A Squirrel Hill lawyer Friday fired the first salvo in the 2021 election, announcing her candidacy to fill a vacancy on the state Superior Court.

Jill Beck said she is running to fill a vacancy on the state court that hears the first round of appeals in most civil and criminal cases in Pennsylvania.

Although the dust has yet to settle on the 2020 election, statewide appellate contests that top the ballot in off-year elections have become competitive, high-profile races in recent years. Jurists are elected to 10-year terms and can then stand for retention to a second term in a yes-no vote.

Beck, 41, a Democrat, joined the Blank Rome law firm in Pittsburgh a year ago as a civil litigator.

She said she was pleased to receive a “highly recommended” rating from the Allegheny County Bar Association in her first bid for statewide office.

Beck previously worked in the state appellate courts for 10 years as a law clerk for Christine Donohue – first when Donohue was a judge on the Superior Court and then when she became a justice on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Prior to her work with Justice Donohue, Beck represented abused and neglected children as a lawyer for the nonprofit organization KidsVoice.

Prior to graduating from the Duquesne University School of Law, Beck was a counselor at a residential facility for delinquent girls, an assistant forensic interviewer at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh’s Child Advocacy Center, and an AmeriCorps Fellow working with adolescents on probation.

“For as long as I can remember, I wanted to help people who don’t have a voice and be an advocate for the underserved. This is what drew me to pursue a legal career nearly 20 years ago,” Beck said. “I know firsthand that justice is served only when every person – regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or income – has fair and equal access to the courts. ”

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