Former AG assistant to vie for district judge seat
A longtime attorney and one-time assistant in the state Attorney General's Office has announced his candidacy for the district judge post that serves Cranberry Township and Seven Fields.
Robert Andrews of Cranberry Township said his three decades in the legal profession and a commitment to public service motivated his decision to run.
“I've practiced law for 30 years and I've been traveling across this state representing people during that time,” Andrews said. “I know most of the police force here and I know most of the people that live here.
“With my experience and knowledge of the community, I think I can also serve and benefit the community.”
Andrews, 56, a Republican, is running for the six-year seat occupied by David Kovach, who is not seeking reelection. He said he intends to cross-file and seek both the Republican and Democratic nominations in the May 18 primary.
Andrews said he began his legal career in 1991 in the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office and served as a deputy attorney general and later as a senior deputy attorney general until 2003.
During his tenure, he noted, he served under Attorney General Tom Corbett, who later was elected governor, and Attorney General Mike Fisher, who is a senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Andrews subsequently moved into private practice, serving nearly five years as a partner with the firm Meyer, Darragh, Buckler, Bebenek & Eck in Pittsburgh.
He said that for the past several years, he has been the owner and sole proprietor of his law firm in Pittsburgh. Most of his practice, he said, is in Butler and Allegheny counties.
That practice includes criminal defense, civil litigation, DUI and traffic cases, workers compensation, and wills and estates. He is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
Andrews said his resume has prepared him for the district judge office.
“I think I bring to the table a lot of diversity,” he said. “I've done civil litigation. I've done criminal litigation. I've tried criminal cases. I have a pretty good experience of what goes on in the district judge office on a daily basis.”
Born and raised in a small coal mining community in Cambria County, Andrews graduated from Conemaugh Township High School.
In 1986, he earned a bachelor's degree in political science with a pre-law minor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
He graduated from the University of Toledo School of Law in 1990.
The father of two daughters, he moved to Cranberry Township with his family in 2005.
