Christine Donohue
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Christine L. Donohue (born December 25, 1952) is a justice of the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Judiciary of Pennsylvania, Unified Judicial System. It began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as ...
. Prior to her election to that court in 2015, she was an elected member of the
Superior Court of Pennsylvania The Superior Court of Pennsylvania is one of two Pennsylvania intermediate appellate courts (the other being the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania). It is based in Harrisburg. Jurisdiction The Superior Court hears appeals in criminal and mos ...
, a seat she had held since 2008. She had also performed nearly three decades of service as a trial lawyer and litigator in
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Allegheny County ( ) is a County (United States), county in Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,250,578, making it the List of counties in Pennsylvania, state's second-most populous county, after Philadelp ...
.


Early life

Born in Coaldale, Pennsylvania on December 24, 1952 as Christine Lewis, Donohue grew up in nearby Lansford, as the daughter of Steve Lewis, a Lansford native and United Mine Worker, and Mary Lewis, a native of Palmerton, Pennsylvania and seamstress in a dress factory who was a member of the
International Ladies Garment Workers Union The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) was a labor union for employees in the women's clothing industry in the United States. It was one of the largest unions in the country, one of the first to have a primarily female membersh ...
. During her campaign for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Christine Donohue recounted an event from her childhood that had "a lifelong effect on ... her integrity," according to news reports. She recalled her father finding an envelope containing thousands of dollars while she was out walking with him one day in Lansford and remembered him returning the money to the funeral home nearby, assuming that the person who had lost the money had been planning on paying for funeral services for a family member or friend. Donohue said she defines integrity as "when you do the right thing and nobody knows about it," adding that her sense of integrity comes from her parents. Donohue attended St. Peter and Paul's Elementary School and graduated from Marian Catholic High School in Hometown, Pennsylvania. She also studied as an undergraduate and graduate student at East Stroudsburg State College, where she received a
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
degree in political science. Donohue is a graduate of the Duquesne University School of Law in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
, where she earned her
Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
. She has been an adjunct professor at the same law school, and has taught ethics for attorneys there. She also served on the Duquesne Law Review. Donohue's mother, Mary (Berke) Lewis, died in June 1981. Her father, Steve J. Lewis, who had gone on to serve as a three-time member of the Lansford city council between 1973 and 1982 after retiring from the
Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company was a mining and transportation company headquartered in Mauch Chunk, now known as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. The company operated from 1818 until its dissolution in 1964 and played an early and influential role in ...
in 1959, died in June 1985.


Career

Donohue worked for twenty-seven years as a personal injury attorney and in
commercial litigation Commercial law (or business law), which is also known by other names such as mercantile law or trade law depending on jurisdiction; is the body of law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmenta ...
. She began her private practice career as an attorney for Sikov & Love, and then became a partner at Evans Rose Quinn & Donohue, where she worked as a litigator in state and federal-level cases. When Evans Rose Quinn & Donohue merged with the
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
law firm of Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, she became a
shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...
in that firm in 1989. An attorney who represented the
Westinghouse Electric Corporation The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was ...
during the Phar-Mor case between 1996 and 1997, she worked for Klett, Lieber Rooney & Schorling. She served as a judge of the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline, which handles complaints against judges, and sat on the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which handles complaints against lawyers. In 2008, Donohue began her service on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, the busiest appellate court in the United States. During her Oath of Office Ceremony, which took place at 3:00 p.m. on January 11, 2008 in the Supreme Court Courtroom in Pittsburgh, she was assisted in her robing by her sister, Jacqueline Lewis, and brother, Steven Lewis. She subsequently participated in roughly 7,000 decisions on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania during her tenure there. Donohue has also served on the Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners, and was chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board. In 2011, she participated in the Pennsylvania Superior Court's first
en banc In law, an ''en banc'' (; alternatively ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank''; ) session is when all the judges of a court sit to hear a case, not just one judge or a smaller panel of judges. For courts like the United States Courts of Appeal ...
session ever held at a high school. During the event, MMI Preparatory School students in Freeland received an hour-long briefing about the court's history and operations prior to the judicial debate. In 2014, she participated with two of her superior court colleagues, Judge Cheryl Lynn Allen and Judge Sallie Updyke Mundy, in a special argument session hosted by the Pennsylvania State University's Dickinson School of Law at University Park from April 1 to 2. The special outreach session was designed to help educate high school, college students and members of the general public about the operations of Pennsylvania's superior court system, and gave attendees the opportunity to witness more than thirty cases related to civil, criminal, and family law. Donohue ran as a Democrat for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2015, and was part of a Democratic sweep of all three court vacancies, along with Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht. They defeated Republican candidates Judith Olsen, Michael George, and Anne Covey, in a campaign that saw more than $15 million in donations from special interests. Donohue received a "highly recommended" rating from the
Pennsylvania Bar Association The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in Pennsylvania, United States. The association offers membership benefits, including publications, practice support, networking, and continuing ...
, which noted her reputation for "intelligence, conscientiousness and objectivity".


Civic affairs and charitable giving

Donohue has served on the boards of directors of the following:"ESU Alumna Christine L. Donohue Elected to Supreme Court of Pennsylvania," East Stroudsburg University. *Hill House Association *Make-A-Wish Foundation of Western Pennsylvania *National Aviary of Pittsburgh *Turtle Creek Valley Mental Health/Mental Retardation, Inc.


References


External links


Biography from "Judge Christine Donohue for Supreme Court Justice"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donohue, Christine 1952 births Living people Duquesne University School of Law alumni East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania alumni Judges of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Democrats People from Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Women in Pennsylvania politics 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges