CHAMBERSBURG – President Judge Shawn D. Meyers of the Common Pleas Court for the 39th Judicial District will observe the Adoption of the U.S. Constitution by the Delegates of the Constitutional Convention and Ratification of the Bill of Rights Ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 15 in Historic Courtroom 1 of the Franklin County Courthouse, 14 N. Main St., Chambersburg. The scheduled speaker is the Honorable Jeffrey L. Schmehl, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Schmehl is a native of Berks County. He graduated from Governor Mifflin High School, Dickinson College and the University of Toledo School of Law, receiving a juris doctorate in 1980. He was admitted to the Berks County Bar and the Pennsylvania Bar in 1980. He has held the following positions: assistant public defender, assistant district attorney, Berks County solicitor and Berks County judge. He was in solo private practice of law from 1981-1986 and was a partner in the Reading law firm of Rhoda, Stoudt and Bradley from 1986-1997. Schmehl’s emphasis was on both civil and criminal litigation. As an attorney, he was admitted to practice before all Pennsylvania courts, the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1997, Schmehl was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County. In 2007, he was retained for a second 10-year term. He had handled both criminal and civil trial matters. In 2008, Schmehl was elected by his fellow judges to serve as the president judge of the Berks County Court. He had previously served as the administrative head of the Berks County Court’s Civil Division. Schmehl also served as an adjunct professor in the criminal justice department at Alvernia University from 1998-2013. As a Common Pleas judge, he has also served on the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges Executive Committee, the Commonwealth Partners Committee and the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges Education Committee.
Schmehl was sponsored by former U.S. Senator Patrick Toomey and was appointed to serve as a U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in November 2012. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 13, 2013, and commissioned on June 27, 2013. He is currently a commissioned federal judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, sitting both in Reading and Philadelphia. He is presently the chair of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Jury Committee.
Schmehl is also the recipient of the Berks County Prison Society W. Richard Eshelman Award, the Berks County Bar Association Liberty Bell Award and the Cumru Township Outstanding Citizen Award.
The public is welcome and encouraged to attend this ceremony.
