Judge Juan R. Sánchez

CLEO 1978

“CLEO prepared me well for the demands of a legal education, allowed me to stay focused throughout law school, and to succeed in the law.”

The Honorable Juan R. Sánchez serves as a District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. On the recommendation of U.S. Senators Rick Santorum and Arlen Specter, Judge Sánchez was nominated by President George W. Bush on November 25, 2003. His nomination was confirmed by the 108th Congress on June 23, 2004, and he was inducted on July 9, 2004. Judge Sánchez previously served as a judge on the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County, PA, where he presided over criminal, civil and juvenile matters.

Prior to his judicial election in 1997, Judge Sánchez worked as a Trial Attorney with the law firm MacElree Harvey (1997) and as a Senior Trial Attorney with the Chester County Public Defender’s Office (1983-1997). He also practiced as a solo practitioner (1990-1997), partner in the law firm Nester, Nester & Sánchez (1983-1990) and as a staff attorney with Legal Aid of Chester County (1981-1983), where he was a recipient of the distinguished Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship awarded by Howard University.

Judge Sánchez was born in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. In 1974, he graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx in New York City. Judge Sánchez received his Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from City College of the City University of New York, and his Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he received the Benjamin R. Jones Award for his outstanding contribution to the public interest.