SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
Dwayne Woodruff
The Honorable Dwayne D. Woodruff is a Judge on the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County – Pittsburgh, presiding primarily in the Family Court Division since 2005.
Judge Woodruff serves on the board of the National Commission of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board, co-chairs Pittsburgh SAFE Workgroup (Shared Accountability for Education) and serves on Educational Success & Truancy Prevention Committee (ESTP).
Woodruff earned a degree in Business Finance from the University of Louisville (1979) and a Juris Doctor from Duquesne University School of Law (1988).
SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
Debbie Kunselman
In November 2005, Judge Deborah Anne Kunselman became the first woman ever elected to the Court of Common Pleas of Beaver County. Judge Kunselman is a 1992 honors’ graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School, and a 1989 high-honors’ graduate of the Pennsylvania State University, where she was a student of the Schreyer Honors College and elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Before taking the bench, Judge Kunselman practiced for thirteen years in many areas of civil litigation, including personal injury, municipal, family and employment law. Her varied practice consisted of representing individuals, businesses and government entities. Notably, she successfully represented several teachers in an Equal Pay Act and Age Discrimination claim, recovering a substantial jury verdict on their behalf.
Maria McLaughlin
The Honorable Maria McLaughlin is a Judge in the Court of Common Pleas, First Judicial District. Judge McLaughlin presides over both family law and criminal law matters. Currently, Judge McLaughlin serves as the co-chair on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas FYI Committee and as the current vice-president of the Nicholas A. Cipriani Family Law American Inn of Court. She has on numerous occasions participated on judicial panels and has lectured for the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Delaware County Bar Association, PA Trial Lawyers Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Institute.McLaughlin has appeared as a guest on local television and radio shows to discuss a variety of family law topics.
Geoff Moulton
Geoff Moulton was sworn in as a judge of the Pennsylvania Superior Court in August 2016, after being nominated by Governor Tom Wolf and unanimously confirmed by the Pennsylvania Senate. His term extends through the end of 2017.
Judge Moulton has devoted the bulk of his career to public service, developing a broad range of experience that serves him well as an appellate court judge. Following his graduation from Columbia Law School in 1984, where he was managing editor of the Columbia Law Review, he served as a law clerk on both the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. After his clerkships, he spent a total of eight years as a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, including four years as First Assistant United States Attorney.
Carolyn Nichols
Judge Carolyn H. Nichols, elected to the Court of Common Pleas in 2011, conducts felony jury trials in criminal court, with equal justice, protecting the rights of crime victims, and the accused; she works to create opportunities for positive reentry to prevent recidivism. She attended public schools and graduated from Temple University JD, LLM, and Eastern University MBA programs.
The Pennsylvania Bar Association recommended Carolyn by saying, “based on the strong reputation, experience, and judicial temperament, the commission recommends the candidate to serve on the Superior Court.”
COMMONWEALTH COURT
Ellen Ceisler
After graduating from Temple University Law School in 1986, Ellen served as a Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney, where she specialized in the prosecution of crimes of domestic violence.
In 2005, Ellen served as a consultant for the Philadelphia School District on issues pertaining to student disciplinary policies and procedures, in an effort to make the public schools safer for the teachers and students. She then served as the Director of the Special Investigations Unit of the Philadelphia City Controller’s Office where she initiated and oversaw investigations into municipal waste and fraud.
Irene Clark
Former Pittsburgh Municipal Judge Irene Clark’s (nee McLaughlin) law school motto, “Law in the service of human needs,” connected at her core and set Irene on a career focused in public interest law. She earned a B.S. degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and her law degree from CUNY School of Law at Queens College. She was appointed a Pittsburgh Municipal Court Judge where she served for ten years. Her extensive background in housing and neighborhood revitalization led to her to being designated Housing Court Judge responsible for code enforcement cases.
Since leaving the bench in 2003, Judge Clark’s legal career has centered on helping municipalities and organizations clean up and revitalize blighted and abandoned properties.