HARRISBURG (Nov. 6, 2019) — The Pennsylvania Bar Association will present the 2019 Government Lawyer of the Year Award to Andrea B. Tuominen of Harrisburg, assistant court administrator of Pennsylvania, on Nov. 14 at Committee/Section Day in Harrisburg.
Presented by the PBA Government Lawyers Committee, the award honors a government lawyer who has made a significant singular contribution or has dedicated his or her career to outstanding service to the profession for the benefit of the public or a government entity.
Appointed in 2001, Tuominen is actively involved in nearly every aspect of the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC), the administrative arm of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court comprised of eight departments and approximately 300 employees, and its work related to the Unified Judicial System (UJS). In addition to fulfilling the court administrator's responsibilities in his absence, she has broad responsibilities in regard to AOPC’s day-to-day operations, and has been instrumental in helping to craft public records and language access policies. In her role, she conducts complex policy/legal analysis for the improvement of the court system.
As Assistant Court Administrator, Tuominen is committed to ensuring fair and equitable operations of the court system, working on issues involving citizens’ privacy, court documents and electronic filing, just to name a few. She oversees, administers and educates the public, attorneys, court personnel and judges on the access policies of the UJS, designed to fulfill the constitutional mandate of open courts and access to justice. Tuominen also oversees the AOPC’s judicial district security and judicial services offices and ensures that responsibility of AOPC to receive comments and complaints from the public related to the UJS is fulfilled.
Since 1992, Tuominen has served in various positions in the AOPC, including special assistant to the court administrator.
Dedicated to bettering the profession and the courts for 20 years, Tuominen supervised the AOPC’s legal intern program serving 42 law students, and she continues to mentor those who participate to this day. Additionally, she staffed the Supreme Court’s Special Commission to Limit Campaign Expenditures and the Intergovernmental Task Force to Study the Magisterial District Courts.
Active in the legal community, Tuominen served in various leadership positions in the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession, including co-chair, co-vice chair, secretary and treasurer, and is currently co-chair of its Nominating Committee. She also is a member of the PBA Government Lawyers Committee, Judicial Administration Committee and Quality of Life/Balance Committee. In addition, Tuominen belongs to the Philadelphia Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Association of Court Management.
She received a B.A. from Skidmore College and a J.D. from the Villanova University 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.