Honorable Stephen P.B. Minor, Chairman - Potter County
Judge Minor was appointed on June 8, 2017, by Governor Wolf to the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission. Judge Stephen P.B. Minor graduated from Coudersport Area High School in 1978. He attended Mansfield University, Mansfield, Pennsylvania, receiving his BA in 1982. He then attended ORU Law School, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, receiving his JD in 1986. After graduation from law school, Judge Minor was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1986. He began his career as an associate attorney at Binotto, Sweat and Johnson, in Washington, Washington County, Pennsylvania, where he practiced law from 1986-1991. Judge Minor was a member of the Washington County Bar Association during the same period of time. In 1991, Judge Minor relocated to be closer to his family and opened his general law practice under the Law Offices of Stephen Minor, P.C., in Port Allegany, McKean County, Pennsylvania, from 1991-2009. He was a member of the McKean County Bar Association during the same period of time. In 1995, Judge Minor was appointed by Judge John Cleland to be the McKean County Juvenile Court Master, where he held that position from 1995 until 2009. He was also appointed to be a custody mediator in McKean County as needed. In 2009, Judge Minor was elected as the President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Potter County. He was retained in 2019 to serve an additional 10-year term. He was the Chairperson of the Juvenile Section of the Pennsylvania Conference of Trial Judges. He was appointed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to the Pennsylvania Continuing Judicial Education Board in 2017. In 2022, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court appointed Judge Minor to the Judicial Ethics Advisory Board. Judge Minor is the Co-Chair of the Courts’ Committee for HEAL PA Criminal Justice Action Team. He is also a member of the Autism and the Dependency Courts Taskforce. Judge Minor is a member of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network. Judge Minor is an instructor on Juvenile Justice and mentor for New Judge School from 2020 to the present. He is a past and present member and officer of several professional and civic organizations, including the American Red Cross and Rotary Club.
Commission Officers
Judge Olszewski was first appointed on June 8, 2017, by Governor Wolf to the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission. He currently serves as a Common Pleas Judge in the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County. Judge Olszewski is a graduate of Temple University, where he earned his bachelor’s and Juris Doctor degrees. Prior to his appointment to the bench and subsequent election in 2005, he worked as an attorney in private practice. In 2015, Judge Olszewski was appointed as the Supervising Judge of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Family Court Division/Juvenile Section. He is a member of the Juvenile Court Section of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the Pennsylvania Children’s Roundtable Initiative (Dependency Practices), the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Court’s Statewide Leadership Roundtable, and the Philadelphia Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative Collaborative.
Judge McCrady was first appointed on June 7, 2022, by Governor Wolf to the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission. Judge McCrady presides in the Family Division of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. After graduating from Duquesne University, Judge McCrady spent several years working as a teacher and counselor at the Whale’s Tale shelter for at-risk adolescent males, where she was named Staff of the Year. She went on to law school at Duquesne University School of Law. During this time, Judge McCrady also served as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer for the same family for seven years, earning the award of CASA Volunteer of the Year. Prior to being elected to the bench, Judge McCrady spent 15 years at KidsVoice as a Staff Attorney, a Supervising Attorney, and the Program and Policy Coordinator. Judge McCrady was listed as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer Rising Star and received statewide recognition in 2013 when she was named Child Advocate of the Year by the Pennsylvania Bar Association. She is Co-Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Children’s Rights Committee. She serves on several other local and statewide groups related to children and has spent the past three years working toward building a trauma-informed courthouse in Allegheny County. She is the Supervising Judge in Allegheny County Family Division.
Commission Members
Judge Bononi was first appointed on June 7, 2023, by Governor Shapiro to the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission. Judge Bononi currently sits as a Judge for the Court of Common Pleas in Westmoreland County where she serves in the Family and Juvenile Delinquency Divisions and is the Administrative Judge for Juvenile Probation.
