Don and guest co-host Stan Casacio are joined by PA Supreme Court candidate, Judge Paula Patrick, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County, Michael Ruggieri, and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County Candidate, Amir Stark.  Senator Doug Mastriano also makes his weekly call to the show.

Vote Paula Patrick

Judge Paula A. Patrick is a native of North Carolina but moved to Philadelphia in 1993. She is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina where she earned a B.A. degree in Political Science. She is also a graduate of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston, Texas. Shortly after graduating law school, Judge Patrick moved to Philadelphia where she established the Law Office of Paula A. Patrick, P.C. Her law firm was a general litigation practice working in the areas of criminal defense, personal injury, worker’s compensation, family law, and municipal bond finance. For almost ten (10) years, she worked tirelessly as an advocate for the people.

She was admitted to practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the U.S. District for the Northern District of Maryland, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

In addition, Judge Patrick served in numerous community, professional and social organizations.

Former Advisory Board member for Schuylkill Women;
Former member of the Board of Trustees for the Chaplain of Four Chaplains
Pro bono attorney for the Senior Law Center (formerly Judicare) where she represented Philadelphia senior citizens in need of legal counsel.
Pro bono counsel for Philadelphia VIP (Volunteers for the Indigent) and
Pro bono counsel for Philadelphia KIDSCAP (Kids Custody Assistance Project) where she represented the less fortunate who needed legal counsel in civil and custody cases.
As an attorney, Judge Patrick also was a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Lawyers Club of Philadelphia, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA), the National Crime Victim’s Bar Association, and the National Bond Lawyers Association. She is also a graduate of and former faculty to the Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College in Dubois, Wyoming.

Judge Patrick also served for two years as adjunct faculty of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at LaSalle University. While there, she taught undergraduate courses in criminal law and the court system. During her tenure as an attorney and college instructor, Judge Patrick received countless awards and honors from professional, civic and social groups.

In 2003, Judge Patrick was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. In that election she was rated “Recommended” by the Philadelphia Bar Association and was endorsed by both the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer. Judge Patrick has also been rated “Recommended” by the Pennsylvania Bar Association for Superior Court. She currently presides in the Family Court Division. As a judge, she was former Treasure of the Clifford Scott green Chapter of the National Bar Association-Judicial Council and former District 3 Director of the national Association of Women Judges (NAWJ).

Patrick (Republican Party) is running for election for judge of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. She is on the ballot in the Republican primary on May 18, 2021.

Judge Patrick is married and has one son, Josiah.

Ruggieri for Judge

Michael Ruggieri has 32 years of experience as trial attorney in matters such as civil disputes to criminal law. He currently has his own firm, Ruggieri Law, where he specializes in personal injury, workers compensation, and real estate law. Prior to that, he was an attorney for Quaglia Law Offices, P.C. where he represented a variety of clients. In the past, Ruggieri has been a court-appointed civil arbitrator in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas. Additionally, Ruggieri has served as the judge of elections for Haverford Township since 2005, where he is responsible for polling and voting operations.

LICENSED IN: Pennsylvania and New Jersey since 1988

Admitted To Practice Before The Following Court : Pennsylvania Supreme Court, New Jersey Supreme Court, U.S. Supreme Court, Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. District Court of New Jersey, All PA and NJ State and Federal Agencies, U.S. District Court For The Eastern District Of Pennsylvania

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS: Pennsylvania Association for Justice (PAJ), Delaware County Bar Association, Justinian Society, Delaware County Trial Lawyers’ Association, Philadelphia Bar Association

EDUCATION: Villanova University Law School ( J.D. 1988), Fairfield University (B.A. English 1985), St. Joseph’s Prep, 1981

Amir Stark for Judge

BIO from candidacy website.

By the time I was six years old, I already lived on three continents.

I was born in Bologna, Italy, then spent several years in Israel before finally moving to the United States. The diversity of my life experience explains how I developed my core beliefs regarding the importance of values, integrity and compassion.

When I started first grade in Brooklyn, NY, I spoke no English. I remember feeling frustrated by my lack of familiarity with the language and the culture, but my parents encouraged me by explaining that America is a place where everybody has an equal opportunity to succeed. It was this early life experience that I credit with helping me understand the value of hard work and to develop a heightened sense of compassion for people of diverse backgrounds and those who are “underdogs”.

When I was 12 years old my family relocated for the last time to the suburbs of Philadelphia where I would spend the remainder of my childhood. I graduated from Lower Moreland High School. I subsequently earned an undergraduate degree in Philosophy from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah; and a law degree from Widener University in Wilmington, Delaware.

I chose a career in law out of a desire to protect victims of injustice.

I began my legal career at a boutique plaintiffs’ class action firm in Philadelphia. I was attracted to the complexity of the cases and the opportunity to help entire classes of individuals. However, I quickly realized that representing classes of individuals means that you do not represent any one individual in particular. That lack of direct contact with clients left me unsatisfied.

I started my own law firm in 2007 with a continued focus on complex litigation. I represented individual shareholders when the settlement proposed by class counsel was inadequate to make them whole and would only serve to make class counsel rich. I pursued boards of directors when they failed to adequately protect their fiduciaries. I defended family businesses from attacks by opportunistic litigation.

A chance meeting with an attorney from Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania who invited and encouraged me to utilize my courtroom skills to provide much-needed pro bono representation to victims of abuse in Protection from Abuse cases would have the most profound effect on my trajectory.

My volunteer work exposed me to the needs of domestic abuse victims in family law cases and I soon devoted my entire practice exclusively to family law. I have represented hundreds of victims of domestic violence and abuse. I carry the images of their faces in my mind every time I walk into a courtroom. I continue to this day to provide pro bono representation to abuse victims almost every Wednesday in PFA court in Bucks County.

I am a trial attorney who works on the frontlines of the courtrooms each and every week to protect the interests of children and families.

I am also a husband and a father who is raising a family in Bucks County and, for the sake of my children and my community, I choose to serve and lead by example.

My decision to run to be the next Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County arises from my desire to ensure that the next judge elected to our bench has a connection to the individuals which our court must protect – to know what is at stake.

Choosing the right path, even if that is the more arduous path – that is a lesson learned from perseverance. I arrive at this moment with the right life experience and professional experience to be a Judge that exhibits the wisdom to know what is right and the strength to choose it.