the Commission for Justice Initiatives in Pennsylvania (CJI), a committee organized to coordinate and recommend judicial outreach and specialized court programs.  He served as Chair of two committees and wrote a popular short film on the history and operation of the Pennsylvania Judiciary. The film has been used as an educational tool in classrooms around the state, and can be viewed in the visitor’s section of the Judicial Center in Harrisburg. In 1997, he was appointed to be a judge of the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline (CJD).  In June 2000, he was elected President Judge by his fellow judges.  He was then appointed by the Supreme Court to the Judicial Conduct Board and was eventually elected Chair of the Board. In September 2013, he was reappointed by the Supreme Court to the Court of Judicial Discipline and was again elected President Judge in 2017. He is the only judge in the history of Pennsylvania to be reappointed to the Court of Judicial Discipline and the only Judge to be elected on two occasions as President Judge. Judge Panella’s first book, THE PENNSYLVANIA SEXUAL VIOLENCE BENCHBOOK, was published in December 2007. The book is a comprehensive reference designed to help trial judges in addressing the complex criminal issues surrounding sexual violence cases. The book has received very favorable reviews.  The Third Edition of the Book was published in 2015. President Judge Panella’s second book, THE PENNSYLVANIA SEXUAL VIOLENCE BENCHBOOK, MAGISTERIAL DISTRICT COURT EDITION, was published in 2010.  This version of the benchbook was designed to assist Magisterial District Court Judges, and addressed many different topics than the benchbook for trial judges. His third book, PENNSYLVANIA LAW ON RESTITUTION, was published in January 2021. President Judge Panella has published two sets of Bench Cards for trial judges in Pennsylvania: Judicial Bench Cards: Relinquishment of Firearms in Domestic Violence Cases, Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (2019); Judicial Bench Cards: Crimes of Sexual Violence, Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (2018). 

Deborah A. Kunselman is a judge on the Pennsylvania Superior Court. She was elected to the Superior Court in 2017 for a term that expires on January 3, 2028. She was formerly a judge on the Beaver County Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania. Judge Kunselman was elected in 2005. She was retained in 2015. She was the first female judge elected to the 36th district Court of Common Pleas. She previously served as Solicitor for Beaver County. Judge Kunselman earned her undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1989 and her J.D. from Notre Dame Law School in 1992.

Judge McCaffery is a proud military veteran. At the age of 18 he joined the United States Army where he served on active duty with the First Cavalry Division. He was one of a few select soldiers chosen from the military to attend the prestigious United States Military Academy at West Point Prep School. Judge McCaffery is currently the only military veteran serving on the Pennsylvania Appellate Courts. After receiving an honorable discharge from the Army, Judge McCaffery attended Temple University and Temple University Law School on a veteran’s scholarship. In 1991, McCaffery became an Assistant District Attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. He quickly distinguished himself as a top-flight prosecutor assigned to the major trials unit, prosecuting over fifty jury trials and a thousand bench trials. In 1997, McCaffery joined Jaffe, Friedman, Schuman, Nemeroff and Applebaum PC in Montgomery County and was named partner in 2000. McCaffery chaired the firm’s commercial litigation department and spent 16 years as a civil trial attorney. In 2013 McCaffery was elected Judge of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Assigned to one of the busiest trial divisions in Pennsylvania, Judge McCaffery presided over one hundred jury trials and thousands of bench trials. In 2019 McCaffery was elected Judge of the Pennsylvania Superior Court. McCaffery currently serves as the Supervising Judge for Wiretaps in Pennsylvania and also  serves on the Court of Judicial Discipline by appointment of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Judge Ford Elliott was elected a judge of the Superior Court in 1989 and retained in 1999 and 2009. The Superior Court is Pennsylvania’s statewide appeals court of general and residual jurisdiction. She served as President Judge of the Superior Court from 2005 until January 2010. She was the first woman to serve as president judge for any appellate court in Pennsylvania. She received her Juris Doctorate from Duquesne University School of Law in 1978 and a master’s degree in Education in 1973. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh. Judge Ford Elliot served as president of the national Council of Chief Judges of State Courts of Appeal in 2011. She has served on the Board of Directors of Duquesne University, is a member of the Century Club of Distinguished Duquesne Alumni and was a member of the Advisory Board for the law school. She has also served as Vice-chair of the Pennsylvania Future’s Commission, and as a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Commission on Justice Initiatives. In 2010, she received the Special Recognition Award from the P.B.A. Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee for her work in encouraging appellate mediation. She has been presented with The Legal Intelligencer’s Lifetime Achievement Award, received the St. Thomas More Award from the Pittsburgh society, the Carlow College Woman of Spirit Award and the Pittsburgh Amen Corner Robert E. Dauer Award for Judicial Leadership and Excellence. 