Judge Bononi obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology, graduating magna cum laude, from Seton Hall University. She earned her juris doctorate from the Pettit School of Law at Ohio Northern University and is admitted to practice law in both the State of New Jersey and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Following graduation, Judge Bononi worked with the New Jersey Law Firm of Dato, Ippolito and Carracino, Attorneys at Law and Juman & Juman, Attorneys at Law, where she specialized in civil litigation, specifically plaintiff’s personal injury law. After relocating to the Greensburg region, she worked for Thomas Livingston and Associates in Pittsburgh, before establishing Bononi & Bononi, P.C., where she specialized in family law. In addition, she worked for Westmoreland County as a Title IV-D attorney, as well as a hearing officer for Domestic Relations. Judge Bononi has also provided legal services to several nonprofit organizations.
Judge Bononi currently sits on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Juvenile Court Procedural Rules Committee and Westmoreland County’s Juvenile Detention Board. She is an active member of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges (PCSTJ) and currently serves as an officer with the Juvenile Court Section of the PCSTJ. Additionally, Judge Bononi oversees the Criminal Justice Advisory Board in Westmoreland County.
Judge Irvine was first appointed on June 7, 2024, by Governor Shapiro to the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission. Judge Irvine serves as a judge for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Family Court Division, where he presides over juvenile delinquency, dependency, and adoption cases. He was elected in 2011 to a term that expired in 2022. He ran for retention and was re-elected in 2022. Prior to being elected to the bench, Judge Irvine operated a private law practice within Philadelphia’s court system, specializing in criminal defense, family, and dependency law. While maintaining his private practice, Judge Irvine applied his legal talents to serve the Philadelphia community through the Philadelphia Municipal Court and the Court of Common Pleas as a Certified Arbitrator (1997 to 2011), Hearing Master for the Emergency Protection from Abuse Court (1997 to 2011), Truancy Hearing Master (1998 to 2011), and Adoption Hearing Master (1998 to 2011). Judge Irvine began his professional employment as a Pharmaceutical Representative for Eli Lilly & Company. Three years later, he attended Temple University School of Law, where he excelled academically and received several honors, including “Best Appellate Brief in Legal Writing and Research” and “Outstanding Oral Advocate in Trial Advocacy.” During law school, Judge Irvine supplemented his course work with legal training as a law clerk for the Honorable James T. Giles in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and as a Summer Associate in the Philadelphia office of Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin. Upon graduating from law school in 1995, he began his professional career as an associate with Marshall Dennehey. Two years later, in 1997, he started his private law practice. Educated in the Philadelphia public schools – J.R. Masterman (1981) and Central High School (1985) – Judge Irvine excelled in academics and varsity sports. In 1989, he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia, where he was on the Dean’s List and served as an Executive Board member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, a national service organization.
Judge Johnson was first appointed on June 7, 2016, by Governor Wolf to the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission. Judge J. Brian Johnson is currently a judge on the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County, having been elected in 2003. He has served in the Civil, Family and Orphan’s Court Divisions, including as Administrative Judge of the Orphan’s Court and Administrative Judge of the Civil Division. He served as a member of the Supreme Court Juvenile Court Procedural Rules Committee, Statewide Children’s Roundtable, co-chair of the Leadership Roundtable and also chairs Lehigh County’s Children’s Roundtable. Judge Johnson has taught a Master’s degree course, Legal and Ethical Issues in Psychology, at Chestnut Hill College School of Graduate Studies since 2011, and also taught Business Law at Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales, now DeSales University. He has been a speaker at various continuing education programs and educational events. Judge Johnson is a graduate of Villanova University and Temple University School of Law.
