Joanne Ross Wilder (1942-2011)
Joanne Ross Wilder founded the law firm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1978. She authored the treatise, Pennsylvania Family Law Practice and Procedure, now in its seventh edition, and regularly contributed articles on domestic relations, business and legal ethics issues to professional publications. A graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law, Ms. Wilder was a member of the bars of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Louisiana. She was a Director of Fidelity Bancorp, Inc. and chaired the Bank’s Compensation and Corporate Governance Committees.
Her contributions to the legal community go far beyond her individual professional achievements. She was a national authority on matrimonial law, a staunch advocate for women’s rights, and frequently lectured at continuing legal education programs and taught family law as an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. She served on the faculty of the Family Law Trial Institute at the South Texas College of Law in Houston and was a senior member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, having served as Editor-in-Chief from 2000 to 2010. Ms. Wilder was a past president of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Academy and a Diplomate of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers and Fellow of theInternational Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. She served six years on the Supreme Court Domestic Relations Procedural Rules Committee, and two terms as a Hearing Committee member and chair for the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. She was a past president of Neighborhood Legal Services Association.
Ms. Wilder served in the Pennsylvania Bar Association House of Delegates for 20 years. She chaired the Family Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association from 1990 to 1991, and was past chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Ethics Committee.
Joanne has been recognized for her mentoring of younger lawyers, her promotion of professionalism at the bar and her extensive pro bono work. She was named Pro Bono Attorney of the Year by the Westmoreland County Bar Association in 2010. Ms. Wilder was listed in every edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
