In a historic vote by First Judicial District Common Pleas Court judges, Kelley B. Hodge has been chosen to finish out the second term of former Philadelphia District Attorney, Seth Williams. The vote has made Hodge the first female African American District Attorney to serve the city of Philadelphia as District Attorney. However, Hodge is no stranger to making incredible career strides. She is the former Title IX Coordinator for the University of Virginia, where she worked to address issues related to gender-based harassment and intimate partner violence at the University. Prior to that, Hodge had been appointed by then Pennsylvania Governor, Tom Corbett, to serve as the Safe Schools Advocate, where she oversaw the reporting and response to incidences of violence within Philadelphia’s Public Schools. She was selected in 2013 to serve on the Pennsylvania Joint State Commission on Violence Prevention after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary.
Hodge began her legal tenure in the Commonwealth as a prosecutor for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office. For eight years, she prosecuted a wide variety of cases and helped in the implementation of a host of diversion programs such as Mental Health Court and Veterans’ Court. Most recently Hodge has been exercising her legal expertise at the law offices of Elliot Greenleaf, and remains in constant service to the community through her participation on the boards of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, the Mercy Neighborhood Ministries of Philadelphia, the Community College of Philadelphia’s Center for Law and Society, and the President’s select board to address diversity and African-American interests at the University of Virginia. She is also an inaugural member and mentor through the Women of Tomorrow organization, where she works with at-risk high school girls in Philadelphia.
The CSE Institute wishes to congratulate Kelley B. Hodge on her tremendous achievement. We are incredibly proud to see one of our Board of Advisors members represent Philadelphia in such an esteemed position. The Honorable Sheila Woods-Skipper, President Judge, will preside over Hodge’s swearing in ceremony on in on Monday, July 24, 2017 at noon in City Hall courtroom 253.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.