Three seek nominations for Lackawanna County judge in primary

May 9—The three candidates on the ballot for Lackawanna County judge in the May 18 primary election come before voters with varied legal backgrounds and slightly differing motivations for aspiring to the bench.

Attorney Nisha Arora of Waverly Twp., attorney Mary Walsh Dempsey of Scranton and Magisterial District Judge Paul J. Ware of Dunmore have cross-filed and are seeking both the Democratic and Republican nominations in the primary.

With only two spots available on the Nov. 2 general election ballot, at least one of the primary candidates will finish out of the running.

The winner of the 10-year term in November will fill a vacancy that will occur when Judge Thomas Munley reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70 later this year.

All three candidates spoke about the opportunity to contribute when asked why they wanted to join the Common Pleas Court bench.

Dempsey, 54, senior litigation counsel for Ufberg & Associates who has practiced law for 30 years and served briefly on Scranton City Council, said she started assessing her next step after federal court asked her become a certified mediator and her peers would call on her to act as an arbitrator for their private matters.

In those roles, she said, she would listen to the parties' testimony, assess credibility, rule on objections and write decisions.

Especially after her time on city council, when she was able to see what she could accomplish on a larger scale, Dempsey said she came to the believe her strengths could best be utilized as a judge.

"It may go back to my Jesuit education: How can I best serve others and how can I best serve the common good?" she said. "Having a full three decades of practicing law, I felt the next challenge and the next step in my career would be the bench."

Ware, 54, who spent nine years as an assistant district attorney and is now in his second six-year term as judge for the magisterial district encompassing Green Ridge, North Scranton and Dunmore, said he knew when he worked in the district attorney's office that he would like to be a county judge someday.

He said he hopes to take what he has learned as a magistrate and apply it at the next level, calling it a "natural progression from one to the other."

"In the 10 years I've been on the bench as a magistrate, I've always wanted to do more, contribute more and serve more," Ware said.

Arora, 40, who specialized in family law at a Dunmore law firm before becoming general counsel for ERA One Source Realty in 2015, said she is running to bring a fresh perspective and needed diversity to the bench.

A first generation Indian American, Arora would be the first person of color to serve as a Lackawanna County judge.

"The demographics of the county have definitely changed, and I feel the residents of the county deserve some representation," she said.

While she said she has the intelligence, competence, integrity and other qualities needed to make an excellent judge, she also acknowledged her role as a trailblazer.

"If no one of color runs, how can anyone of color ever be elected, right?" Arora asked. "The way it changes is for people of minority backgrounds to step in and put themselves out there and take the chance."

Compared to some of the other counties where she has practiced, Lackawanna probably has one of the best court systems, Arora said. The system is transparent, and dockets and documents are easily accessible to attorneys.

She said she believes the biggest challenge facing the court is simply the heavy volume of cases, particularly on the civil side.

"That has increased significantly in the past few years, and the judges have had to work harder," Arora said.

The court's increasing use of technology has helped ease that burden, but she said she would like to see more use of tools such as arbitration.

"There is always room for improvement in any system," Arora said.

In her role as a civil litigator, Dempsey said she also has noticed it can take an inordinate amount of time to get a civil case through the county court.

No one's to blame because it's a matter of supply and demand — the demand of cases outweighs the supply of judges — but it's an area where she said she would like to see if something could be done differently.

Dempsey said if elected she would take full advantage of the county's specialty courts, such as drug treatment court and veterans court. She would also like to look closer at the juvenile system, particularly as it relates to nonviolent offenders.

"What can we all do to try to effectuate some change for these younger kids that are entering the system because the numbers are quite grim," she said.

Ware said the most difficult challenge facing all courts now is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has put a strain on time and resources and forced everyone from the judges on down to change and adapt.

"But we have managed to make it work," he said.

If there is one change he would like to see in the county court system, it would be expanding accessibility to diversionary programs such as the treatment courts as those are the services "that going to effect change," he said.

Although he agreed those programs are already fairly robust, he said the court can add more.

"It's just a matter of the services being available and the bench making sure the defendants are notified of their ability to take advantage of it when they qualify," he said.

County court judges earn salaries of $186,665 this year. They receive raises based on inflation every December.

Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9132