Lachman to Seek Re-election as District Judge

Centre County Magisterial District Judge Steven Lachman announced that he will run for a second term in the 2019 election.

Lachman is district judge for district 49-03-05, which serves northern and western State College and a portion of downtown bordered by Garner Street, Allen Street, East College Avenue and East Beaver Avenue.

“It is an honor to serve our community and make it a better place to live,” Lachman said in a news release. “I will continue to treat everyone who comes before me with respect and to evaluate each case individually.”

Lachman was first elected in 2013, when he won the Democratic nomination in the primary and defeated Republican nominee Susan Bardo in the general election.

Prior to his election as district judge, Lachman was a legal writing professor at Penn State Law. He previously was a litigator for the Allegheny County Public Defender’s Office and the Pennsylvania Department of Environment Protection in Pittsburgh before moving to State College in 1997.

Lachman received his juris doctorate from Vermont Law School and holds a Ph.D. in geography from Penn State.

He is a member of the Centre County Criminal Justice Advisory Board, the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Judicial Administration Committee and the Centre County Bar Association’s Wilkinson-Campbell Inn of Court.

‘Community is very important to the justice system in Centre County,’ Lachman wrote on his campaign website. ‘I have developed strong working relationships with local police, attorneys, court administrators, Court of Common Pleas Judges, and my fellow Magisterial District Judges. Our goal is always to provide fair justice and good service.’

Pennsylvania’s primary election is scheduled for Tuesday, May 21, 2019. 

Magisterial district judges are elected to six-year terms.