Judge Lazarus
received her B.A. in psychology from the State University of New York at
Stony Brook in 1972. She received both her J.D. (1976) and LL.M. in Taxation
(1986) from Temple University Beasley School of Law. Judge Lazarus served as
Legal Counsel to the Philadelphia Orphans’ Court from 1980 to 1991 under the
Honorable Edmund S. Pawelec. She also practiced law in the estates department
of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, in Philadelphia before
being appointed to the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County by Gov.
Robert P. Casey. Judge Lazarus was elected to a full term as judge in 1991
and served on the Philadelphia bench until 2010. During her tenure as a trial
court judge, she served in the Criminal, Civil Trial and Orphans’ Court
Divisions. Judge Lazarus worked diligently to increase pro bono service by
the bar and, in 2005, was the first recipient of the Pennsylvania Bar
Association Legal Services for the Public Committees Judges Award in
recognition of her pro bono efforts. She was also a long-standing member of
the Ethics Committee of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges,
serving as its chairperson from 2005 through 2009, and served as chairperson
of the Pennsylvania Supreme Courts Ad Hoc Committee, Judicial Canons of
Ethics, from 2010 to 2012. Judge Lazarus was appointed to the Pennsylvania
Judicial Conduct Board in 2011 and served as the chairperson from 2014-2015,
when her term expired. She is a member of the American, Pennsylvania and
Philadelphia Bar Associations and has served as an Adjunct Professor at
Widener University School of Law, Temple University Beasley School of Law,
the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and the National Judicial College.
Judge Lazarus is a frequent lecturer for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute,
speaking on such topics as judicial ethics, Orphans’ Court practice and
procedure, and issues surrounding incapacity. She is active in the Temple
American Inn of Court, in which she is a past president; the Louis D.
Brandeis Law Society, which she served as Inaugural Chancellor; and is past
president of the Brandeis Law Society Foundation. Judge Lazarus serves on the
Board of Directors of Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program and
was instrumental in establishing its tangled title assistance program. She
has received numerous honors and awards, including the Brandeis Law Society’s
Benjamin F. Levy Community Service Award, the PLAN of PA Bernard White
Community Service Award and the Philadelphia Bar Associations 2013 Sandra Day
O’Connor Award. Judge Lazarus was elected to the Pennsylvania Superior Court
in November 2009 and was sworn in as a member of the Court in January 2010.

Judge King began her career protecting the most vulnerable as an assistant district attorney in the Lancaster County district attorney’s office where she supervised the child abuse unit — an office where the worst of the human condition was met with tough justice for offenders and hope for victims. She later led a county-wide initiative to combat elder abuse, including financial exploitation scheme. Judge King has served as supervisor and deputy district attorney of the child abuse and elder abuse units for the Office of the District Attorney in Lancaster and Chester counties. She has successfully prosecuted homicides, sexual and physical assaults, and increasingly complex schemes to defraud seniors. In recognition of Judge King’s accomplishments, she was the only Pennsylvania prosecutor to receive the 2018 Blue Ribbon Champion for Safe Kids Award from the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance, the state leader in child protection. Judge King clerked for Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Thomas Saylor where she handled civil and criminal matters on appeal. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Judge Sullivan was sworn in as a judge on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania on January 3, 2022. Prior to her election to Superior Court, she worked in the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General for four years in the civil and criminal divisions. She represented state agencies in civil rights and employment matters, and prosecuted insurance fraud cases. Judge Sullivan served as Assistant General Legal Counsel for West Chester University, and practiced civil litigation primarily in the area of civil rights and employment. She served as an Assistant District Attorney at the Chester County District Attorney’s Office. Judge Sullivan graduated from Temple University School of Law in 2001, cum laude, and Saint Joseph’s University, in 1993. Her chambers are in West Chester, PA.

