Nancy Aaroe, Brian Panella vie for seat on Northampton County Court
Experience emerges as issue in election
Nancy Aaroe and Brian Panella, the two candidates for Northampton County judge, share similar backgrounds.
Both grew up and attended schools in the county. After graduating law school, they returned home to work. And both say their experience as lawyers qualifies them to serve as a judge on the Court of Common Pleas.
The difference, however, is the number of years of experience, a point Aaroe often plays up in her campaign.
She has been a lawyer for 32 years; Panella, seven.
She worked a total of 10-plus years as a public defender in Monroe County, an assistant district attorney in Northampton County and a court-appointed conflicts counsel in Northampton County. During that time, in 1996, she joined her husband, Paul, at Aaroe Law Offices, and continues to work there.
Aaroe contrasted her experience with Panella’s during an interview April 12 with WAEB radio host Bobby Gunther Walsh, saying: “My opponent has practiced law for six years. And he is 31 years old. So I practiced law through the entire period of time he's been alive, which is kind of an interesting way to look at it.”
In response to questions from Armchair Lehigh Valley, Panella emphasized the quality of his experience as more important.
“While my opponent may have her opinions about me, I am only concerned with serving the people of Northampton County to the absolute best of my ability. I have a documented history of community engagement, a record of legal excellence, and a substantial amount of support from attorneys and community leaders alike. I strongly believe my qualifications make me the best candidate to serve as the next judge of Northampton County.”
As a custody master and hearing officer for custody disputes in Northampton and Lehigh counties and a tax-appeal hearing officer for Bethlehem, he said he is “the only candidate with the quasi-judicial experience of conducting a hearing, researching the law, making a decision while applying the law, and having that decision become binding on the parties.”
Aaroe, 58, a Republican, and Panella, a Democrat who will turn 32 three days before the primary, will appear on the Democratic and Republican ballots because the judicial position is considered nonpartisan.
If one candidate wins the nomination of both parties, Aaroe or Panella would be unopposed in the November election. However, if each candidate wins the nomination of their party, they would face each other again this fall. In November, however, all voters, not only Republicans and Democrats, can cast ballots.
A vacancy on the court occurred when Judge Stephen Baratta resigned last year in the middle of his 10-year term; he later announced his candidacy for county district attorney.
Whoever is elected judge this year will serve a 10-year term and bring the number of county judges to its full complement of nine. The annual salary for a common pleas court judge is $212,495. Salaries for judges, along with those for elected state officials and lawmakers, are adjusted annually for inflation, so it’s likely judicial salaries next year will also increase.
BRIAN PANELLA
Brian Panella grew up in Palmer Township and graduated from Notre Dame High School (2009) in Bethlehem Township, DeSales University (2013) and Widener University Law School (2016). He has worked with the law firm Goudsouzian & Associates in Palmer Township for seven years. He lives in Forks Township with his fiancée, Brittany.
He is attempting to be the second member of his family to serve as a judge in the county.
His father, Jack, at age 36, filled a vacancy on the county court in 1991 after being appointed by Gov. Robert P. Casey. He was elected to a full term in 1993 and in 2003 was elected to the state Superior Court, where he remains, now as the court’s president judge.
Brian Panella said he learned much from his father.
“My father has always carried a commitment for serving his community,” he said in an email. “This standard of community service, fairness, and equity has provided me with the same commitment to providing for the people of Northampton County, both inside and outside of the courthouse.”
His campaign website lists endorsements of nearly five dozen people, most of whom are lawyers while others are municipal officials. He also has the support of one of his clients, former heavyweight boxing champion Larry Holmes and his wife, Diane, who live in Palmer Township.
Panella points to his work for Northampton County as a custody master and custody hearing officer in Northampton and Lehigh counties as providing the kind of experience a judge needs.
“I presided over custody disputes and, on certain occasions, held hearings on the record and made factual and legal determinations that would then become binding on the parties,” he said.
Since January 2022, he has served as solicitor to Bethlehem City Council. He also is solicitor for the boroughs of Northampton and North Catasauqua and has served as special counsel for several municipalities, including Bethlehem Township.
“When considering these positions,” he said, “coupled with my time as deputy solicitor for the agency of Lehigh County Children and Youth Services and my current role as solicitor for the Northampton County Retirees Association, plus the experience of my extensive private legal practice, it is clear that my quality of experience makes me the best candidate to serve as the next judge of Northampton County.”
NANCY AAROE
Nancy Aaroe grew up in Bethlehem Township and attended schools in the Bethlehem Area School District, graduating from Freedom High school. She lives in the township, where she and her husband raised three children.
She received an undergraduate degree from The College of William & Mary (1987) and a law degree (1990) from Dickinson School of Law, where she was a member of the school’s law review.
After law school, she returned to the Lehigh Valley to work, first as a public defender in Monroe County and later as a part-time assistant district attorney in Northampton County.
As a public defender, her campaign said in response to questions via email, she “gained indispensable criminal trial experience, including jury and nonjury trials, and arguments before the Superior Court.’’
While working in the DUI unit of the Northampton DA’s office, she said she successfully prosecuted several notable cases, including one for vehicular homicide. At Aaroe Law offices, she concentrates on family and small-business issues.
The Bethlehem Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #20 endorsed her candidacy in March.
“The confidence the Bethlehem FOP put in me is humbling. The officers acknowledged my many years of legal experience and have faith in my commitment to upholding law and order,” she said.
“As a lifelong resident of Northampton County, I value the safety of our community and understand how the decisions made by our judges impact every citizen's safety. I am the most qualified candidate to make these important decisions.”
In her April 12 radio interview, she described herself as a “conservative” and a “constitutionalist.”
She says her experience has prepared her to serve as a judge: "My 30 years of practice have honed my knowledge of the law in a way that only years of trying cases can. My years of service to this community, and the family and life I have built here in Northampton County, can assure you that I take the position of judge and the decisions I will make extremely seriously."