Trial Division

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The Trial Division is one of three divisions of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. The Trial Division of the Court of Common Pleas has general jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, excluding Family Division or Orphans' Court matters.

The Court of Common Pleas - Trial Division is composed of seventy commissioned judges. The judges in commission are supplemented by the services of senior judges. The Division is divided into two sections - Civil and Criminal. Forty-one commissioned judges are assigned to the criminal programs and twenty-nine are assigned to civil programs. There are approximately one-thousand employees in the many separate departments throughout the Trial Division.

Office of the Administrative Judge

The Trial Division is led by an Administrative Judge, who is appointed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and serves at the pleasure of the Supreme Court. On November 10, 2011, Judge John W. Herron was appointed Administrative Judge for a three year term. As Administrative Judge, he is the approving authority for all administrative matters associated with the Trial Division.

Administrative Judge Herron has been appointed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to serve as Chair of the Administrative Governing Board of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. The AGB is the coordinating board for the three courts of the First Judicial District with a total of 125 judges in the Court of Common Pleas, Municipal Court and Traffic Court.

The duties of the Administrative Judge of the Trial Division include but are not limited to:

  • Assignment of judges within the Trial Division, along with designation and use of all rooms assigned to the Division for judicial use, excepting chambers for each judge;
  • Oversight of case management practices in both the civil and criminal sections;
  • Personnel administration within the Trial Division;
  • Preparation and analysis of periodic reports of facts and statistics concerning the disposition of cases;
  • Coordination of the use of technology to expedite the timely disposition of cases;
  • Operation of the First Judicial District's Jury Commission;
  • Administrative oversight of fiscal matters that relate to the Trial Division;
  • Administrative oversight of the Adult Probation and Parole Department.

The Office of the Administrative Judge is located in room 300 City Hall. The phone number is 215 686-7344 and the fax number is 215 686-2831.

Civil Section

The Supervising Judge of the Civil Section is the Honorable Arnold L. New. Civil has jurisdiction over actions at law and equity along with appeals from Municipal Court and certain administrative agencies and boards. The Trial Division Civil has jurisdiction over civil claims involving amounts in excess of $10,000. The variety of civil actions that may be brought in the Trial Division Civil include Negligence, Contract and Equity Action.

Criminal Section

The Supervising Judge of the Criminal Section is the Honorable Sheila Woods-Skipper. Criminal has jurisdiction over all felony cases as well as appeals from Municipal Court for a trial de novo, including a right to a trial by jury. Among the types of cases that fall within the assignments of the Trial Division Criminal are homicide cases, capital PCRA cases and felony cases. The Probation Department and Pretrial Services are included in the Criminal Section of the Division.

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All Court Offices are open from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday thru Friday unless stated otherwise.

Municipal Court - Criminal Division
Preliminary Arraignment Courtroom is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Traffic Court
Monday to Friday 8:30 AM to 7:30 PM

Court News

Friday, May 17, 2013
First Judicial District
View the Judicial Schedules for the week of May 19, 2013. Documents are in Adobe PDF Format

Thursday, May 16, 2013
COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
COURTROOM CHANGE CENTRAL ELECTION COURT 2013 PRIMARY ELECTION - MAY 21, 2013

Thursday, May 09, 2013
First Judicial District
View the Judicial Schedules for the week of May 12, 2013. Documents are in Adobe PDF Format

Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Court of Common Pleas
Notice - RE: Update to the President Judge Inactive Attorney List . The following Attorneys are Suspended Effective 05/03/2013: Brooks, Quentin Zane #40504, Glazer, Neil L. #207268, Graziano, Michael C. #83884, Jones, Ervin G. #33841, Metzger, Michael F. #84331, Seidel, Richard Stephen #55801, Stow, Meredith Anne #209701, Tiagha, Kahiga A. #86363.

