HARRISBURG (May 8, 2019) — Melinda C. Ghilardi of Munley Law, Scranton, will serve a three-year term as the unit county governor on the Pennsylvania Bar Association Board of Governors. Her term will begin at the conclusion of the PBA Annual Meeting, May 17, in Lancaster.
Prior to joining Munley Law in March, Ghilardi worked as an assistant federal public defender for more than three decades with 29 of those years as the first assistant. Ghilardi began her career as an assistant district attorney in Lackawanna County.
Ghilardi is a voting member of the PBA House of Delegates for Zone 5, which includes Bradford, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties. She serves on the PBA Credentials and Admission Committee.
From 2012 to 2015, Ghilardi served on the PBA Board of Governor as the at-large governor representing the interests of women lawyers in the commonwealth.
Since 2014, Ghilardi has been a co-vice chair of the PBA Federal Practice Committee.
Ghilardi is a past co-chair of the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession of which she has been a member since 1998. Since 2003, she has served in the leadership of the commission in such roles as secretary and executive council member. In 2005, she received the Lynette Norton Award presented by the commission.
Ghilardi is a former president and board member of the Lackawanna Bar Association. She is the vice president of the Lackawanna Bar Foundation. She is the current treasurer of the Association of Women Lawyers of Lackawanna County. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, as well as the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
She is a co-chair of the Geisinger Health System Women’s Health Volunteer Leadership Council and the Geisinger Northeast Advisory Council.
She is a past member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Scranton, where she chaired the Student Life and Presidential Search Committee. The university honored her by establishing an Ignatian Scholarship in her name. In 2000, Ghilardi received the university’s Frank J. O’Hara Alumni Award for outstanding achievement in the field of law.
In 2016, Ghilardi was honored with the Robert W. Munley Distinguished Service Award from Lackawanna Pro Bono.
In 2005, Ghilardi received the inaugural Athena Award presented by the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce.
She currently serves as secretary on the Board of Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania. She was a member of the BPW Foundation. She also has served in the leadership of the Lackawanna County division of the American Heart Association, the Family Service of Lackawanna County, Friendship House, the Lackawanna County Commission for Women and the United Way of Lackawanna County. She also served as vice chair of the board of directors of Community Medical Center.
Ghilardi is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Scranton. She received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
Founded in 1895, the Pennsylvania Bar Association strives to promote justice, professional excellence and respect for the law; improve public understanding of the legal system; facilitate access of legal services; and serve the lawyer members of the state's largest organized bar association.