Judge Streitel to retire: ‘Enjoyed every day’

When Phyllis Streitel graduated from law school, she noticed that she was set apart from many of her classmates: She’s wasn’t being offered any positions at the law firms she applied to in Columbus, Ohio.

But she also noticed that she was united with others in the profession: Not many women attorneys were being offered those jobs back in the mid-1970s.

“Iwas one of seven women out of 50 (students) when I started in law school,” she said in an interview in her sixth-floor office in the Chester County Justice Center, overlooking the borough’s picturesque north side. “We were riding the crest. As a young female attorney, it was a challenge to be given the opportunity to practice law. Not one firm would hire a woman in Columbus.”

Eventually, she earned a spot in the state Attorney General’s Office, and over the years grew with experience with this county’s District Attorney’s Office, the Common Pleas Special Master’s Unit and, triumphantly, as a judge on the Common Pleas Court itself. Now, female attorneys — while not a majority in the courthouse — are no longer the exception to the rule. They are about as rare as a lined legal pad in any courtroom one enters. Of the criminal attorneys assigned to Streitel’s caseload, three of the four are women. Of the county’s 14 Common Pleas Court judges, five are women, including its president judge.

“I am delighted to see all the progress that women attorneys have made during the course of my legal career,” Streitel said last week.

Streitel can be nostalgic now, after having announced earlier this month to her col- leagues on the benchand bar that she would retire from full-time service at the end of the year. She will become a Senior Judge, working two weeks amonth. Shewill have spent 15 years in black robes when the calendar rolls over.

“The decision (to retire) came together over the last year or so,” she said. “All of a sudden, I’mnot so young anymore. I felt that therewere so many things I’d like to have more time for. I wanted to step back and make sure I had the extra time.”

At 66, Streitel is nine years removed from the state’s mandatory retirement age for Common Pleas judges. She is also in the sixth year of her second 10-year term, andwould have been eligible for retention in 2021, when she turns 70.

“Iwant to enjoy things I’ve put on hold. I amnot going to step away, but I am feeling my age,” she allowed. Her children — two sons and a daughter — are grown and she has grandchildren in the area. Her husband, Dr. Robert Streitel, is a West Chester veterinarian with a thriving practice.

Streitel drew praise last week from her colleagues on the bench.

“She has been passionate about her work, as (a prosecutor), Family Court Master and judge, always up to date on the law and at the same time, always aware of the profound impact of her decisions on the litigants who appear before her,” said President Judge Jacqueline Carroll Cody, who came to know Streitel when they served in the DA’s Office together in the 1980s.

“She is truly a judge of wisdom, committed to the search for truth and administration of justice,” Cody said.

“Judge Streitel has dedicated her career to helping others,” added Judge Patrick Carmody, who also worked with Streitel in the DA’s Of- fice. “The Drug Court program, which she has championed tirelessly, has turned around somany lives. I hope she becomes a Senior Judge because we all enjoy her humor and company so much.”

Judge Ann Marie Wheatcraft, who appeared before Streitel as an assistant district attorney and now sits alongside her on the bench, had this to say:

“As a litigator in her courtroom, I saw that she was always kind and respectful, but firm. Her comments and advice to defendants were thoughtful and perceptive. Transitioning from litigator to judge has been easier because she is one of my fellow judges. Somehow, she made it easy to go from addressing ‘Judge Streitel’ to chatting with ‘Phyllis.’

“I knowthat by emulating her compassion and sense of humor, I can’t go wrong as a judge,” Wheatcraft said. “I will miss her constant presence here immensely.”

Streitel, of Westtown, is a native of Springfield, Delaware County, and graduated in 1972 from Syracuse University, where she met her husband. She graduated from Capital University Law School in 1976, and moved back to the area after serving in the Ohio AG’s Office.

The judge remembered clearly how honored she was to be chosen by thenDistrict Attorney James Freeman to attend a seminar held for appellate attorneys — she was working in the office then — before the U.S. Supreme Court, hearing Chief Justice Warren Burger speak, and being introduced to then-Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

She worked as a special master in Family Court, first as a freelancer and then as a full-time county employee, under the late Judge Alexander Endy, whom she counts as a mentor. She ran for judge in November 2001 and took office in January 2002, alongside former District Attorney Anthony Sarcione.

“Throughout the years, things have changed a lot,” she said. “But becoming a judge was a very significant accomplishment for me. It was such an honor, especially as a female, to achieve the highest position a lawyer can have.” Even though she may have faced some challenges as a female attorney when she was younger, she said she has never felt mistreated on the bench by those who appear before her.

“Absolutely not,” she said. “I feel that when we enter the courtroom as judges we are representing the judicial branch of government in our black robes, and I’ve always felt I was treated with the highest respect.”

In the past 6 ½ years, Streitel has overseen the county’s Treatment Courts, which work with defend ants whose drug, alcohol, or mental problems have led them to enter the criminal justice system. It is a task she was not prepared for, but one she has come to embrace.

“I see a dramatic success that Drug Court has had for so many of its participants,” she said. “I am a staunch supporter of this approach. I’ve seen with my own eyes howpeople have been transformed. It is now a very accepted method of dealing with those cases.” One lesson, she said, came from Philadelphia Judge Sandra Mazur Moss, who said, “The longer I judge, the less judgmental I become.”

Cody, who oversaw the county’s Drug Court when it was formed, echoed others’ statements about Streitel’s work there. “That program requires not only knowledge of the law but a true understanding of the human spirit and ability to hold people accountable, while at the same time inspiring them to succeed,” she said. Streitel provided a “shining example” of that effort.