Phila. Judge Lisa Rau Is Set to Step Down in Upcoming Months
Rau did not immediately disclose why she is stepping down from the bench, or what her next steps will be, except to say that "a new adventure calls."
August 07, 2019 at 02:36 PM
3 minute read
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Lisa Rau told The Legal on Wednesday that she is planning to leave the First Judicial District in the coming months.
In an interview Wednesday, the longtime Philadelphia judge said that, after 18 years as a judge, she will be leaving the bench in two months. Rau did not immediately disclose why she is stepping down from the bench, or what her next steps will be, except to say that “a new adventure calls.”
“As the child of a military pilot we lived all over the world, including Kabul, Afghanistan. I learned early on to appreciate adventures,” she said. “This job certainly has been incredibly rewarding. There hasn’t been a single day in the last 18 years-plus that I didn’t appreciate the responsibility that Philadelphians gave me to serve this vital role in our system.”
Rau was appointed to the bench in 2001 by former Gov. Tom Ridge. Rau initially heard criminal cases, where she was one of a handful of judges to be criticized by then-District Attorney Lynne Abraham for alleged leniency with defendants. Allan Gordon, who was serving as chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, came to Rau’s defense in that spat.
Rau later moved on to oversee a civil docket, where she spent more than 15 years handling civil cases. Rau often oversaw complex litigation, including malpractice and products liability cases. In March she oversaw a case involving a fall through a skylight, which resulted in a nearly $25 million verdict.
Rau also held leadership roles on the bench, including spending five years as team leader of major civil trials, organizing the judicial fellowship program in 2011, overseeing the court’s Zoloft mass tort, helping implement mandatory mediation for landlord-tenant appeals and acting as co-chairwoman of the court’s judicial education committee.
News of Rau’s departure comes little more than a week after another prominent figure on the court—Judge John Milton Younge—left the bench. On Aug. 1, Younge was confirmed for a spot as a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Before becoming a judge, Rau was a partner at the well-known civil rights firm Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin, and before that she worked in the Public Interest Law Center.
She earned her bachelor’s degree from Colgate University and her law degree from Stanford Law School.
Rau is also married to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a former criminal defense and civil rights attorney who ran on a platform of criminal justice reform.
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
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllSupreme Court Rebuffs GOP Request to Reject 'Thousands' of Pennsylvania Provisional Ballots
Hearing on Krasner's Lawsuit Against Musk Hits Road Block With Last-Minute Jurisdictional Dispute
4 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Infant Formula Judge Sanctions Kirkland's Jim Hurst: 'Overtly Crossed the Lines'
- 2Abbott, Mead Johnson Win Defense Verdict Over Preemie Infant Formula
- 3Preparing Your Law Firm for 2025: Smart Ways to Embrace AI & Other Technologies
- 4Greenberg Traurig Initiates String of Suits Following JPMorgan Chase's 'Infinite Money Glitch'
- 5Data-Driven Legal Strategies
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250