A Quick Look at Linda Judson

There are a number of Democrats running for Commonwealth Court. Linda Judson is one of them. Her biography is not your standard judicial bio. Here is an excerpt from her campaign website:

Linda is a lifelong Pittsburgher educated in the public school system. She is a University of Pittsburgh alum and a graduate of Duquesne University School of Law. After high school, Linda’s dream was to attend medical school. Coming from a family of modest means headed by her widowed mother, Linda knew she would have to work her way through college.

To that end, in 1978 she enrolled in the Licensed Practical Nursing program at St. Francis Hospital. The next year she married and started a family of her own. And, with her LPN license in hand, Linda began night school at University of Pittsburgh and spent the next six years earning a degree in political science, working full-time as a nurse and raising her son, Anthony.

While attending Pitt, Linda became interested in studying law. She saw an opportunity to apply her interest and knowledge of medicine to the practice of law and found the legal profession eager to encourage her. She was accepted in the night program at Duquesne University School of Law and spent the next four years studying law while clerking full-time at law firms that recognized the value of her medical background.

You don't often see nurses running for judge. Her website shows an unusual amount of helpful information, something you might expect from a nurse. There is a page with links to or copies of judicial questionnaires from a variety of organizations. Her questionnaire from the PA Bar Association is not one of them (perhaps they don't allow it?) but it is on the pabar site. As you might expect from someone with a medical background she was worked often in the insurance and workman's compensation fields. The PA Bar rates her as "recommended."