Remembering Judge Paul M. Yatron

By Donald F. Smith, Jr., Esquire

The Honorable Paul M. Yatron died on December 6, 2022, at the age of 71, after a short illness.

Judge Yatron had been a member of the Berks County Common Pleas Bench since January 2006. During that tenure, he had served five years as president judge.

When he first became PJ, I interviewed him for a Barrister article profiling his background and accomplishments. First, we reviewed his educational background. A graduate of Governor Mifflin High School and Dickinson College, Yatron received his legal education at Creighton University School of Law. “It was a good school that provided good preparation for the practice of law; the profs were really lawyers,” he told me.

Following graduation, he returned to Berks County and was admitted to the bar in October 1976, setting up a solo practice in the Baer Building on Court Street. “Five or six months later the practice was better than breaking even, making a couple bucks.” He attended the retirement dinner for Judge James W. Bertolet and then found himself, post-dinner, with 30 other lawyers at the Golden Lion Pub. The future judge became engaged in a “philosophical discussion” with Anthony Rearden, which was overheard by then-District Attorney Michael Morrissey. The DA approached and asked if Yatron actually believed what he was spouting. Once affirmed, the DA offered him a job, starting the next day.

For the next seventeen months, Yatron tried over 50 jury trials as a part-time assistant district attorney. “It was a small office, but we could really try cases. It was not uncommon to have three trials in one week.” The office featured other future luminaries of the bench and bar, Scott D. Keller, A. Joseph Antanavage, Stephen G. Welz, and Gordon Zubrod, who went on to become a United States prosecutor.

To supplement what I learned from Judge Yatron, I also interviewed Steve Welz and Senior Judge Keller in preparing my article at the time. Welz recalled the staff going months without losing a case and a “healthy competition” developed among them, with each not wanting to be the one to break the winning streak.

With a chuckle, Welz further remembered that this sense of competition morphed in a new direction—athletic contests between two future jurists, Keller and Yatron. It began with golf, then bowling and finally tennis. “Each sport was a new battle,” Judge Keller explained to me. “The competition was the best of three, and I would win the first match only to have Paul win the final two. It was the most horrible experience of my life but hilarious.”

Laughing at the memory, Welz recalled the “tennis showdown” as attracting more than thirty spectators to watch what he described as “the most pathetic display of athleticism on both sides of the net.” Keller remembered having “Paul on the ropes for the first time in a final match” but not being able to finish him off. “I am sorry that this long suppressed memory has been revived,” he exclaimed while laughing.

Leaving the fun of the DA’s office behind, Yatron continued in private practice with his colleague, Steve Welz, making up the firm of Welz & Yatron, which later merged with Fry & Golden, a predecessor to today’s Masano Bradley.

Several years later, Yatron was “looking for a change of scenery,” and he joined the office of Pennsylvania Attorney General LeRoy S. Zimmerman in 1982 to prosecute criminal tax cases. He was quickly named chief for criminal prosecution for taxation. Other promotions were soon to follow—head of the Medicaid Fraud Control Section supervising 50 employees; chief of Prosecution Section; Deputy Attorney General of Criminal Division; Executive Deputy Attorney General of the entire Criminal Division; and finally First Deputy Attorney General, in charge of the day-to-day operations of the entire office.

While running the Medicaid section, Yatron returned to Berks to prosecute, by special assignment, the three defendants charged in the 1982 murder of Richard Good, depicted in extensive media coverage as a “Gang Land Slaying.” Convictions were secured for each.

When Attorney General Zimmerman’s second term came to an end, Yatron looked to take some time off, but newly elected Auditor General Barbara Hafter offered him the position of Chief Counsel, and he accepted. After more than seven years in the position, “I was not getting into court at all, and I longed to get back.”

At the time, Mogel, Speidel, Bobb & Kershner was looking for an experienced trial attorney, and, so in 1996, he joined the firm as a partner, handling civil and criminal matters.

I asked him why he was so passionate about trial work. “It is the combative nature; I enjoy the fight. Once the trial begins, you are on your own—your preparation and your wits. There is nothing as invigorating as a closing argument!”

