Summary
The Honorable Doctor Stephanie Domitrovich is a senior general jurisdiction state trial judge in PA, having served as an elected judge for over 32 years and being elected four times in Erie, PA. In May of 2006, she also became the first graduate to earn a Ph.D. in Philosophy in Judicial Studies from the University of Nevada, Reno. She has served as a senior judge for over four years now.
Senior Judge Domitrovich is an Executive Committee Board member for the National Conference of State Trial Judges (NCSTJ) as well as Program Chair. She serves as Vice-Chair of the Technology in the Courts Committee of Judicial Division/American Bar Assoc. She is past Co-Chair of The Judges’ Journal Editorial Board and currently serves as Special Issues Editor. She is Past Chair of the Forensic Science Committee of ABA’s Judicial Division. She is a life member of the National Association of Women Judges, having served in the past as an officer. She served as Treasurer as well as a Board member for Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) for Pennsylvania. She currently serves as Chair for the PA Bar Assoc. Civil Litigation Section. She is a Past Treasurer (2024-25) and Past Board member of the Forensics Specialties Accreditation Board (FSAB).
She is Past Chair of the National Conference of State Trial Judges (NCSTJ) of the Judicial Division of ABA (2010-11), and Past President of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges.
Senior Judge Domitrovich is a Fellow with the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) and past Chair of the Jurisprudence Section of AAFS (2016-2018). In 1996, she participated in a program for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to educate judges in the former Soviet Republic nations of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in developing their judicial systems.
Selected publications
- Dissertation: Domitrovich, Stephanie, P. A. (2006). State trial judge use of court-appointed experts: survey results and comparisons, Jurimetrics, 50, 371-389.
- Domitrovich, S., & Dixon, H. B, (2024). Artificial Intelligence in the Courts: Best Practices, Benefits, and Challenges. The Judges’ Journal, 63.
- Domitrovich, S. (2023). Judicial security: Ensuring safe access for all stakeholders. The Judges’ Journal, 62.
Notable exhibitions or performances
She currently teaches and lectures at several universities, such as the University of Nevada, Reno, The National Judicial College, Michigan University and Gannon University. She has written and orally presented forensic science papers to the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners, SWGSTAIN as a member of the Scientific Working Group on Bloodstain Pattern Evidence, the Law and Society, the American Psychology-Law Society, the University of Michigan Department of Pathology Forensic and Autopsy Services, the American Bar’s Judicial Division as well as the Appellate Court Section, the PA Bar Assoc.’s Civil Litigation Section and the Family Court Section, the Jurisprudence Section of American Academy of Forensic Sciences. She presented her Ph.D. dissertation, the topic was Court-Appointed Experts in the State Courts, for Law & Society at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, in 2007.
Courses taught
She currently teaches and lectures at several universities, such as the University of Nevada, Reno, The National Judicial College, Michigan University and Gannon University.
Education
- Ph.D., Judicial Studies, University of Nevada, Reno, 2006
- MJS, Judicial Studies with a major in Juvenile Justice, University of Nevada, Reno, 1998
- MJS, Judicial Studies with a major in Trial Judges, University of Nevada, Reno, 1993
- J.D., Duquesne University School of Law, 1979
- B.A., History, summa cum laude, Carlow University, 1976