Voters to fill two court seats

served 10 years on the Municipal Court until it was reorganized in 2003. She returned to private practice, again focusing on helping municipalities and organizations revitalize rundown communities, experience that she said will help her handle such legal issues on Commonwealth Court.

Ms. Clark, who now lives in Shadyside, sought election as a district judge in May 2015, but she was unsuccessful. She is the only Commonwealth Court candidate with a “not recommended” rating from the state bar. She said her focus on the Pittsburgh court was too narrow for the bar association’s liking, but she contended that her work on criminal and civil matters qualifies her for Commonwealth Court.

Judge Fizzano Cannon, 48, a former Delaware County councilwoman, was elected to a 10-year term on the Delaware County court in 2011. She currently serves as head of the Civil Trial Section of the court and has presided over 120 trials and more than 1,400 civil cases.

A 1994 graduate of the Widener University School of Law, Judge Fizzano Cannon said she concentrated her practice in business and commercial matters, as well as land-useand estate planning.

“I have presided over tax assessment appeals, matters involving nonprofit corporations, zoning appeals and appeals of decisions rendered by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and the Office of Open Records, all matters that fall within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Court,” Judge Fizzano Cannon said in a response to the Pennsylvania Bar Association, which labeled her “highly recommended.”

An attorney since 1996, Mr. Lalley, 47, was a candidate for Commonwealth Court in 2015, when he won the Republican primary but was defeated in the general election by Judge Michael Wojick, the only Democrat among the incumbent members. (Democratic Judge Joseph Cosgrove was appointed to an interim term last year by Gov. Tom Wolf, but lost in the May primary and will not be returning.)

A 1996 graduate of Penn State University Dickinson School of Law in 1996, Mr. Lalley was a law clerk for Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Sandra Schultz Newman from 1997 to 2002. From 2002 to 2009, he practiced with the Levin Legal Group. He currently is an attorney with the Pittsburgh law firm Campbell Durrant Beatty Palombo & Miller, concentrating on labor and employment matters for municipal bodies and public schools.

Mr. Lalley, a resident of Upper St. Clair, said his work with labor arbitrations and collective bargaining agreements has been honed before stateand federal courts as well asadministrative agencies.

He was attorney for Pittsburgh Public Schools when it sought and won a one-year delay in implementation of the county’s property tax reassessment, and for the West Mifflin Area School District when it challenged a state law that ultimately was overturned before a reassignment plan for Duquesne City Schools students was approved.

The bar association has designated his candidacy “recommended.”