Voters to elect two judges to Montco bench

NORRISTOWN» With two judicial seats up for grabs on the Montgomery County Court bench, three lawyers who share decades of legal experience believe they’re themost qualified to resolve criminal and civil court matters in the county.

Wendy G. Rothstein and Jeffrey S. Saltz are seeking to become new members of the bench while Joseph P. Walsh, who has been on the county bench since September 2016 when he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the bench by Gov. Tom Wolf, is seeking to retain that seat during the Nov. 7 general election.

Rothstein, Walsh and Saltz each cross-filed during May’s primary election and only one candidate, Rothstein, 61, of Plymouth Township, won both Democratic and Republican spots on the November ballot. That means on Nov. 7 the Democratic and GOP votes that Rothstein receives will be tallied together.

Saltz, 64, of Lower Merion Township, will appear on the Democratic ballot and Walsh, 52, of Montgomery Township, will appear on the Republican ballot.

The two top vote-getters will be elected to 10-year judicial terms that begin in January.

During judicial campaigns, candidates traditionally don’t express their opinions on matters that might come before them so the three candidates essentially are campaigning on their qualifications and experience.

Each of the candidates was asked, from a personal perspective, why they want to be a judge.

“Since the days of my federal clerkship following law school graduation, I have always considered the possibility of ascending to the bench at some point inmy career. I seemy role as a judge as one of public service,” said Walsh. “For more than a decade, I have served my Montgomery County community in the capacity of a school director in North Penn and as a super- visor in Montgomery Township.

“My family is committed to service, and my appointment to the bench has afforded me the opportunity to serve the needs of many in this county who struggle with addiction and behavior health issues,” Walsh added.

Walsh, according to his resume, served on the North Penn School District Board of Directors from 2005 to 2009 and on the Montgomery Township Board of Supervisors from 2010 to 2016. Walsh was a lawclerk for U.S. District Court Judge Herbert J. Hutton from 1991 to 1992, according to his resume.

Before ascending to judge, Walsh was a founding partner of the Lansdale law firm Walsh Pancio where he served from 2007 to 2016.

“I am running for judge since I knowthat I canmake a difference! I have the background and experience to ‘hit the ground running’ as a judge,” Rothstein said. “I consider myself a problem solver. People who come to court have problems and they need closure.

“I will diligently work to help people get closure in one of two ways. First, through bringing the parties together and guiding themto an amicable resolution. If they cannot reach an agreement then I will expeditiously give the parties their day in court and upon conclusion a decision,” Rothstein added.

Rothstein said when people leave her courtroom they will feel like “they were listened to and respected and that they had an even playing field to present their case.”

Rothstein is a partner in the Blue Bell office of Fox Rothschild LLP and she listed as her qualifications her 34 years’ experience working as a trial lawyer in Montgomery County courts and her experience serving as a discovery master and a civil case master. Rothstein said she was one of two lawyers who assisted the court in revamping the court’s Civil Trial Program to expedite trials and disposition of cases.

Saltz said he believes he’s “highly qualified” for the position of judge.

“But equally important, I believe that it is essential to have independent, courageous judges who will stand up for individual rights and equal rights when they are under attack from the highest levels of our government,” Saltz said. “We have learned all too well in the past ten months that courts are our last line of defense against government overreach and infringement of our most basic rights and values.

“Especially after Charlottesville, we need judges who understand that those who espouse hate and engage in violence and intimidation are not ‘veryfine people’ but rather are threats to American values and individual rights,” Saltz added. “I would also be smart on crime, imprisoning violent repeat criminals but referring first-time nonviolent offenders to treatment or other supervisory programs, rather than setting them on a path to a lifetime of crime.”

Saltz, according to his resume, runs his own law firm in Philadelphia, 1998 to present, and was a board member of the Montgomery County Industrial Development Authority from2002 to 2008. Saltz was a law clerk to Judge Harrison L. Winter, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from1978 to 1979, according to his resume.

Saltz graduated from Princeton University in 1975 and is a 1978 graduate of Harvard Law School, according to his resume.

Rothstein graduated from Temple University in 1978 with a Bachelors of Social

Work and obtained her law degree from the University of Baltimore in 1982.

Walsh, a 1988 graduate of Saint Joseph’s University, obtained his law degree in 1991 from Widener University School of Law, according to his resume.

Saltz said his career highlights include handling highprofile cases, “representing major corporations in multimillion-dollar disputes, filing briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court…working as a volunteer civil liberties lawyer to protect against religious discrimination and the infringe- ment of individual rights.”

Discussing his qualifications to be a judge Saltz replied, “I believe I have the traits essential to a judge: the integrity to assure to all parties the highest ethical standards; the experience to understand the law in all of its complexity; the empathy to appreciate that legal principles need to be applied with the knowledge that a judge’s rulings have real consequences for real people; and the temperament to cause all parties before the court to feel that they have been given a full hearing and a fair shot.” Asked about her qualifications to be a judge Rothstein said, “I have a broad range of experience having practiced in the court’s Civil, Criminal, Family, Juvenile and Orphans Court divisions.”

Rothstein added, “I am most proud of having been a trailblazer for women in the legal profession,” explaining she “broke the glass ceiling” as the first female lawyer hired at Pearlstine Salkin, Associates, now known as Fox Rothschild, in 1982; appointed as a municipal solicitor in Montgomery County in 1988; appointed by the county judges to serve as a discovery master in 2001; and appointed by county judges to serve as a Chair of a Board of View in 2013.

Walsh said the highlights of his career were his appointment to the bench in 2016 and the founding of his own lawfirm in 2007.

“I am the only candidate who has actual judicial experience,” Walsh said when asked about his qualifications to be a judge, referring to his current stint on the bench. “My many years of trial experience have served me well as a judge as I have efficiently handled cases in the Family Court Division and the Criminal Division while also helping my colleagues backlogged in the Civil Division.

“I am also an extremely compassionate person who is very deliberate in fashioning appropriate decisions and sentences to address the core needs of the litigants in the cases before me,” Walsh added.