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ROM:
Melissa L. Norton
Chief Counsel
UBJECT: Judicial Conduct Board Elects Executive Committee
ARRISBURG, PA – At its February 14, 2023 meeting, the Judicial Conduct Board of
Pennsylvania (“Board”) voted to make the chairs of the Budget and Personnel Committees
members of the Executive Committee. Thereafter the Board elected the following slate of
members for its Executive Committee: Nancy L. Clemens as Chair, Magisterial District Judge
William C. Wenner as Vice Chair, Scott B. Cooper, Esquire as Secretary, President Judge
Emeritus (ret) Susan Peikes Gantman as Chair of the Board’s Budget Committee, and Sudhir R.
Patel, Esquire as Chair of the Board’s Personnel Committee.
he twelve-member Board is an independent Board within the Judicial Branch of the
Commonwealth’s government comprised of twelve Pennsylvania citizens: three judges, three
lawyers and six non-lawyer electors. The Governor and the Supreme Court each appoint six of
the Board’s members. The Board’s members serve four-year terms, without pay, and no more
than one-half of its members may be from the same political party.
reated by constitutional amendment in 1993, the Board reviews, investigates, and, where
warranted, prosecutes complaints of judicial misconduct. If the Board, by majority vote,
decides that there is probable cause to believe that a judge engaged in misconduct, the Board
may file a complaint in the Court of Judicial Discipline where the Board must prove the charges
against the judge by clear and convincing evidence. The Court of Judicial Discipline decides if
the Board has sustained its burden of proof and also decides the sanction to be imposed upon the
judge for any proven misconduct.
About Nancy L. Clemens
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he Supreme Court of Pennsylvania appointed Ms. Clemens to serve as a non-lawyer member
on the Board effective January 20, 2020. Her term of service will conclude on January 19, 2024.
s. Clemens is a 1987 graduate of Bloomsburg University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts
degree in Psychology. She went on to earn her Masters in Criminal Court Management from
Shippensburg University in 1999. In 2008, she received a fellowship at the National Center for
State Courts’ Institute for Court Management.
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Press Release
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
udicial Conduct Board
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Melissa L. Norton, Chief Counsel
717-234-7911
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Ms. Clemens serves as the Children and Youth Service Line Director for Service Access and
Management, Inc. (SAM), overseeing all of SAM’s Children and Youth programming across
Pennsylvania. She previously served as Administrator of the Tioga County Department of
Human Services in Wellsboro; as a Probation/Parole Officer (1995-2002); and as the District
Court Administrator for Tioga County (2003-2016). She is a Certified Court Executive and
received a Special Commendation from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for work on the
Judicial Security Council (2016). Further, Ms. Clemens served as a commissioned officer in the
United States Army, branched Military Police (1987- 1991); and served in a variety of law
enforcement and combat preparatory roles while stationed at Fort Richardson, Alaska.
s. Clemens is an active member of Tioga County’s Criminal Justice Advisory Board,
Children’s Roundtable and Opioid Coalition; Board Member for Tioga County Partnership for
Community Health; instructor at Mansfield University Municipal Police Academy, the
Pennsylvania State University Deputy Sheriffs’ Academy, and the Child Welfare Resource
Center. She is married with four children and seven grandchildren.
bout Magisterial District Judge William C. Wenner
he Supreme Court of Pennsylvania appointed Judge Wenner to serve as the magisterial district
judge member on the Board effective March 14, 2020. His term of service will conclude on
March 13, 2024.
udge Wenner has served as a magisterial district judge in Dauphin County since he was
appointed in 2003. He is a member of the Special Court Judges Association of Pennsylvania,
Dauphin County Prison Board and other select Criminal Justice committees. He currently serves
on the MDJ Court Security Task Force.
udge Wenner is the former Chief County Detective for the Criminal Investigation Division
(CID) of the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office, a position he held from 1995 until his
retirement in 2003. Judge Wenner joined the CID staff as a detective in 1988 and was promoted
to Detective Sergeant in 1992. Prior to joining the CID, he served as a law enforcement officer
with police departments in Susquehanna Township, Penbrook and Paxtang Boroughs in Dauphin
County.
Judge Wenner earned an associate degree in police science from the Harrisburg Area
Community College and has completed advanced undergraduate work through the University of
Virginia. In 2001 he successfully completed the PA. District Justice Training Program and was
certified by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He is a graduate of the 201st Session of the
prestigious FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. He has also earned certificates for
successful completion of the Law Enforcement Executive Development Program at Princeton
University and of the Police Executive Development Institute at Pennsylvania State University.
He graduated from the 34th Municipal Police Officers Academy of the Pennsylvania State Police
in 1979.
udge Wenner is active in both professional and community service organizations.