Friday, May 03, 2013
Court of Common Pleas
Notice - RE: Update to the President Judge Inactive Attorney List : Oluwafunmilayo Angela Idowu #310948 Reinstated effective 03/25/13, Jonathan R. Marcus #88147 Reinstated effective 04/08/13

Friday, May 03, 2013
COURT OF COMMON PLEAS AND MUNICIPAL COURT - CRIMINAL
Notice to the Bar: IMPLEMENTATION OF CRIMINAL ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM Documents are in Adobe PDF Format

Friday, May 03, 2013
First Judicial District
View the Judicial Schedules for the week of May 5, 2013. Documents are in Adobe PDF Format

Thursday, May 02, 2013
Court of Common Pleas
Open Conciliation Conferences List In Re: Joint General Court Regulation No. 2008-01 Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program May 7, 2013 Sheriff Sale Documents are in Adobe PDF Format

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Courthouse Room Reservations

Courthouse Reservations

If your organization is seeking to request the use of courthouse facilities, please email the following to crtrmrsrv@courts.phila.gov


1. Name and address of your organization
2. Contact person with contact information
3. Date(s)
4. Time(s)
5. Purpose (mock trials competition, meeting, etc)
6. Number and type of rooms (courtroom, conference room, etc)
7. Number of people attending
8. Is your organization an 501(C)(3) non-profit

Please note: Courtrooms are only available for reservations after hours and on weekends. There is a fee of $150 per room for any organization that is not a 501(C) (3) non-profit.

Departments of the First Judicial District
Employment

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First Judicial District of Pennsylvania
City Hall, Room 668
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Hours of operation:
Mon-Fri: 8:30 am-5 pm ET
Tel: 215 683-6950
Fax: 215 683-6952
Email: hr@courts.phila.gov

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Phone Directory

For general Court information, contact (215) 686-7000.

Municipal Phone Directory

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You may also search by first initial if you do not know the exact spelling of a name.

For general City information, contact (215) 686-1776.

Publications

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Public Access Policy

ELECTRONIC CASE RECORDS (Criminal: Court of Common Pleas and Municipal Court)

Electronic Information available to the public pursuant to the Unified Judicial System Electronic Case Record Public Access Policy may be accessed or requested as provided in the links below.

RIGHT TO KNOW LAW

The Right to Know Law, generally, does not apply to the Court System (referenced in the Right to Know Law as "Judicial Agencies" and also known as "Unified Judicial System"). The Right to Know Law only applies to Judicial Agencies to the extent provided in Pennsylvania Rule of Judicial Administration No. 509 - which deals with Financial Records. See detailed information below.

Financial Records

Rule 509 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Judicial Administration was amended by the Supreme Court, effective January 1, 2009, to facilitate public access to financial records of the Unified Judicial System, and establishes a systematic process for requesting and accessing the applicable financial records of a court.

As a general rule, financial records of the Unified Judicial System are presumed to be open to any member of the public for inspection or copying during established business hours. Exceptions are listed in Rule 509 (B). Certain records may be requested from the UJS and others from the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania ("FJD" or Philadelphia Courts). See below forms.

The term "financial records" is defined as any account, contract, invoice or equivalent dealing with: 1) the receipt or disbursement of funds appropriated to the system; or 2) acquisition, use or disposal of services, supplies, materials, equipment or property secured through funds appropriated to the system.

Detailed information related to the Rule 509 Process can be found via the links below.

This Web site provides public access to search, view and print Unified Judicial System (UJS) contracts and purchase orders. The Web site displays summary information on purchase orders and contracts of $5000 or more that were executed on or after July 1, 2008.

Denials of requests for access must be appealed as provided in Rule 509(c)(5): in writing, within 15 business days of the date of the written response by the records manager.

(Completed Request Form must be attached to email)

Fee Schedule
Photocopying: 11+ pages - $0.15/Page
Retrieval/Redaction: $7.00/15 Minutes
CD: $5.00 Each
Postage: Actual Cost

The FJD may levy additional fees as necessary to cover costs incurred in fulfilling specific information requests. Pre-payment will be required if expected compliance costs exceed $100.

ADA Accommodations

THE FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA complies with THE AMERICANS with DISABILITIES ACT (ADA) which requires that all court services and facilities be as reasonably accessible to persons with disabilities as those without disabilities.

If you have a disability and require reasonable accommodations to file a claim, participate in a court proceeding, or use any service provided by THE FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, please call the appropriate ADA coordinator from the link below.

Requests for reasonable accommodation must be made at least three business days in advance of the court activity or within three business days following notice of the court activity, whichever is later. Because some accommodations require additional time, as much notice as possible is requested. On occasion, the court activity will be postponed until accommodation is achieved.

Request for Proposals (RFP)

There are no Request for Proposals (RFP) listed at this time.

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