Hon. Margherita Patti-Worthington is a judge for the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania. She was elected to the bench in 1999 and was retained to the seat in 2009 and 2019.
During her judicial tenure, Patti-Worthington has presided over major criminal cases as well as administered the criminal docket. In addition, she oversees all court operations as president judge of the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas and has served as the supervising judge of the Monroe County Investigating Grand Jury. She holds the distinction of being the first woman president judge in Monroe County.
Patti-Worthington is also credited with implementing several innovative court programs including the Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program, the Truancy Elimination Program, and the Court Technology Strategic Plan as well as a court website allowing better public access to court information and piloting a statewide e-filing and docketing program.
Patti-Worthington received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado in 1982. She went on to complete a J.D. at Villanova University School of Law in 1985.
Before joining the judiciary, Patti-Worthington worked as a partner in the law firm of Muth, Zulick & Worthington and as an assistant public defender in Monroe County (1989 to 1993).
She was later appointed by the Hon. Ronald E. Vican to act as the first custody conciliator and dependency master for the Forty-Third Judicial District in 1996 and remained in that capacity for two years. In that position, Patti-Worthington heard child custody and dependency cases and arranged informal sessions for couples to discuss their issues. She also developed a mandatory co-parent education program for individuals who were separating.
She has taught as an adjunct professor in the advocacy program at Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson Law.
Patti-Worthington was a past president of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges and was chair of its Past-Presidents Committee and co-chaired the President Judges section.
She was appointed to serve a six-year term as a member of the Pennsylvania Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Board by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2007 and appointed by former Tom Corbett to a two-year term on the Deputy Sheriffs’ Education and Training Board in 2012.
Some of her other memberships included the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing’s Strategic Planning Work Group and the Commission’s subcommittee for Offender-related Guidelines Review as well as the Supreme Court Criminal Rules Committee (vice-chair) and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Language Access Advisory Group (co-chair).
Her civic involvement included participating on the Boards of the American Red Cross and American Cancer Society.
Patti-Worthington received the Community Commitment Award from the Greater Pocono Chamber of Commerce (2009) and the President’s Award from the Pennsylvania Bar Association (2015).
A married mother of two, Patti-Worthington is a native of Paterson, New Jersey.