Judicial Portrait Project
The Philadelphia LGBTQ Bar Association has established the Judicial Portrait Project to raise funds for the LGBTQ legal leaders who came before us and paved the way for out LGBTQ attorneys. The Judicial Portrait Project honors and recognizes openly LGBTQ Philadelphia judges who have recently retired from the bench. Each portrait will be donated to the First Judicial District for public display in the courtrooms throughout Philadelphia’s City Hall. The inaugural work of the Judicial Portrait Project recognized Judges Mary Colins and Patricia McInerney of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas at an unveiling ceremony held on June 14, 2023 in the Law Library of the First Judicial District in Philadelphia City Hall.
The Honorable Patricia A. McInerney served with distinction on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas from 1995 to 2018. In her 23 years on the bench, Judge McInerney presided over numerous high-profile cases and served as the Supervising Judge of the Commerce Court in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, which is a nationally recognized civil program that handles business-to-business disputes. For seven years in Commerce Court, Judge McInerney presided over all types of commercial disputes, including shareholder derivative actions, mergers and dissolutions, commercial insurance policies, unfair competition, trade secrets, commercial real estate transactions and non-consumer class actions. Judge McInerney started her legal career as a public defender and then worked as a civil litigator, handling employment, civil rights, premises liability and other general liability disputes. She is now a private mediator.
The Honorable Mary D. Colins served with distinction on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas for 25 years. First elected in 1989, Judge Colins retired in 2004 to serve as one of the original appointees by Governor Edward Rendell to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and was named Chair of the Gaming Control Board in 2007. In 2009, Judge Colins returned to the bench as a senior judge and served in that capacity until her retirement in 2019. Judge Colins started her legal career in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office where her service included working as the Assistant Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit. She also served as a private practitioner in Philadelphia, in-house counsel at a Fortune 500 company, and a hearing examiner for the Federal Employee Appeals Authority.
Please note that there are no Court or other public funds for judicial portraits. As such, the Association is requesting your support for this important project. All donations to the Judicial Portrait Project are tax deductible through the Philadelphia LGBTQ+ Bar Association.
Please consider donating today!
*Please note that contributions to the Judicial Portrait Project will not be disclosed to anyone other than the Judicial Portrait Committee and that neither Judge Colins nor Judge McInerney were involved in any way with the solicitation of contributions for the Judicial Portrait Project. This solicitation is solely made by the Philadelphia LGBTQ Bar Association’s Judicial Portrait Committee.
