The Allegheny County Bar Association Judiciary Committee has almost completed its most recent evaluations of local attorneys who are running to fill the vacancies on the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County and the Pa. Superior Court. The committee will continue rating attorneys through April 10.

The Bar Association’s Judiciary Committee is a group of 24 lawyers independently elected by the 6,500 members of the Allegheny County Bar Association. The committee is charged by the ACBA with evaluating all candidates for local, appellate, and federal courts who reside in Allegheny County.

The rating which a candidate receives is valid for five (5) years from the date of evaluation. Accordingly, for your information and use in your decision-making process, the Allegheny County Bar Association is pleased to provide all of the current ratings for attorneys who have sought consideration by the Judiciary Committee for the position of judge of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. We are providing all of the current ratings because we have no way of knowing which of the following individuals actually have expressed a current interest in the position.

After review of the extensive candidate questionnaires and other pertinent documentation provided, and based upon an intensive interview process, the Judiciary Committee has given its highest ratings of "Highly Recommended" and "Recommended" to the 13 individuals shown at the right.

It is the view of the Allegheny County Bar Association that each of the candidates has the legal ability, impartiality, diligence, and judicial temperament to be a judge of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. No other candidate has a currently valid rating of "Highly Recommended" or "Recommended" from the Allegheny County Bar Association Judiciary Committee for the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

We realize that not all of the candidates who have publicly expressed an interest in running for an Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas judgeship have been reviewed by our Judiciary Committee as of March 18, 2013. Our committee will be meeting on April 10, 2013 to ensure that each candidate who is running to fill a vacancy in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas is evaluated prior to the 2013 May Primary Election.