News

Superior Court Judge Maureen Lally-Green to Retire

June 08, 2009

HARRISBURG, June 8, 2009 – Superior Court Judge Maureen Lally-Green today announced that she will retire from the bench effective July 31, 2009. Judge Lally-Green said she plans to take a position with the Diocese of Pittsburgh where she will serve as the director of the new Office for Church Relations. The appointment is expected to be announced today by Bishop David A. Zubik. Judge Lally-Green said she will represent the Diocese of Pittsburgh to civic, charitable, service and community organizations throughout the region and will work closely with the development, administration, and communications responsibilities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. In a multi-faceted career, Judge Lally-Green has been a private attorney, a professor of law, a consultant to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and a forceful advocate for women as well as a statewide appellate judge. She was sworn in as a judge of the Superior Court in June 1998, following her appointment by former Governor Tom Ridge and confirmation by the state Senate. In 1999, she was elected to a full ten-year term on the court. Her retirement will create a vacancy on the 15- member Superior Court that will be filled, along with three other vacancies, in the November general election. "I have been incredibly privileged to serve the citizens of this Commonwealth for almost 12 years as a judge on the Superior Court," said Lally-Green. "It is a difficult decision to leave because it has been such an honor to serve on one of the best appellate courts in the nation for all of these years. However, I am at a crossroads in my life and I would like to consider opportunities outside the public sector." Of Lally-Green's retirement, Superior Court President Judge Kate Ford Elliott said: "Judge Lally-Green will be greatly missed by all of her colleagues and friends on the Superior Court. Her scholarship, integrity and wisdom have enhanced our court and provided great service to the citizens of Pennsylvania. We wish her the very best in her future endeavors." Lally-Green currently serves as chair of the Supreme Court's Appellate Court Procedural Rules Committee. In January, the Supreme Court adopted the committee's proposal to eliminate unnecessary delay in the appellate process for family cases involving children. "It was a special privilege to be a part of this project because every single day in the life of a child is critically important," said Lally-Green. The judge also was one of the Supreme Court's inaugural members of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Commission on Race, Gender and Ethnic Fairness. While there, she chaired a committee that developed a Non-Discrimination Policy and Procedures that the Supreme Court adopted in December 2007 for Pennsylvania's entire judiciary. She also chaired the Supreme Court's Gender Fairness Implementation Committee in 2002. Lally-Green graduated from Duquesne University with a bachelor's degree in science in secondary education/mathematics in 1971 and from Duquesne's School of Law where she served on the Law Review in 1974. She was an associate with a private law firm in Pittsburgh, counsel to the commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington, D.C., counsel to Westinghouse Electric Corp., a research associate and consultant to justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for 12 years and a full professor of law at Duquesne University's School of Law for 15 years. While a judge, she continued as an adjunct professor at Duquesne School of law, teaching Appellate Practice and Procedure and federal Employment Discrimination Law. Among honors she has received have been the Anne X. Alpern Award, the highest honor given by the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession; the Saint Thomas More Award of the Saint Thomas More Society, and Duquesne University Law School's Distinguished Alumna Award. She has been named to Who's Who in the World, in America, in American Law, among American Women, in Emerging Leaders, and in Executives and Professionals. Judge Lally-Green is a member of the board of directors of Saint Francis University; the Epilepsy Foundation of Western/Central Pennsylvania; Auberle, which serves children of broken families; Saint Vincent Seminary; Mercy-UPMC Hospital; Saint Thomas More Society of Allegheny County, and the Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh. She also is a member of the executive committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession. The judge and her husband live in Butler County and are parents of three adult children.