Seasoned prosecutor, longtime lawyer square off in Lehigh County judicial race
By Margie Peterson
The election for a new Court of Common Pleas judicial seat in Lehigh County pits a seasoned prosecutor against a longtime lawyer who specializes in family law, custody and guardianships.
Patricia Fuentes Mulqueen, a Republican, who is chief of prosecutions in the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office, has been a prosecutor in the Lehigh Valley for more than two decades. Before that, she was a public defender.
Mark Stanziola, a Democrat, is an attorney with the Allentown law firm Fitzpatrick Lentz and Bubba, concentrating on family law, including divorce, custody, adoption and support. Over his nearly 38-year law career, he has also worked on criminal cases, landlord/tenant disputes, personal injury and other litigation.
Mulqueen and Stanziola have been rated “highly recommended” by the Lehigh County Bar Association.
A Court of Common Pleas judge handles both criminal and civil cases, including custody disputes, lawsuits involving money or property, divorce, estates and guardianships.
Counties such as Lehigh have judges who are assigned to hear cases in either the civil division or criminal division. Last spring, the candidates assumed that the new judge would be assigned to the criminal division but that might change with transfers and retirements.
Mulqueen, who last spring touted her experience with criminal cases, says she has the skills, judgment and temperament to adjudicate both civil and criminal cases.
“While my career has been focused on criminal law, the core skills that make an excellent judge – fairness, impartiality, respect for all parties, and the ability to apply the law carefully – are the same in civil cases,” she said. “I have spent years making difficult decisions that directly impact people’s lives.”
Mulqueen said she has lived around the country and abroad because of her husband’s Army service, so she has interacted with people of many backgrounds.
“This ability to connect with, and understand others, is a skill that is more important now than ever and will stand me in good stead should I be elected judge.”
Stanziola says his legal experience and community service have given him a depth and breadth of legal knowledge, insight and expertise, especially in dealing with civil cases.
“I have a background in both civil and criminal law, however, I have concentrated my practice in civil law and have become known as a complex divorce and custody attorney,” he said. “The [judicial] position becoming available is a civil position. Specifically it is to help with the backlog of both custody and guardianship petitions which I have extensive experience in through my 38 years practicing law.”
Stanziola said he has been active in the community as a church leader and a member of boards, including those of the Bradbury-Sullivan Community Center, an LGBTQ advocacy nonprofit; Northeast Pennsylvania Legal Services; and the Northampton County Bar Association.
Mulqueen cross-filed on both the Democratic and Republican ballots during the primary and defeated Republican Jenna Fliszar to win the GOP nomination by a vote of 9,130 to 5,651.
Stanziola won the Democratic primary election with 11,621 votes. Mulqueen and Fliszar cross-filed in the Democratic primary, garnering 8,291 votes and 3,894 votes respectively.
Mulqueen graduated from DeSales University and earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. In 2004, she and her husband and three children moved back to the Lehigh Valley and she was hired by then-Lehigh District Attorney Jim Martin before becoming a Northampton County assistant district attorney for 16 years, primarily as chief of the violent crime unit. She has been chief of prosecutions for Lehigh County since January 2024.
Stanziola graduated magna cum laude from the University of Scranton and earned his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He has lived in the Lehigh Valley since 1988. He and his husband have an adopted son.
“I do all kinds of custody cases but generally people search me out for the high conflict ones. It’s kind of what I’ve become known for,” he said.
“The reality is that when I’m a custody master what I see, more times than not, is alcohol and drug abuse problems have gotten these people into this situation and they don’t have any help and there aren’t any resources available to them,” he said.
While in private practice, he has represented low-income clients in Carbon County.
Before joining Fitzpatrick Lentz and Bubba, Stanziola worked for other law practices, including what was then Conrad & Conrad in Allentown and the Gardner Law Office in Bethlehem.
Campaign spending in the primary exceeded $67,000, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Pennsylvania Department of State. As of May 5, Mulqueen had raised $50,176 and spent $29,167, leaving a balance of $21,009. Her biggest contributors were Julia Alrich of Cincinnati, Ohio, Allentown attorney Joseph Zator and funeral home owner Robert Heintzelman, each of whom gave $500.
Stanziola’s report for April 1-May 5 listed $2,250 in donations. The largest donors were attorneys Alyssa Lopiano-Reilly and Laureen Sorrentino, each of whom gave $500, and Jake Olsson, who gave $1,000.