Montgomery County's Two New Judges Receive Their Assignments

The two Democrats who swept the contest for two seats on the Montgomery County bench in the Nov. 7 election have learned where they will preside come January.

Judge Wendy G. Rothstein will preside in the Criminal Court Division while Judge Jeffrey S. Saltz will preside in the Civil Court Division. 

The assignments were announced by President Judge Thomas M. DelRicci.

The judicial assignments are effective Jan. 1, 2018, through Dec. 31, 2019.

DelRicci said that earlier this year the board of judges adopted a judicial rotation policy, outlining how they’d like the rotation practice to be carried out.

“And I used that policy as my guideline in making these determinations. That was my primary guideline,” said DelRicci, referring to the judicial assignments he settled on for the 23-member bench. “We needed to make certain that all of the divisions would be appropriately served with both experienced and newer judges. So that had to go into the equation as well.”

Montco President Judge Thomas M. DelRicci/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr.

On the criminal bench, Rothstein will join judges William R. Carpenter; Thomas C. Branca; Steven T. O’Neill; Richard P. Haaz; Steven C. Tolliver; Risa Vetri Ferman; and Todd D. Eisenberg.

On the civil bench during 2018, Saltz will join judges Thomas P. Rogers; Garrett D. Page; Gary S. Silow; and Gail A. Weilheimer. DelRicci will move to the civil bench in 2019 when Silow moves to the Family Court Division.

Rothstein, 61, of Plymouth Township, a partner in the Blue Bell office of Fox Rothschild LLP, was the top vote-getter in the balloting on Nov. 7, capturing 154,616 votes, according to unofficial election results.

Saltz, 64, of Lower Merion, who has run his own law firm in Philadelphia since 1998, came in second in election balloting, according to unofficial results, garnering 96,204 votes.

Rothstein and Saltz were elected to 10-year judicial terms and will take their oaths of office in January.

The Democrats defeated lone Republican contender and current Judge Joseph P. Walsh, who captured 69,097 votes, according to unofficial but final returns. Walsh, 52, of Montgomery Township, has been on the county bench since September 2016 when he was appointed to fill a vacancy by Gov. Tom Wolf and he was seeking to retain that seat.

Judge-Elect Wendy G. Rothstein/Submitted Photo

During the campaign, Rothstein touted her 34 years’ experience as a trial lawyer and said she was most proud of having been “a trailblazer for women in the legal profession,” explaining she “broke the glass ceiling” as the first female lawyer hired at Pearlstine Salkin, Associates, now known as Fox Rothschild, in 1982; appointed as a municipal solicitor in Montgomery County in 1988; appointed by the county judges to serve as a discovery master in 2001; and appointed by county judges to serve as a Chair of a Board of View in 2013.

Rothstein will join nine other women currently on the county bench.

Saltz was a board member of the Montgomery County Industrial Development Authority from 2002 to 2008 and was a law clerk to Judge Harrison L. Winter, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1978 to 1979.

Judge-Elect Jeffrey S. Saltz/Submitted Photo

Saltz graduated from Princeton University in 1975 and is a 1978 graduate of Harvard Law School, according to his resume.

Rothstein graduated from Temple University in 1978 with a Bachelors of Social Work and obtained her law degree from the University of Baltimore in 1982.