Female judges discuss challenges, successes

Mar. 26—Having just earned her law license, Mary Walsh Dempsey walked into a conference room of a Lackawanna County attorney's office in 1992, prepared to take a deposition in a civil case.

She was taken aback when her opposition, an older male attorney, directed her to a corner of the room with an electrical outlet where she could "hook up your machine."

"He thought I was the court reporter," Dempsey said. "I said, I'm here to take the deposition."

It was the first of at least a five times Dempsey, now a Lackawanna County judge, said a fellow attorney or court official made the innocent, but irritating, mistake in the early days of her legal career.

Today, she reflects back on that moment as a reminder of how far she and other women in the legal profession have come in the past three decades.

In 1991, around 20% of attorneys in the United States were female. As of last year, that figure rose to 38% nationwide.

Women have made great strides in the judiciary as well. As of last year, women accounted for 33% of county court judges in the United States. In Pennsylvania, 37% of county court judges were women.

That trend is even more pronounced in Lackawanna County and Luzerne counties. In Lackawanna four of nine seats are held by women, with one vacancy that will be decided in November general election. In Luzerne County, five of 10 judges are female.

Trish Corbett was the first female judge in Lackawanna County, taking the bench in 1998. She was followed by Margaret Bisignani Moyle in 2010, Julia Munley in 2016 and Dempsey in 2022.

Of the five Luzerne County female judges, Tina Polachek Gartley has served the longest, since 2010. She was followed by Lesa Gelb and Jennifer Rogers in 2012 and Tarah Toohil and Stephanie Salavantis in 2022. Ann Lokuta, the first female judge in Luzerne County, served from 1992 to 2008.

Female representation on state appellate courts is even higher. Of the 14 judges on the Superior Court, 10 are women, while on the Commonwealth Court, seven of eight judges are women.

University of Scranton political science professor Jean Wahl Harris, Ph.D, ties the increased presence of women in the judiciary to both a cultural shift and the fact more women are seeking office.

"There's some institutional changes that have made a difference for women," Harris said. "It used to be that women waited until they had kids and the family grew up before they got involved in politics. We're seeing women getting involved at younger ages. ... There's more sharing of household work between husband and wife and so they can have the time to run."

Lackawanna County's female judges each worked as attorneys for several decades before being elected. Along with their legal knowledge and qualifications, they bring diversity to the court, which only benefits constituents, they said.

"You always want your government to be representative of the demographic of the county that we represent," Dempsey said. "It gives people an open and honest integrity in this process when they see that there are different demographics that are serving them as elected officials."

Diversity is also important at the appellate court level, where cases are decided by a panel of judges, Harris said. That's exemplified in Sandra Day O'Connor's experience as the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court hears only a fraction of cases brought before it each year. Once O'Connor was sworn in, it agreed to hear more cases alleging gender discrimination and sexual harassment than it did before she assumed the bench, Harris said.

"The decision to hear a case can differ when you've got a more diverse group of judges," Harris said. "The male judges became a little bit more understanding and sympathetic ... to accepting that maybe they should hear those types of cases."

In Lackawanna County, Corbett, who was named president judge in 2021, and Dempsey preside over family court matters. Moyle and Munley hear a variety of cases, including civil, criminal and family court matters.

Corbett said she never felt as though she was treated differently from her male colleagues on the bench, who she said warmly welcomed her.

"I had the greatest mentors possible," Corbett said. "They all treated me equally right from the beginning ... and would reach out every day to ask 'What can we do and how can we assist you.' "

The judges' ascent to the bench did not come without challenges.

Corbett worked a full-time job at a law firm in Wilmington, Delaware, while attending law school at night and raising two children.

"I had my first child in my second week of my second year of law school. So for the next three years of law school, it was a bit of a challenge," Corbett said

Dempsey, who has four children, and Moyle, who has five children, also faced family challenges.

"My first three were born within four years so it was a real juggling act," Dempsey said. "I might have been working on a file at 10 at night, but when it got to be three o'clock, I had to go to a Little League game ... I had to make up for it later in the day to make sure the work was done."

While they're proud to serve in the male-dominated field, the judges say they want to be remembered most for their accomplishments on the bench, not their gender.

"I remember saying when I was campaigning that I want to be elected based upon my credentials and not my chromosomes," said Rogers, who was the top vote-getter among six judges who were elected to the bench in 2011.

Rogers has presided over Luzerne County's family court her entire tenure. She said she's particularly proud of a specialty court she developed to address truancy and a dog therapy program for child victims of trauma. She's also part of an autism task force that seeks to raise awareness of litigants with special needs and challenges.

Lackawanna County Court also has several specialty courts. Moyle helped establish and presides over a specialty court for domestic violence cases, while Munley helped establish and presides over a specialty court for contempt of child support cases.

"Domestic violence cases are very difficult and present unique challenges for the court," Moyle said. "Very often charges would be dropped right after the arrest ... so we had this cycle of recidivism we couldn't break because the cases were never getting into the court system."

Munley said substance abuse continues to be a major issue among defendants. Under the supervision of the specialty courts, offenders must take part in counseling programs and meet other goals tailored to their specific needs.

"It gives people ... who have real problems with addiction to drugs and alcohol and whose lives have become unmanageable a second chance to turn their lives around," Munley said. "Best of all they rebuild their important relationships that they've wrecked because of addiction."

Corbett said she takes pride in her ability to get parties to compromise, which is particularly important in family court.

"If you can get the parties on the same page, they both may not be entirely happy with it ... but that's always much better than having court intervention all the time running your life," Corbett said.

The judges said they're pleased to see the inroads females have made in the judiciary and hope their success will encourage more women to seek judicial office.

While much progress has been made to overcome gender bias, Rogers said challenges still remain.

"You know you're getting into a male dominated field when you sign up for law school ... so you know you have to be up for the challenge to assert yourself and to find your own place," Rogers said.

Dempsey agreed, saying there are still some "uphill battles." She said she hopes future lawyers and judges turn those challenges into motivation, much like she did after being mistaken for a court reporter some 30 years ago.

"It empowered me after I got over the shock and anger," Dempsey said.

Contact the writer:

tbesecker@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9137;

@tmbeseckerTT on Twitter.