For a time in the mid-1970s, Donetta Ambrose was the only woman practicing law in Westmoreland County.

Then in 1981, she became the first woman to be elected as a Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas judge.

Later, after former President Bill Clinton appointed Ambrose to be a federal judge in the U.S. District Court of Western Pennsylvania, she became the first woman to serve as chief judge in Pittsburgh.

“I’m not going to say it wasn’t difficult, because it was,” said Ambrose, an Arnold native who lived in New Kensington and Lower Burrell before moving to Oakmont four years ago.

She said it was made easier along the way by a supportive husband, close family and friends.

“My husband was a great visionary. He was convinced I would be perfect for it, and I would love it,” Ambrose said. “And he was right.”

Ambrose, 76, took inactive status from her work on the federal bench Feb. 1 after serving there for more than 28 years. She will leave about 15 criminal cases unfinished, including one against the man accused of killing 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill.

That case now will be handled by U.S. District Judge Robert Colville.

Ambrose said she plans to spend retirement focused on her 11-year-old grandson.

“I never wanted to be that person who passed at her desk,” she said. “I love being a judge. There are other things in my life I love more.”

Being a trailblazer

Ambrose graduated from Duquesne University in 1967 and its law school in 1970. There were only four women in her class.

After graduation, she completed a two-year clerkship with Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Louis Manderino and then joined the state attorney general’s office working on civil rights litigation for a couple of years.

As she and her husband, Ray, an attorney in New Kensington, started their family, Ambrose joined the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s office as a part-time prosecutor.

During her time there, she served as one of the prosecutors in the infamous Kill for Thrill case against John Lesko and Michael Travaglia, who were convicted of killing four people in Western Pennsylvania over eight days in late 1979 and early 1980.

Then, in 1981, the Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court had three vacancies, and Ambrose joined a field of 13 candidates to seek a seat on the bench. She was the only woman.

Although some people were resistant to the idea of a woman serving as a judge, Ambrose said, it was around the same time when President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor to be the country’s first female U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Ambrose remembers that, at the time, the Latrobe Bulletin called her “Westmoreland’s Own Sandra Day O’Connor.”

She won and took her seat on the bench in 1982. She loved the work there. For her, it was about the human interest — hearing the stories, the idea of helping. She said she also enjoyed watching trial attorneys and the mission she shared with her colleagues.

Ambrose remained in Common Pleas Court until 1993 when she was appointed to the U.S. District Court of Western Pennsylvania.

She said leaving state court was bittersweet. But federal court offered a whole different set of stakes and atmosphere, she added.

Former law clerk Tina Miller said one of Ambrose’s first, major cases in federal court involved then-Allegheny County Magistrate Judge Jules Melograne, who was indicted in November 1994 on charges that he conspired to fix hundreds of cases in Allegheny County with Walter V. “Bo” Cross.

The trial began Oct. 23, 1995, and a guilty verdict was returned on Jan. 24, 1996.

Ambrose, who refused to talk about any individual case, said one of her favorite parts of being a judge was presiding over trials.

“Trials are always fun, and when I say fun, I mean it,” she said. “It’s great to see the lawyers in action.”

But she also spoke fondly of presiding over multi-district litigation and other parts of the court, as well.

“I think I liked everything,” she said. “Every day was interesting.”

Being a mentor

Ambrose said one of the best things about being a judge is constantly learning.

“I love that,” she said.

Ambrose took that love and shared it with her law clerks and fellow attorneys.

Miller, who grew up in West Leechburg and now is a partner in the Downtown Pittsburgh law firm Reisinger Comber & Miller, spent about three years as Ambrose’s clerk — first in Westmoreland County and then in federal court.

“I absolutely think the world of her,” Miller said.

She called Ambrose a phenomenal boss who was willing to sit down with her clerks and law students to discuss what they saw in court each day and to parse out what was effective and what wasn’t.

“She was very generous with her time (and was always) trying to be a mentor and teacher,” Miller said. “For a young lawyer to be able to get a judge’s perspective on how things were going in the courtroom and what her observations were, it was even more valuable than law school.”

Miller said Ambrose showed her the path that women had to travel to get to where she was.

“While she broke down barriers, she always held her hand out to pull other people along with her,” Miller said.

She praised Ambrose’s good judgment and common sense.

“She makes everyone feel like they’re heard, and their argument is understood and respected,” Miller said. “That’s so important.”

When Ambrose first joined the federal court, the sentencing guidelines were mandatory — judges had no discretion to go lower or higher on a defendant’s punishment.

But in 2005, the guidelines became advisory, giving judges a chance to make their own determinations.

Ambrose said that requires a lot of thought and a real understanding about a person’s situation.

“The judge has more responsibility, and you have to do the right thing,” she said.

Ambrose called sentencing the most difficult part of being a judge.

“If it isn’t the most difficult part, you shouldn’t be there,” she said.

Ambrose proved herself so good at being a judge that she was asked repeatedly during her tenure to teach at what is known as “Baby Judges School” through the Federal Judicial Conference — the training organized for newly confirmed district court judges.

Current Chief Judge Mark Hornak said his former colleague was perfect for teaching incoming judges about their work, given her patience, knowledge, intellect and humanity.

Ambrose served as chief judge in the Western District from 2002 to 2009. During that time, the court in Pittsburgh had several vacancies, but Ambrose helped the bench thrive in spite of it being short-staffed, Hornak said.

“She did it by engaging people,” he said.

Hornak called Ambrose an engaged, inclusive person who sought to help people find their own solutions.

He added that she was no pushover.

During her time as chief judge, Ambrose ushered in the age of electronic case filing, helped create the Alternative Dispute Resolution program to resolve civil cases and expanded the role of U.S. magistrate judges in Pittsburgh to take on additional responsibilities, Hornak said.

“She put our court at the cutting edge and became a model for other courts around the country,” he said.

While Ambrose is recognized as a trailblazer for women, Hornak said, she never missed a chance to help male attorneys, as well. He called her “fundamentally human.”

“She never forgot it’s not about the judge or the lawyers, it’s about the litigants, the citizens,” he said.

Now, Ambrose said, it will be about her family.

She moved to Oakmont about four years ago to be close to her son and his family.

She is looking forward to spending time with her 11-year-old grandson, her older sister and the rest of her family.

“My grandson is the focus of my life and the most important thing in my life,” Ambrose said.

She has been a member of the same monthly card club with her friends since 1979 and continues to have Zoom calls with four close college friends.

She said she has been cautious since the start of the covid-19 pandemic and has no plans to resume travel.

Ambrose walks every day, plays pickle ball and enjoys swimming, reading and watching British police dramas on television. She also is working her way through the fourth season of “Ozark” on Netflix.

“I love being in all day,” she said. “I don’t mind it a bit.”

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