Don and Joanne are joined by Senator Mastriano, Bucks County Controller candidate Andy Warren, and Judge of the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas candidate, Amir Stark.
BIO – Before joining PennDOT on April 17, 1995, Warren served 16 years as county commissioner in Bucks County. He also was a member of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) board for seven years and a member of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) for 15 years.
In addition, Warren was the national chairman of the Rebuild American Coalition from 1993 to 1995. He also served as chairman of the National Association of Counties transportation committee (1993-95) and the Strategic Alternatives for Improving Public Transportation Mobility in Southeastern Pennsylvania committee.
From 1965 to 1980, Warren was a teacher at William Tennent High School in Bucks County. Warren also coached the high school’s varsity track (1965-80) and cross country (1965-95) teams.
Warren was a 2016 Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 8th Congressional District of Pennsylvania.
Warren received a bachelor’s degree from Westminster College (Pa.). He also received a master’s degree in history and sociology from Trenton State College.
Warren and his wife, Elaine, resides in Middletown Township.
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.