Honorable Phyllis W. Beck (Ret.) (Whose Constitution is it Anyway?, April 2012) Judge Beck is general counsel emerita of the Barnes Foundation and current Chair of the Independence Foundation. In 2006, Judge Beck retired from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Superior Court, the intermediate appellate court in Pennsylvania. She was appointed to the bench by Governor Thornburgh in 1981, and was the first woman to serve as a judge on the Superior Court, which was formed in 1895. Judge Beck became Senior Judge at the end of 1997, and stepped down from the bench on December 31, 2005. Judge Beck started her career in private practice and joined Temple University School of Law as an associate professor in 1974. She became vice dean at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1976, and held that position until she was appointed to the bench in 1981. She also has served on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s Center on Professionalism. She is a Fellow of the American Law Institute and the American Bar Foundation. A strong advocate for judicial reform, Judge Beck chaired Pennsylvania Governor Casey’s Commission on Judicial Reform in 1987-88. She has been actively involved with Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Committee on Judicial Ethics and the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession. She has written numerous articles on judicial reform and women in the law, and speaks often on those topics. She is author of a chapter in a recently published book, The Pennsylvania Constitution. Judge Beck has received many awards, including the Sandra Day O’Connor Award and the Brennan Award from the Philadelphia Bar Association; the Judicial Award from the Pennsylvania Bar Association; the Herbert Harley Award from the American Judicature Society; the Excellence Award from Pennsylvania Legal Services; the Anne X. Alpern Award from the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession; the Florence Murray Award from the National Association of Women Judges; and the Outstanding Alumni Award from Temple University School of Law. She also is the recipient of two honorary degrees. Judge Beck is chair of the board of directors of the Independence Foundation and chief financial officer of the foundation. The Independence Foundation is a private, nonprofit philanthropic group that supports organizations that provide services to people who do not ordinarily have access to them. She serves as an advisor to the Board of a family of mutual funds, Third Avenue Value Funds, in New York City. Judge Beck also has served on a number of other organizations’ boards, including the American Judicature Society, Temple University School of Law, Villanova University School of Law, the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, the Foundation for Cognitive Therapy and Research (president), the Free Library of Philadelphia (vice president), the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, the Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia Futures (founding member and past president), Philadelphia READS and After School Activities Partnerships. She has been also a member of the National Association of Women Judges, Pennsylvania Women in the Profession, the Joint State Government Committee on Domestic Relations and the National Association of Attorneys General Project Advisory Board on State Constitutional Law. Judge Beck is a magna cum laude graduate of Brown University and graduated first in her class from Temple University School of Law in 1967, where she was in the evening division. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Hon. Susan Peikes Gantman, President Judge Emeritus, PA Superior Court Judge Gantman’s election to a ten-year term on the Superior Court was confirmed in January 2004, and she won retention in 2013. She was elected by her peers as President Judge of the Superior Court for the five-year term beginning January 7, 2014 to January 6, 2019. Her Chambers are located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Education: University of Pennsylvania (B.A. cum laude, M.A., 1974); Villanova University School of Law (J.D., 1977); Employment: law clerk to Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Richard S. Lowe; solicitor, Montgomery County Office of Children and Youth and Montgomery County Housing and Community Development; assistant district attorney, Montgomery County; private law practice, 1981-1991; partner, Sherr, Joffe & Zuckerman P.C., 1991-1998; senior member and co-chair of Family Law Section, Cozen O’Connor, 1998-2003; Recognitions: Honoree, Brandeis Law Society Law Day, 2015; Honoree, Montgomery Bar Association Annual Dinner, 2014; Awarded Women of the Year 2014, The Legal Intelligencer; Anne X. Alpern Award, Pennsylvania Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession; Margaret Richardson Award, Montgomery County Bar Association; Outstanding Service, Montgomery County Office of Children and Youth; Award, Juvenile Advisory Association; Super Lawyer, Philadelphia Magazine; Federation Award, Bond of Faith; Memberships: American, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, Montgomery County and Philadelphia County Bar Associations; Member, PBA Women in the Profession Committee; Member, PBA Committees, Children’s Rights, Appellate Advocacy Committee; PBA Fellow; Member, MCBA Bar Foundation Taxis Circle; Former Co-Chair, MCBA Family Law Committee; Member, Louis D. Brandeis Law Society; Member, National Association of Women Judges; Participant, Appellate Judges Seminar, Institute of Judicial Administration, New York University School of Law; Participant ABA Divorce Arbitration and Mediation Institute; Lecturer, Pennsylvania State Police Academy; Member, Juvenile Court Section, Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges; Pennsylvania Dependency Benchbook Committee (reference guide to the law and practice of dependency, highlighting best practices); Former Master, Villanova University Inns of Court; Former Board of Directors, Women’s Philanthropy; Former Board of Directors, Women of Vision; Chair, Records Management Committee, Superior Court of Pennsylvania; Member, Commission for Justice Initiatives in Pennsylvania, Superior Court of Pennsylvania. She was appointed by the Supreme Court to serve on the Judical Conduct Board.