After being elevated to the bench, he shared, “At times I have a strong urge to leap over the bench and close for one side or the other!” But the robe kept the passion in check and him on the bench. While practicing as a trial attorney, Yatron did not like a judge “who could not keep his hands off trying the case.”

Once while representing a defendant in a criminal case, Yatron and the assistant district attorney were at sidebar with the late Judge W. Richard Eshelman, and the young prosecutor, “who was clearly in over his head,” asked for help from the bench. Attorney Yatron objected: “Your Honor, this is a court of common pleas trial and not a school for assistant district attorneys.” The objection was overruled. “I made a vow, as judge, not to do those things and have remained true to that pledge.”

His service over seventeen years on the bench made quite a positive impact. In reporting on Yatron’s death, the Reading Eagle quoted District Attorney John T. Adams as saying, “This will be a big loss for Berks County and for our judiciary. He was an excellent jurist, and he will be deeply missed.” Then President Judge Thomas G. Parisi noted that his passing was “a tremendous loss for our legal community and to all citizens of Berks County. He treated all litigants with dignity and respect.”

The newspaper also reported: “Among his accomplishments as a Berks judge was merging the county’s adult and juvenile probation departments into the Probation and Parole Department, a move intended to streamline services while saving taxpayers’ money.” He was a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Criminal Rules Committee, which he described as “a very rewarding experience.”

The Berks County Bar Association’s Law Day 2016 celebration featured President Judge Yatron as the keynote speaker. On that occasion, he received the Liberty Bell Award from the Association for his many years of public service.

Former Assistant District Attorney Pamela VanFossen, now with Masano Bradley, shared on LinkedIn following Yatron’s untimely passing: “The time I spent assigned to his courtroom was some of my favorite as a prosecutor. He was cordial, collegial, witty, thoughtful, prepared and knew the law better than anyone else in the room. To practice before him was to admire him and respect him… The thing I will remember most about him, however, was his love for our legal system. The speech he gave jurors at the end of a trial, thanking them for service and explaining the value of their service and sacrifice was genuine, heartfelt, and almost brought him to tears on more than one occasion.”

Judge Yatron was known to convene court earlier than most judges and could be found in chambers much earlier than that. In fact, the Honorable M. Theresa Johnson, in remarks during her installation as President Judge on Jan. 5, described Judge Yatron’s chamber’s door as always being open, beginning at 6:30 am!

Nevertheless, his work ethic allowed for other pursuits. He was an avid hunter, outdoorsman and enjoyed trap shooting. Yatron was a member of the United Bowmen of Philadelphia. He told me in our interview conducted 10 years ago, that he read 50 to 100 books a year. “I have stayed away from legal thrillers but enjoy espionage, mysteries and biographers.” He described having a particular interest in American military history, including, by that time, of having watched the “Patton” movie at least 20 times.

Given that interest, he was asked to review the book, “Hitler Ascent 1889-1939,” which he did for the Spring/Summer 2017 issue of the Barrister, and his review of “Churchill: Walking with Destiny” appeared in the Spring 2019 issue. Both reviews reflected the Judge’s scholarly nature.

As my 2013 interview of him was ending, I asked if he had any advice for the newer attorney wanting to do trial work. He replied: “Show up on time! Know the rules and follow them; I am shocked at how many lawyers are unfamiliar with the rules of procedure. Be prepared and conduct yourself as a professional.”

He shared that he was troubled at times by a lack of collegiality in his courtroom. “Counsel showing an attitude of belligerency only makes things difficult, even ugly. Shouting matches are not an effective technique here.”

Judge Yatron’s advice should be followed by all trial attorneys and be considered part of his legacy. Here is how I concluded the profile article that appeared in the Winter 2013 issue of the Barrister: “For the trial or hearing should be a professional fight, based upon thorough preparation, adherence to the rules of procedure and trusting your wits. As General S. Patton once said: ‘Better to fight for something, than live for nothing.’”

Now, with his passing, it is clear Judge Yatron did not live for nothing. Instead, he had a full and impactful life.