Judge Ronald C. Nagle
WEST CHESTER — MacElree Harvey announced that Judge Ronald C. Nagle has joined the firm as Of Counsel, after retiring as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County. Prior to assuming the Bench, he was engaged in the general practice of law in Chester County.
Born and raised in West Chester, Judge Nagle is a graduate of Saint Joseph’s University (B.S., 1962) and the Temple University School of Law (J.D., 1965). He was admitted to the Bar of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in November 1965. Following service with the United States Department of Justice, in the Fall of 1969, he co-founded the law firm of Buckley & Nagle, where he remained in private practice until his appointment to the Bench of the Chester County Court of Common Pleas on February 9, 2005. He was subsequently elected to a ten-year term on the Court, where he served as a trial judge until his retirement on December 31, 2018. He previously served in various capacities with the Court, including Law Clerk to the Honorable Thomas C. Gawthrop,
President Judge of the Chester County of Common Pleas, the Court’s Juvenile Court Master and its Mental Health Hearing Officer.
During his years as a practitioner, he handled a wide variety of civil and criminal cases, eventually concentrating his practice in municipal, land use and zoning law, real estate acquisition and development, eminent domain, representation of municipal and county governments, zoning hearing boards and municipal authorities, and private individuals and estates, including litigation related to these areas at both the trial and appellate court levels. He was active in various community charitable organizations, including serving as a long-term Board Member and President (1979-1980) of Handi-Crafters, an organization founded in 1961 to provide a continuum of services to support the needs of individuals who are developmentally disabled, and was a founder and past president of the Handi-Crafters Foundation. He was a twenty-year member of the Westtown Township Zoning Hearing Board before assuming the Bench.
Judge Nagle was active in the Chester County Bar Association in various capacities: member of the Board of Directors (1979-1988); Executive Committee (1982-1988); Treasurer (1982-1984); Vice- President (1985); and President (1987). He co-founded the Chester County Bar Foundation in 1985 and served as its President in 1986, and in 1988-1990. He and his wife, Ann are the parents of four adult children and grandparents of fourteen grandchildren.
About MacElree Harvey, Ltd With roots that reach back to 1880, MacElree Harvey is a full-service law firm serving individuals and businesses in Pennsylvania and Delaware. In addition to its broad- based litigation practices, the firm represents clients in corporate law, mergers & acquisitions, labor and employment, real estate, banking & finance, bankruptcy, family law, estate planning, tax law, personal injury, and criminal defense. For more information, visit macelree.com.
