Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing

Judge McDermott serves on the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas (First Judicial District) and is assigned to the homicide program. She serves on various committees of the First Judicial District.  She also represents the FJD at the PA Conference of State Trial Judges (executive committee) and is co-chair of the Criminal Law Section of the PSCTJ.  She is a member of the American Law Institute. Judge McDermott previously served as the National Association of Women Judges’ District Director for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. She has served as chair of the Jury Committee and co-chair of the Women Judges Initiative of the First Judicial District.  She was a criminal defense trial attorney (1990-2011); law clerk, Court of Common Pleas (1990-2001); Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia (1984-1990); Assistant Counsel and Special Deputy Attorney General, Department of Environmental Resources (1980-1984).

Judge McDermott is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Seton Hill University. Judge McDermott lectures frequently for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, judges moot court competitions, has taught at Arcadia University, and occasionally lectures nationally. She is a member of the executive committee of the Philadelphia Criminal Law Inn of Court and is a Board Member of the Urban Resources Development Corporation (a housing non-profit faith-based organization) in Philadelphia.