2025 President’s Award Recipient
Hon. James A. Gibbons
Judge James A. Gibbons is a native of Avoca and a 1979 graduate of The University of Scranton, and a 1982 graduate of Seton Hall University School of Law. He served as a law clerk to Judge Richard P. Conaboy of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania from 1982 to 1984, and as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania from 1987 to 1993.
He practiced law privately in Northeast Pennsylvania, eventually concentrating on alternative dispute resolution. From 1984 to 1987, he was an associate with the Scranton defense firm of Bour, Gallagher, Foley & Cognetti. From 1993 to 2000, he practiced personal injury work on behalf of injured parties with attorneys Michael Roth and Kevin Dempsey. He founded the Gibbons Law Firm in 2000.
He was elected Magisterial District Judge in Lackawanna County in 2005, and reelected in 2011. He was appointed to the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice in 2009.
In 2013, Judge Gibbons was elected to the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County and was retained for another ten-year term in 2023. In this position, Judge Gibbons has worked to serve the community in family, civil and criminal law. He currently serves on the Board of Lackawanna Pro Bono and is Chair of the Lackawanna County Prison Board. He is a former board chair of Friendship House and a former board member of the Lackawanna Bar Association.
Judge Gibbons and his wife Wendy reside in Dalton, Lackawanna County. Their blended family consists of eight adult children and three granddaughters.