Delco re:View Summer 2018 - 6

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46th Annual Bench Bar Conference
Award Recipients
The Nicholas D. Vadino, Jr., Memorial Award is presented
annually at the Delaware County Bench Bar Conference to a
member of the Bar Association for significant contributions
by a young lawyer to the organized bar . . . Congratulations
to Matthew Bilker, Esq., Eckell, Sparks, Levy, Auerbach,
Monte, Sloane, Matthews & Auslander, P.C. Presented by
Michael J. Davey, Esq.
Matthew is an associate in the litigation department of Eckell
Sparks in Media, PA, where he focuses on personal injury
litigation, general civil litigation and municipal law. Matthew
joined Eckell Sparks in September of 2013 after finishing a
judicial clerkship with the Honorable John P. Capuzzi, Sr., in
the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas. In 2015, he was
appointed as the Editor of the Delaware County Legal Journal.
Currently, Matthew serves as President of the Young Lawyers'
Section.

Throughout his time on the bench, Judge Nichols has been
dedicated to understanding the issues impacting the families
and children he serves, as well as learning about the resources
and services available in the community. He has advocated
for additional resources and programs, as well as greater
accessibility to them, when appropriate.
This year, the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA)
Children's Rights Committee named Delaware County Court
of Common Pleas Judge Nathaniel C. Nichols of Media as
its Child Advocate of the Year. The award recognizes the
accomplishments of lawyers and judges who are advocates for
children within the commonwealth or who are involved with
child advocacy.
Active in the community, Judge Nichols was past president
and board member of the Domestic Abuse Project, Delaware
County Legal Assistance and Chester Education Foundation.
He served on the Delaware County Historical Society, the
Delaware County Housing Coalition and the Delaware County
Bar Association boards of directors. Judge Nichols is a member
of the American, Pennsylvania and Delaware County Bar
associations.
For his exemplary efforts, Judge Nichols received the
Rose Tree Media School District Service Award in 2010, PBA
Pro Bono Award in 2008, Chester NAACP Judge Robert A.
Wright Freedom Award in 2005, Widener Law School Alumni
Association Professor of the Year Award in 2003, Delaware
County Bar Association Elizabeth Price Service Award in 2001
and Domestic Abuse Project Victims' Rights Award in 1990.

The Donald J. Orlowsky Award of the Delaware County
Bar Association is presented annually to the individual who
has contributed most to the improvement and fostering
of good Bench Bar Relations . . . Congratulations to the
Honorable Nathaniel C. Nichols. Presented by President
Judge Kevin F. Kelly.
The Honorable Nathaniel C. Nichols has been serving as the
primary judge for both Juvenile Dependency Court and Juvenile
Delinquency Court in Delaware County since his election in
2011. Prior to that, he was associate dean of students and a
professor at Widener University School of Law, an attorney in
private practice and managing attorney at Delaware County
Legal Assistance Association.

6 | Summer 2018

About the Award: Donald J. Orlowsky became a judge of
this Judicial District at the young age of 40 in 1974. "As all too
often happens, this unusually scholarly young man served but
a pitifully short time as Judge before passing one year later, on
April 19, 1975. He was unique in many ways - an outstanding
lawyer, a highly respected Judge, a devout Catholic, a scholar of
church history and government, a devoted family man. It was
thought that his passing deprived this Judicial District of a Judge
with a potential for adding much in an academic way to its
Judicial history." From the History of the Delaware County Bar
Association, 1989, The Honorable John V. Diggins, Author.
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