The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has appointed John C. Rafferty, Jr. as Board Chair and Gretchen A. Mundorff as Board Vice-Chair, effective April 1, 2024.
Former Senator John C. Rafferty, Jr. was first appointed to the Board in February 2019 and was reappointed in October 2021.
Prior to his appointment to the Disciplinary Board, Sen. Rafferty served the 44th Senatorial District which included Berks, Chester, and Montgomery counties. Since leaving the Senate after serving four terms, he re-joined the firm Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell & Lupin, PC.
Throughout Sen. Rafferty’s time in the Senate, he served as the Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, Vice Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and member of the Appropriations, Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, and Law and Justice Committees. He was also appointed to serve on both the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.
Before he ran for the Senate, Sen. Rafferty practiced law in private practice focusing on education, real estate, zoning, business, and estate law. He also served as a former Pennsylvania deputy attorney general in the criminal law division where he investigated and prosecuted Medicaid fraud.
Sen. Rafferty previously served as a member of the Methacton School Board, the Montgomery County Board of Assessment Appeals, and the Lower Providence Board of Supervisors.
Gretchen A. Mundorff was first appointed to the Board in March 2019 and was reappointed in January 2022.
Ms. Mundorff is a founding partner of the Connellsville, Pennsylvania law firm of Watson Mundorff LLP where she concentrates her general civil practice in plaintiffs’ personal injury, family law, municipal law, and zoning.
Over the course of her legal career, Ms. Mundorff has been an engaged member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) having served as the organization’s second woman president in 2010-2011 and in numerous other roles including PBA Secretary, PBA Zone Six Governor, Chair of the PBA Young Lawyers Division and Bar Leadership Institute, Vice Chair of the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession, and member of the PBA House of Delegates.
Additionally, she has served on many of the organization’s task forces and committees including the PBA Legal Services to Middle-Income Persons Committee, PBA Leadership Diversity Task Force, PBA Task Force on the Pennsylvania Judiciary, and the PBA Legal Access Task Force. Recognized for her notable contributions to the organization, she was honored with both the Anne X. Alpern Award from the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession and the Chief Justice Flaherty Award from the PBA Conference of County Bar Leaders.
A life fellow of both the American and Pennsylvania Bar Foundations, Ms. Mundorff served as a Director of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and as a member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates. She is also a past member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Disciplinary Board Hearing Committee and served as Chair of the Continuing Legal Education Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. She currently serves as the President of the Fayette County Bar Association.
Ms. Mundorff is an active member in the volunteer community. She is a past director of the United Way of Connellsville, the United Way of Westmoreland County, the American Heart Association of Fayette County, the Uniontown-Harmarville Rehabilitation Advisory Board, Artworks Regional School for the Arts, and the Family Health Council in Pittsburgh. She is a former president of the Greater Connellsville Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Connellsville. Ms. Mundorff has served as President of the United Methodist Women of the Albright United Methodist Church in South Connellsville where she has been active on the church council and has served as a youth Sunday School teacher and as a member of the Chancel Choir.
Throughout her distinguished career, Ms. Mundorff has received many recognitions for her dedication to the legal profession and volunteer service. In addition to being named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for many consecutive years, she was named a Distinguished Citizen by the U. S. House of Representatives. She was also recognized by the American Red Cross with the Coldren Award for volunteer service and received the Athena Award from the Greater Connellsville Chamber of Commerce and was named a Paul Harris fellow by the Rotary Club of Connellsville. Ms. Mundorff was inducted into the Connellsville High School Falcon Foundation of Hall of Fame.
Ms. Mundorff graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Chatham College in Pittsburgh and was inducted into both Phi Beta Kappa and Mortar Board honor fraternities. She earned her Juris Doctorate from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at The College of William and Mary in Virginia.
The Disciplinary Board was created by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to review conduct and assure compliance by all attorneys to the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct. The Board assists the Supreme Court in the licensing and discipline of attorneys in Pennsylvania. Its mission is to protect the general public, maintain a high standard of integrity in the legal profession, and safeguard the reputation of the courts of Pennsylvania.
Disciplinary Board members, which include ten lawyers and two non-lawyers from across the Commonwealth, meet regularly to decide cases, policies, and board administrative matters. All members of the Disciplinary Board serve as unpaid volunteers.