NorCo Judicial Candidate Argues Her Opponent Lacks Experience

How long should you be a lawyer before becoming a judge? Five years? Ten? Should you be required to have jury trial experience before you run? That's what Easton area lawyer and judicial candidate Nancy Aaroe thinks. She raised these points yesterday during a news conference at the Northampton County courthouse rotunda surrounded by about 30 supporters, including her family, local Republican party stalwarts and some guys who arrived on motorcycles. Aaroe has 32 years of experience as a lawyer, and it includes jury trial experience. Her opponent, Brian Panella, has six years under his belt as a practicing lawyer.

There's a big difference between the way that Republicans and Democrats do things. Republicans will prepare these things to the nth degree. They will have videographers, photographers and all kinds of people walking around in suits, handing out releases. Democrats usually forget. Republicans will want you there 15 minutes early. Democrats never mind when you get there because they always start late, unless it's Lamont McClure.  

I got there early, and the first thing I did was admonish Beverly Hernandez and Nancy Dienel for their fawning over wingnut Steve Lynch. As I sternly lectured them, most of the other Republicans chose to keep their distance. Except Glenn Geissinger, the current chief of the county GOP. I yelled at him, too, but forget why.

In fact, I was so worked up that I had nearly forgotten why I was there. That's when Paul Aaroe greeted me. He's almost as bad as my brother, a far right conservative, but he is a good lawyer and a very nice person. He's Nancy's husband. 

"You're her weak link, you know," I snarled. He agreed. "I'm the only bad decision she ever made," he admitted. 

Nancy Aaroe is herself a very good lawyer. She spent 12 of her 32 years as an assistant DA, assistant public defender and conflicts counsel (court-appointed lawyers who represent indigents that the public defender's office is unable to represent). Her practice now is mostly devoted to family law. She would be a great judge. But so would Brian Panella

I skipped taking notes of Aaroe's speech because it was being broadcast on Facebook. That was a mistake. The acoustics inside the rotunda make it very difficult to hear people.  

Aaaroe said she never really considered running for judge because she is "not a political person," but was urged to do so by several attorneys she holds in high regard. She said the judges she admires have had "years and years of experience before ascending [her word] to the bench."

At the same time, she read Attorney Sam Stretton's "Ethics Forum" in the Legal Intelligencer.  According to Stretton, "Being a judge should not be a career by itself. A judgeship should be the position one decides to run for or get appointed to at the end of their career as a lawyer, not at the beginning." In fact, he argues that no attorney should run for judge without having participated in at least 50-100 jury trials.

That's his opinion, not the law. 

Aaroe argued that, like New Jersey* and New York, a judge in Pa should be someone who has has practiced law a minimum of 10 years.  She indicated that Northampton County has never elected or appointed a judge with less than 10 years of experience. 

Aaroe went on to refer to her opponent, Brian Panella, as an "early career lawyer" with only six years of experience. She said this is "unacceptable to me.  ... His desire to be a judge right now, at this early stage of his career, causes me to question his self-awareness and judgment."

After the news conference, I questioned her argument that judgeships should be limited to attorneys who have jury trial experience. I pointed to former President Judge Alfred T Williams. He was an excellent trial judge, but never tried a case as a lawyer. She said that Judge Williams was before her time. 

But there are more recent examples. Judge William Moran, who had to be one of her contemporaries, ever tried a jury trial as a lawyer. I may be mistaken, but believe that our current President Judge, Michael Koury, Jr, never conducted a jury trial as a lawyer.

It is the view of some lawyers that judges who have never tried jury trials as lawyer tend to be better trial judges precisely for that reason. Judges who do have jury trial experience will often take over cases while judges who themselves never tried a case as a lawyer often tend to be more fair. 

There are arguments both ways.    

In Pennsylvania, unlike many states, the voters decide who they want on the bench. His or her experience is one factor that should be considered along with numerous others. I could understand her decision to raise her own experience as a positive note about her, and it is, but her questions about Brian Panella's "self-awareness and judgment" were a tad bit unjudicial. 

_ ___________

* The 10 year requirement in NJ appears to be limited to justices of the Supreme Court.