Centre County’s newest Court of Common Pleas judge has joined the bench.
Julia R. Rater was sworn in Monday afternoon in front of the county’s other judges and family, friends and supporters who filled Courtroom 1 at the courthouse in Bellefonte.
Rater was a cross-filed candidate and won both the Democratic and Republican primaries for the open seat in May, defeating fellow Democrat Gopal Balachandran, and is unopposed on the general election ballot. The state Senate requested that that she be appointed early and Gov. Josh Shapiro approved Rater’s appointment at the end of June. The court was not involved in the request or appointment, Centre County Court Administrator Kendra Miknis said.
“I have spent the last month or so watching our judges do their work, and it’s been really fun because I’ve been watching it from a different perspective,” Rater said. “All of my time in the courtroom has been representing clients and I’ve been operating in terms of ‘How do I convince the judge to do what I want the judge to do with my case?’ In the last month I’ve spent a lot of time looking at it from the other perspective. What would I do if I was the judge in that case?”
Rater was sworn in by former President Judge Pamela Ruest, whose retirement at the end of 2022 created the vacancy. She joins President Judge Jonathan Grine and judges Katherine Oliver and Brian Marshall to complete the Court of Common Pleas bench. Ruest, who has continued to hear some cases until the vacancy was filled, has joined Thomas Kistler as senior judge.
An attorney since 1995, Rater said her time observing the judges “reinforced a couple things” and offered new perspective.
“The first is that we are really affecting lives as judges,” she said. “I understood that while representing clients, but I have a bit of a different perspective now. I promise to do my best to protect all lives within the confines of the law and to treat everyone with dignity and respect. And I promise to work hard, because I know what I know and I’m aware of what I need to learn. I promise to work hard for our community.”
She added that it bolstered her admiration for the county’s other judges.
“I’m joining a really good bench,” Rater said. “I’m very excited to work with all of our judges and I hope to continue to see Judge Ruest and Judge Kistler as senior judges because I feel confident that we have a very strong community here. I am so proud to be joining it.”
Rater was most recently a partner at McQuaide Blasko in State College and was previously a partner at Miller, Kistler, Campbell. For the past 20 years, her practice has focused on family law, and she also has experience with general civil litigation, landlord-tenant issues and real estate proceedings. Rater has served on the Board of Governors of the Centre County Bar Association for 12 years.
Court of Common Pleas judges are elected to 10-year terms.
Rater and her husband, Brian Rater, reside in Patton Township and have three college-age daughters.