Mr. Myers is Co-Chair of the Appellate Practice Group at Stevens & Lee in Philadelphia and Harrisburg. He has two decades of experience arguing and briefing a wide variety of precedent-setting and high stakes appeals before the appellate courts of Pennsylvania and other jurisdictions. Mr. Myers maintains a particular focus on cases before the Pennsylvania Supreme, Commonwealth, and Superior Courts, as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. His arguments often appear on the Pennsylvania Cable Network and in various legal publications, which seek him out as an appellate commentator. Mr. Myers often serves as a panelist and moderator for appellate practice presentations and continuing legal education seminars. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Appellate Advocacy Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, is a Past Chair of the Administrative Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and is an active member of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Historical Society. He serves on the Board of Governors of the Third Circuit Bar Association. Mr. Myers also serves on the Board of Directors and as Pennsylvania State Chair for the Council of Appellate Lawyers of the American Bar Association’s Appellate Judges Conference. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Russell M. Nigro of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania after receiving his law degree, cum laude, from the Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law. During law school, Mr. Myers served as a clerk for the Honorable John T.J. Kelly Jr. of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and the Honorable Yvette Kane of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and was selected for the Appellate Moot Court Board, Dickinson Law Review, and Woolsack Honor Society. 

Judge Mary P. Murray is a Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge having been elected in November of 2017.  Judge Murray graduated from Duquesne University in 1992 with a B.S./B.A. in marketing and a minor in psychology.  In 1993, she began a joint MBA/J.D. program at Duquesne University, graduating in December of 1995 with her MBA and in May of 1996 with her Juris Doctorate.  While at Duquesne Law School, she completed an internship for Judge Joseph L. Cosetti, S.J. for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.  She later worked as a research professor for Jagdeep Bhandari, working on immigration matters and research on economic damages in wrongful death and survival actions. Recently, Judge Murray served the borough of Coraopolis and the townships of Crescent, Moon and Neville as Magisterial District Judge from 2004 through 2017, when she was elected to the Superior Court. During this time, she heard over 75,000 civil, criminal, traffic and non-traffic cases. Prior to being elected as a Magisterial District Judge, Judge Murray worked for various general practice law firms and LandAmerica.  During that time, she handled cases involving commercial and residential real estate matters, estate planning and administration, family, civil and municipal law.  She clerked in Beaver County for the late Judges Joseph S. Walko, Thomas C. Mannix and James E. Rowley.  Since graduating from law school in 1996, until 2017, Judge Murray has maintained a private estate planning and administration practice.  Judge Mary P. Murray was appointed to the Minor Court Rules Committee in 2008, serving six years and chairing the committee from 2012-2014.  She is member of the Allegheny, Beaver, Florida and Pennsylvania Bar Associations.  She was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and the Western District of Pennsylvania.  While serving as a Magisterial District Judge, Judge Murray was extremely active in both the Allegheny County Special Court Judges’ Association, having served as President, Director, Vice-President and Secretary; and on the Pennsylvania Special Court Judges Association, chairing the Rules Committee and serving on both the Computer and Court Administration Committees.  She serves on the Board of Governors of Amen Corner and was President from 2019-2022.  Judge Murray is a member of B.P.O. Elks #1090 and has served Presiding Justice for the organization.  She is a former member of the Airport Area Chamber of Commerce. She was appointed in 2022 to Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish Council and continues to serve as a lector and Eucharistic Minister. She was appointed as Auditor of Moon Township in 1998 and was elected to a six-year term in 1999, serving until elected as a Magisterial District Judge in 2003.  Judge Murray was appointed in 2023 to the Appellate Rules Committee.  She is a member of PBA transitions and criminal committees.  She has served as a Vice-Chair of the Transitions Committee since 2022.

The Honorable Victor P. Stabile was elected as a judge to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in 2013. Prior to his election, he had over thirty years of broad legal experience. Judge Stabile is a 1982 graduate of the Dickinson School of Law and was a member of its Law Review. Upon graduation, he served as an appellate judicial clerk in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. After completion of his clerkship, Judge Stabile was appointed a Deputy Attorney General in a trial division of the Office of Attorney General where he litigated cases in defense of Commonwealth agencies in many of the commonwealth’s trial and appellate courts. He also served as the acting chief of this state-wide trial division and successfully argued and litigated now precedential case law in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. In 1987, Judge Stabile joined the law firm of Dilworth Paxson LLP, and was a partner and the managing member of its Harrisburg office from 1992 until his election to the Superior Court. His practice at Dilworth principally involved complex commercial and business litigation. He practiced before all state and federal courts in Pennsylvania and is a member of the United States Supreme Court and Pennsylvania Supreme Court Bars. A substantial amount of Judge Stabile’s time also had been devoted to public service in his community and to pro bono legal work. Judge Stabile also served as the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Middlesex Township, Cumberland County. He was active in community planning and was a founding member of the Cumberland County Task Force on Regional Development. He currently serves as a member of the Supreme Court’s Judicial Ethics Advisory Board, was a former member of the Judicial Education Board, and in both positions was a principal drafter of the rules governing those bodies. Judge Stabile also is an elected member of the American Law Institute. He has been married for over forty years, has two children, and resides with his family in Carlisle, PA.