EDITOR’S NOTE — The Times asked the 2015 candidates for Chester County county-wide office to answer a serious of questions relative to their campaign and office, as well as their personal background. Wanting to give each candidate a direct, unfiltered, option to communicate with the voters, these responses are not edited nor abridged in any way. Ms. Malloy-Good did not answer the questions in a point-by-point format, but rather chose to answer them in prose format. We include the original questions below for the readers’ reference.
By Julia Malloy-Good, Candidate for Chester County Court of Common Pleas
Julia Malloy-Good, West Chester Attorney, is a candidate for the Court of Common Pleas, which is the trial court of Chester County.
“My reasons for seeking this job are simple,” Malloy-Good said. “I want to give back to the Chester County community which has given me so much. Sitting as a judge is the highest form of service for an attorney.”
The Pennsylvania State Education Association, (PSEA) endorsed Malloy-Good earlier this month. Their endorsement follows the unanimous endorsement of the Chester County Chiefs of Police Association in September. Furthermore, in July 2015 Malloy-Good received the highest rating of “Qualified” for the second time in the Judicial Evaluation plebiscite vote by her peers in the Chester County Bar Association. She has been evaluated twice, and voted “Qualified” twice. She is the only candidate in this race to have ever been voted “Qualified”.
Malloy-Good has over thirty years of legal experience in all aspects of the law which includes being an experienced litigator, mediator and arbitrator, making her uniquely qualified for this position. She also spent four years working in the Court of Common Pleas as a Special Master, hearing cases and making evidentiary decisions.
It is not just direct legal experience that Malloy-Good would bring to the bench. She has an extensive volunteer and community service track record. She served as President of the Chester County Bar Foundation, as a member of the Malvern Borough Planning Commission, and on the Boards of the Maternal and Child Health Consortium and the West Chester Area Senior Center. She also volunteers for Bridge of Hope, Access to Justice, as well as other organizations. Her dedication to clients and the profession was recently recognized as Malloy-Good was named a 2015 Top Lawyer by Main Line Today.
Questions as submitted to all county-wide candidates:
1. Whether you are an incumbent, or a challenger, what prompted you to seek public office?
2. Can you describe an achievement in your professional or elective life that you are especially proud of, and why?
3. Talk about a difficult decision you’ve had to make, how you went about it and what the outcome was.
4. As not all Row Offices are as self explanatory as District Attorney or Sheriff, can you, briefly explain the duties of the office you seek?
5. What qualities do you feel make you the best candidate for that job?
6. What do you feel are the most important issues in your race?
7. Is there anything else that you would like the people of Chester County to know about you?