HARRISBURG – After a unanimous recommendation from the Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee and subsequent Senate confirmation vote on Wednesday, Pennsylvania has a new Attorney General in Michelle A. Henry.
“This is a powerful vote of confidence in our work and I am humbled to lead the dedicated team in the Office of Attorney General on behalf of every Pennsylvanian. Consumers, victims, and our partners in law enforcement now rely on the Office in record numbers, and with this vote, we can continue to be the independent, fearless and trusted voice Pennsylvanians have come to expect. There will be big challenges over the next two years, and, as your Attorney General, I promise we will step up and always have Pennsylvanians’ backs,” Henry said.
Henry, the former First Deputy Attorney General under former Attorney General and current Governor Josh Shapiro, brings a long track record in the state’s legal community to her new role as its top law enforcement officer.
“Michelle Henry has the experience, talent and dedication to the pursuit of justice that Pennsylvania needs in the Attorney General’s office – and that’s why I nominated her to serve out the remainder of my term,” Shapiro said.
“By confirming her nomination, the Senate has guaranteed that Pennsylvanians have an Attorney General who will fight for them. I look forward to working with Attorney General Henry to build safer communities and protect the rights of Pennsylvanians.”
Henry will helm a staff of hundreds of prosecutors, attorneys, investigators, agents and support staff in offices across the state, across four divisions: the Criminal Law Division, the Public Protection Division, the Civil Division and the Operations Division.
Henry, a Greensburg native, is a 1991 graduate of Allegheny College and a 1994 graduate of the Widener University School of Law. Henry then began her legal career as an intern in the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office and as a clerk for now-retired Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Georgelis.
From there, Henry spent more than 20 years as a prosecutor in the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, including serving as its Chief of Major Crimes, Chief of Child Abuse and First Assistant.
In January 2008 and with a bipartisan vote, Henry was appointed Bucks County District Attorney. In that role, Henry prosecuted major child abuse cases and oversaw the creation of Bucks County’s children’s advocacy center.
In December 2016, Shapiro chose Henry as his First Deputy Attorney General, the first woman to ever serve in that office. Henry was tasked with overseeing all of the Office’s legal matters, including criminal cases to seek justice for victims, civil suits representing the Commonwealth and public protection cases fighting for the rights of Pennsylvania consumers.
Henry was later admitted to the American College of Trial Lawyers and received the Widener University Commonwealth Law School’s 2017 Excellence in Public Service Alumni Award for her “extraordinary contributions” to public service.
Henry has said that she will serve the final two years of Shapiro’s original term as Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, but added that she doesn’t plan to run for election in 2024, in advance of the term’s conclusion.
“Even if they didn’t make me make that pledge, I would not be running for attorney general. I never set out to be attorney general when I took this position. I am happy to do it for these two years and carry out what we started, but I do not want to run and I won’t run,” Henry told CBS News in Pittsburgh.
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com