News

Commonwealth Court Judge Doris A. Smith-Ribner to Retire

June 10, 2009

HARRISBURG, June 10, 2009 - Commonwealth Court Judge Doris A. Smith- Ribner announced today that she intends to retire from the bench this summer after concluding work currently assigned to her on the court's docket. Judge Smith-Ribner, who has served on Commonwealth Court for 21 years, said she plans to travel, write and pursue other interests after leaving the court. The judge said her tenure on the court has been a "richly rewarding experience, shaped by an extraordinary array of original and appellate jurisdiction matters involving local and state governments and the superb jurists with whom I have worked and become friends." Commonwealth Court is one of two statewide appellate courts in Pennsylvania. The ninemember court hears cases involving state government, regulatory matters, election disputes and a range of municipal government and school-related matters. Commonwealth Court President Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter said of Smith-Ribner's decision to retire: "The retirement of Judge Doris A. Smith-Ribner is a great loss to the Commonwealth Court. For over 21 years, she has served the citizens of Pennsylvania with great and unfailing dignity and devotion to her judicial duties. She is extremely hardworking and has a deep and abiding sense of fairness. Within the court, she has fought relentlessly for the rights of all people, always with an eye for those without a champion, and always pressing her arguments in a courteous and collegial manner." Smith-Ribner was elected to Commonwealth Court in 1987 and was retained for additional 10-year terms in 1997 and 2007. While on the bench, she developed a national Judicial Externship/Clerkship Program in 2000 which seeks to promote diversity and to provide opportunities for law students and law school graduates to work in the offices of federal and state judges. To date, more than 150 individuals have been placed through the program. "I have been fortunate to have had great mentors throughout my career, some of whom guided me as I worked my way through college and law school," said Judge Smith-Ribner. "In law school, I worked as a paralegal with prominent Pittsburgh attorneys, one of whom was former Speaker of the House K. Leroy Irvis." Prior to joining the Commonwealth Court, Smith-Ribner was in private law practice in Allegheny County as a partner with trial lawyer Byrd R. Brown. She also was solicitor for the Allegheny County Controller from 1980 to 1984 and served an interim term on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas from 1984 to 1985. She also served for eleven years on the Pennsylvania Judicial Auditing Agency which reviews and approves audits of state court expenditures. She was a Supreme Court designee to the Pennsylvania Inter-branch Commission for Gender Racial and Ethnic Fairness and served on the committee that developed a new "Policy on Non-Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunity" which the court adopted for the Unified Judicial System effective January 1, 2008. Smith-Ribner is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and its School of Law. She currently serves on the law school's board of visitors. She is married to former Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Paul Ribner, and they have one daughter.