Interim Director Appointed for the Thomas R. Kline Center for Judicial Education

Attorney Joy G. McNally has been named interim director of the newly established Thomas R. Kline Center for Judicial Education of the School of Law.

President Ken Gormley recently announced the launch of the groundbreaking Kline Center, which was made possible through a $7.5 million gift—the largest individual gift to the School of Law—from 1978 law graduate Thomas R. Kline, a prominent trial attorney and founding partner of the law firm Kline & Specter, PC.

The first-of-its-kind program in the United States, the Kline Center is housed in Duquesne’s School of Law and will work in conjunction with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts under the guidance of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The program will coordinate with deans and law scholars from Pennsylvania’s nine law schools to develop an innovative, high-level curriculum of courses and seminars for the more than 600 trial and appellate judges in the Commonwealth.

McNally has had the distinction of serving under several of Pennsylvania’s most distinguished jurists. She served as a law clerk to the late Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ralph Jr. Cappy, as well as to former Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille and current Justice Debra M. Todd. Additionally, McNally clerked for Judge Maureen E. Lally-Green (now Duquesne law school dean) on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and (earlier in her career) for the late Judge Carol Los Mansmann on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

In each of these roles, McNally researched and analyzed the issues that came before the court, prepared memoranda of law and other legal documents, assisted in opinion writing, and worked extensively with court personnel and fellow clerks to help jurists produce work product of the highest caliber.

“I am thrilled that Joy McNally has agreed to devote her considerable talents to ensuring that the Kline Center gets off to a strong start,” said Gormley. “She brings to this job nearly two decades’ worth of experience working with the Pennsylvania appellate courts. She is highly respected by judges and lawyers alike. There is no better person than Joy McNally to make this important new initiative a resounding success.”

Prior to her clerkships in state and federal court McNally practiced law for 10 years at the firms of Cindrich & Titus, Cohen and Grigsby and Buchanan Ingersoll.

“It is a great honor and my distinct privilege to welcome Joy McNally to serve as the interim director of the Thomas R. Kline Center for Judicial Education,” added Lally-Green. “She brings enormous talent, experience, presence and vision to this position. I have every confidence that Joy is the perfect choice for this position.”

Most recently, McNally taught as an adjunct professor in the Duquesne University School of Law, where she also served as a special advisor to then Law Dean Gormley and assisted him in editing his latest book, The Presidents and the Constitution: A Living History.

“I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve as the interim director of the Thomas R. Kline Center for Judicial Education,” said McNally. “I look forward to the privilege of advancing the Kline Center’s crucial mission of enhancing the fair and impartial delivery of justice in Pennsylvania by providing an outstanding curriculum of continuing education coursework to the commonwealth’s jurists.”

McNally earned her J.D. (magna cum laude) in 1983 from the University of Pittsburgh, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and was topics editor for the Pitt Law Review. She earned both an M.A. in special education and a B.S. in psychology from the University of Pittsburgh.

She currently serves as an alternate member of the Edgewood Borough Civil Service Commission.