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About Scott B. Cooper, Esquire
overnor Tom Wolf appointed Mr. Cooper to serve as a lawyer member on the Board effective
July 30, 2021. His term of service will conclude on July 29, 2025.
r. Cooper is a partner at Schmidt Kramer P.C., a Harrisburg-based personal injury law firm
where he specializes in personal injury law with an emphasis on motor vehicle accident and
insurance cases. He is a member and past-president of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice
(PAJ), a member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) and the Pennsylvania Bar
Association. He currently serves as President of the Dauphin County Bar Association. He also
serves on the Board of Directors of the Joe Allegrini Children’s Hero Fund.
r. Cooper serves on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s Civil Procedure Rules Committee
and previously served on the Supreme Court’s Appellate Rules Committee. He served as co-
chair for then Governor-Elect Tom Wolf’s transition team committee for the Department of the
Commonwealth/State and has been appointed as a Hearing Officer with the Disciplinary Board
of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
r. Cooper is a frequent lecturer and author. He is also active in the community through his
involvement with the Harrisburg Jewish Community Center and as an Adjunct Professor at
Widener University Commonwealth Law School, Harrisburg.
r. Cooper holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University at Albany, Albany, New York. He
earned his Juris Doctor from Widener University School of Law.
bout President Judge Emeritus (ret) Susan Peikes Gantman
he Supreme Court appointed Judge Gantman to serve as a lawyer member of the Board
effective August 16, 2022. Her term of service will conclude on August 15, 2026.
udge Gantman was elected to a ten-year term on the Superior Court in 2003, and afterward
retained for another ten-year term in 2013. She was elected by her peers as President Judge of
the Superior Court for a five-year term running from January 7, 2014 to January 6, 2019. On
April 1, 2020, Judge Gantman took senior status on the Superior Court. She retired in December
2021.
efore becoming a judge, Judge Gantman maintained a private law practice from 1981-1991.
She also served as solicitor for the Montgomery County Office of Children and Youth and the
Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Development. From 1991-1998,
Judge Gantman was a partner at Sherr Joeffe & Zuckerman, P.C., where she served as Chair of
the Domestic Relations Section. From 1998-2003, Judge Gantman served as a senior member
and Co-Chair of the Family Law Section at Cozen O’Connor. Further, she served as an Assistant
District Attorney in Montgomery County and as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Richard S. Lowe
of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.
udge Gantman is a member of the American, Pennsylvania, Montgomery County, and
Philadelphia County Bar Associations. She was the Chair of the Superior Court of
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Pennsylvania’s Records Management Committee. Judge Gantman is also a frequent lecturer and
has been heavily involved in community service.
he is a 1974 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts
degree, cum laude, and a Masters of Arts degree. She went on to earn her Juris Doctor from
Villanova University School of Law in 1977.
bout Sudhir R. Patel, Esquire
overnor Tom Wolf appointed Mr. Patel to serve as a lawyer member of the Board effective
February 8, 2022. His term of service will conclude on February 7, 2026.
r. Patel is a partner in the Pottsville, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania law firm of Fanelli,
Evans & Patel, P.C. He is a trial lawyer who has handled and tried cases in various state and
federal courts throughout Pennsylvania, as well as before the Court of Federal Claims, the United
States Tax Court, the American Arbitration Association and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Board of Claims. His areas of practice include personal injury, medical malpractice,
construction litigation and criminal defense.
r. Patel served as President of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice (PAJ) from July of
2019 through July of 2020. He has been a long-standing member of the PAJ’s Board of
Governors as well as its Executive Committee. Mr. Patel is also a member of the American
Association for Justice (AAJ), and is also actively involved in the Schuylkill County Bar
Association. He has chaired the Schuylkill County Bench-Bar Committee and chairs the
Community Development/Public Relations Committee which he founded. In 2005, Mr. Patel
organized and implemented an alternative dispute resolution program in Schuylkill County. Mr.
Patel has also been a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Judicial Review/Evaluation
Committee.
r. Patel has been a speaker at numerous continuous legal education seminars, speaking on
issues ranging from social media to personal injury/medical malpractice damages and developing
a profitable law practice. He also serves as a Mediator, both privately and through the United
States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania’s Mediation Program.
e has been active throughout his community in activities ranging from fundraising for
community projects to various athletic leagues. He regularly speaks at school districts
throughout Schuylkill County on the dangers of distracted driving, and has also lectured
hundreds of teens on responsible social media use. In what he describes as the most thankless of
his community service forays, he has served multiple terms as President of the Orwigsburg Little
League.
r. Patel received his undergraduate degree from Lehigh University in 1992 and his law degree
from Villanova University School of Law in 1995.
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For further information about the Judicial Conduct Board, visit the Board’s Website at
www.jcbpa.org.###
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