Republican Gov. Tom Corbett last week nominated an openly lesbian attorney from Philadelphia to fill a vacant judgeship on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
Corbett called Abbe Fletman June 19 to notify her of her nomination.
Fletman was among five Corbett nominees announced last week. Also nominated to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas was Kenneth J. Powell Jr., Michael Fanning and Vincent N. Melchiorre, and Anthony D. Scanlon for Delaware County Court of Common Pleas. Fletman told PGN it was an honor to be nominated by Corbett. “I hope to fulfill the confidence that he is placing in me,” she said. Each nominee must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the state Senate within the next 25 session days in a two-thirds vote. If approved, they will serve on the bench until 2015, when the next municipal judicial election is scheduled.
Fletman, a commercial litigator for Flaster/Greenburg, had launched a campaign for a Common Pleas judgeship, but withdrew from the race after a lottery put her in the 24th spot out of 36 on the ballot. There were six openings.
Earlier this year, Fletman, who earned her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, received The Legal Intelligencer’s 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Fletman said she hopes to bring her 25-year experience as an active litigator to the bench if she’s approved.
“I have been fortunate enough to be before many good judges so I hope I can take the good I have observed in the judges and incorporate that,” she said.
If approved, Fletman will serve alongside other openly LGBT Court of Common Pleas judges Dan Anders, Ann Butchart and Barb McDermott.