Joseph A. Del Sole was born in Pittsburgh on November 16, 1940. He received a Mechanical Engineering degree from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). Judge Del Sole continued in the “Steel City” with a Law School degree from Duquesne University and refreshed to a Master of Laws from the University of Virginia in 1992.
In 1978 Judge Del Sole was appointed to the Common Pleas Bench and elected to a full term a year later. In 1993, Judge Del Sole successfully ran for a full term on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. He was retained by Pennsylvania’s voters a decade later. Judge Del Sole was a former Chairman of the Judicial Conduct Board and its predecessor, Judicial Inquiry and Review Board (JIRB). Judge Del Sole was an instrumental member of and active on the Supreme Court’s Statewide Steering Committee on Computer Automation. Del Sole specifically helped engineer and put into practice the computerization and statistical development programs for the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.
In January 2001, Judge Del Sole became the President Judge of the Superior Court. He won retention to a full term two years later. He continued shepherding the influx of appealed cases to this Appellate Court and helped develop incubate the Children’s Fast Track initiative. After five years as President Judge, President Judge Emeritus Del Sole retired from the Superior Court and re-focused his efforts on mediation and arbitration.