Judge Morris was first appointed on January 29, 2022, by Governor Wolf to the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission. Judge Morris serves on the Court of Common Pleas in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He is currently in his fifth year on the bench, where he supervises family and juvenile court. He also presides over cases in orphans court and handles criminal trials. Prior to his election to the bench, Judge Morris accrued more than 25 years of distinguished service as an attorney and civil servant in his community. He began working for the Dauphin County Public Defender’s office in 1991 and served as Chief Deputy in that office from 1996-1999. In 1999, Judge Morris joined the law firm of Goldberg Katzman and was elevated to Partner in 2002. Throughout his legal career, Judge Morris represented individuals and corporations in criminal matters, and municipalities as solicitor and general counsel, often litigating complex and politically sensitive matters on behalf of those clients in county, state, and federal courts. Judge Morris has provided numerous Continuing Legal Educations Seminars for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, having previously served that organization as president, vice president and treasurer. He was an adjunct professor at Harrisburg Area Community College teaching criminal law and criminal evidence for more than ten years. Judge Morris is currently an adjunct professor at Penn State and teaches in their Criminal Justice program. He also serves as the Jurist in Residence for Widener University Commonwealth Law School. Judge Morris received a gubernatorial appointment to serve on the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing and served on the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Task Force on the Code of Judicial Conduct. Judge Morris served on the House of Delegates for the Pennsylvania Bar Association and is the former chair of the Equal Professional Opportunity Committee for the Dauphin County Bar Association and the Capital Area Managing Partners Diversity Initiative. Named by Philadelphia Magazine as a “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer” from 2008- 2017, he was rated at the highest level of professional excellence by his peers at Martindale Hubbell. He is a graduate of Temple University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Maryland. He also completed an intensive program at the National Criminal Defense College at Mercer Law School in Macon, Georgia.
Judge Seidle-Patton was first appointed on June 7, 2024, by Governor Shapiro to the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission. Judge Seidle-Patton currently sits as the President Judge for the Court of Common Pleas of Clarion County. Judge Seidle-Patton obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science from Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania. She earned her juris doctor from Duquesne University School of Law in 2006. Following graduation from law school, Judge Seidle-Patton began her legal career as Assistant District Attorney for Clarion County. She then went into private practice with Alexander, Troese & Seidle, LLP before establishing Seidle Law, PC where she focused on real estate matters, business law, municipal law, and estate planning and administration. During her time in private practice, Judge Seidle-Patton served as solicitor for many municipalities throughout Clarion County. In addition, she, along with her associate attorneys, worked for Clarion County as the Juvenile Public Defender. Judge Seidle-Patton also served Clarion County as a Domestic Relations hearing officer and as court-appointed counsel in dependency matters. As President Judge of Clarion County, a one-judge county, Judge Seidle-Patton oversees all aspects of the county’s court system, handling cases in every area of the law that come before the common pleas court. In addition, she serves on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Orphans Court Procedural Rules Committee and is an active member of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges (PCSTJ). She leads Clarion County’s Children’s Roundtable, the Criminal Justice Advisory Board, and is currently engaged in supporting the development of a CASA program in Clarion County. Judge Seidle-Patton previously served as a member of PCSTJ Ethics Committee.
Judge Shahen was first appointed on June 8, 2021, by Governor Wolf to the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission. Judge Shahen was elected to the Beaver County Court of Common Pleas bench in November 2017 and began serving in this role in January 2018. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University and received his juris doctor degree from the Western New England University School of Law. Judge Shahen was admitted to the Bar in October 1983. Judge Shahen served as an associate with an attorney in Beaver County until 1992 at which time he engaged in the practice of law as a sole practitioner. His law practice provided him with a wide spectrum of legal experiences including hundreds of juvenile cases and thousands of adult criminal cases through his position as Conflicts Counsel for Beaver County. He also served as solicitor for a number of boroughs and the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School. Judge Shahen currently serves as the Juvenile Court Administrative Judge charged with the responsibility of overseeing the complete juvenile system in Beaver County. He has served in the position of Juvenile Court Administrative Judge since his first day of as a Court of Common Pleas Judge. Judge Shahen is an advocate that the utilization of evidence-based practices at every stage and at every interaction of a juvenile case will lead to successful results. He is optimistic and embraces a never give up attitude toward juveniles and families that is backed by a commitment to dedicate himself to each and every assignment or appointment, especially when the task involves children and families.