Albert Dandridge – as a Member of the Legal Intelligencer’s Editorial Board – Joins a Call for Fully Funding Pennsylvania’s County Court System

In his capacity as a member of the Editorial Board of The Legal Intelligencer, Albert Dandridge, chair of the Firm’s Securities practice group, wrote and had the Editorial Board approve and publish the article “County Court Funding Issue Needs to Be Revisited.”  The article, published in The Legal’s December 1 edition, decries the on-going failure of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to fully fund county court systems, as was ordered in 1996 by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.  That order stemmed from the court’s 1987 decision in County of Allegheny v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which held that unequal funding for the state’s county courts was a constitutional violation. 

The article notes that, “[r]ecently, there has been renewed calls for and litigation requiring state funding of the judicial system. In light of the stress that local governments now find themselves in because of the current economic crisis, it appears to be more compelling than ever that this matter, which has been sitting out there for more than 20 years, be resolved.”  Further, the Board called upon the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, “where all revenue bills must originate, to introduce bipartisan legislation to satisfy the Supreme Court’s order. The bar, standing in for the court, should demand such action from both the city and the General Assembly.”