To The Legal:

I appreciated the opportunity to discuss with your editor, Zack Needles, the American Tort Reform Association’s characterization of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas as a “judicial hellhole” and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court as a “potential hellhole.” At the risk of giving that so-called report any credibility, I am writing to make clear two additional points that I shared last week which were not included in the article, presumably due to the large amount of material that needed to be covered in that article. First, was that these so called “rankings” are made solely to intimidate judges and legislatures in venues that keep the litigation playing field level, which is all any litigant and attorney could ask. I, and the members of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association (and I’m sure our defense colleagues) recognize and appreciate that the judges and staff of the First Judicial District work hard each and every day to ensure that every litigant, whether plaintiff or defendant, powerful corporation or “average Joe,” are given the opportunity for a fair and impartial trial. We have an administration and bench in our Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas of which all Philadelphians should be proud. It is anything but a “hellhole.” Similarly, the appellate courts in Pennsylvania are second to none. The judges and justices on these courts are intelligent, dedicated, hard-working, fair and balanced. Labeling our Supreme Court a “potential hellhole” is as absurd as it is offensive.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]