Judge Nicola Henry-Taylor was elected to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas in November 2021 and began serving in the Family Division on January 3, 2022. As of January 5, 2026, she began her service in the Civil Division.
Her legal career began during law school, where she interned for Judge Justin M. Johnson of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. After earning her Juris Doctor from the Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Duquesne University in 1996, she served as a Law Clerk for President Judges Charles R. Alexander in Clarion County and Thomas J. Doerr in Butler County. In 2001, she joined the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office, where she prosecuted Mental Health Court cases. She later transitioned to private practice, joining K&L Gates in 2007 before founding her own law firm in 2010, focusing on family and criminal law.
Judge Henry-Taylor has devoted her career to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and to expanding access to justice. She previously served as the Diversity Director for the Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Duquesne University. Her commitment to equity and fairness is reflected in her service as a Commissioner on the Allegheny County Human Relations Commission and the Pennsylvania Commission for Fairness and Justice formerly the Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Fairness where she currently serves as Secretary and Parliamentarian. She also serves on the Board of Advisors for Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts and formerly served on the Board of Advisors for the Homeless Children’s Education Fund.
A longtime leader in the legal community, Judge Henry-Taylor co-founded the Allegheny County Bar Association Diversity Collaborative, now known as the Committee for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI), and the CDI Pathways to Leadership Program. She has held a number of leadership roles within the Bar, including Chair of both the Judiciary Committee and the Women in the Law Division, as well as two terms as Secretary on the Executive Board of the Allegheny County Bar Association. She was the inaugural Co-Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Legal Academics Committee and is a Fellow of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation. She has contributed to several ACBA Ad Hoc Committees focused on judiciary-related issues, police use of force, and bail reform, and currently serves as Chair of the ACBA Ad Hoc Committee for the Summer Diversity Clerkship Program.
Since taking the bench, Judge Henry-Taylor has continued her service to the profession and the broader legal system. In January 2023, she was appointed by Chief Justice Debra Todd to the Pennsylvania Continuing Judicial Education Board of Judges. She is an active member of the National Association of Women Judges, The Clifford Scott Green Chapter of the National Bar Association, and the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges, where she has participated in the Family Law Section, Juvenile Section and the Legislative Committee. In 2024, she was appointed by Governor Josh Shapiro to the Pennsylvania Commission for Fairness and Justice and served as the 2024–2025 President of the Duquesne Kline Law Alumni Association. In 2025, she was appointed to the Slippery Rock University Foundation Board, further extending her commitment to education and public service.
Judge Henry-Taylor’s professional excellence and community engagement have been recognized with numerous honors. In January of 2026, she received the Homer S. Brown Division of the ACBA Martin Luther King Drum Major for Justice Award. In 2024, she received both the Slippery Rock University Alumni Distinction Award and the 19th Amendment Award. She was named Onyx Woman of the Year in 2022 and received the Josh Gibson Foundation Civil Service Award in 2021. Additional honors include the ACBA Women in the Law Division’s Carol Los Mansmann Helping Hand Award in 2019, the New Pittsburgh Courier Women of Excellence Award in 2017, the Women’s Bar Association of Western Pennsylvania Susan B. Anthony Award in 2016, the Duquesne Women’s Law Association Woman of the Year Award in 2015, and the Pennsylvania Bar Association Minority Bar Committee Rising Star Award in 2009.
Judge Henry-Taylor earned her Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Slippery Rock University and her Juris Doctor from Duquesne University, where she was a proud first-generation law student. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, and is a charter member, and Parliamentarian, of the Alpha Delta Lambda Omega Chapter, which serves Homestead, Pennsylvania and the surrounding areas.
She remains deeply engaged in her community through her memberships in the Pittsburgh and Coraopolis branches of the NAACP. She was also a founding member of the Pittsburgh Steel City Chapter of Top Ladies of Distinction, where she served as Parliamentarian.
