Bruce Beemer

Bruce Beemer (born December 14, 1968) is an American attorney and jurist currently serving as a judge on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. He previously served as the attorney general of Pennsylvania from 2016 to 2017 and as Inspector General of Pennsylvania from 2016 to 2019. He was nominated to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas by Governor Tom Wolf and unanimously confirmed by the Pennsylvania State Senate in November 2019. He was sworn in on January 3, 2020.

Early life and education Beemer was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He attended Phillips Academy, graduating in 1987. In 1992, Beemer earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Scranton, before earning a Juris Doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1995.

Career Early legal career Beemer served as an assistant district attorney in the General Trial Unit, the Narcotics Unit, and the Crimes Against Persons Unit of the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office, prosecuting various types of cases, including DUIs, homicide, serious offenses involving drug delivery and trafficking, rape, child abuse, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, and computer crimes. In 2005, Judge Beemer was promoted to deputy district attorney in charge of the General Trial Unit, where he supervised eighteen attorneys prosecuting roughly ten thousand cases a year ranging from weapons and drug violations, DUI, theft, forgery, burglary, robbery, and assault. Judge Beemer became the supervisor of both the Summary Appeals Unit and the Extradition Unit in 2006. In addition to his many supervisory roles, Judge Beemer continued to prosecute many homicides and other serious matters. He worked regularly with city, state, and federal law enforcement agents to identify and prosecute gang related criminal activity throughout the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. He also spent considerable time investigating several cold case homicides.

In 2010, Beemer left the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office to join the law firm founded by his parents as a partner, opening a new Pittsburgh office. He brought federal and state criminal defense work to the firm, which had mostly represented plaintiffs in cases regarding environmental law, personal injury, and medical malpractice. He primarily focused on the representation of those harmed by environmental polluters. In partnership with two other firms in 2011, the firm represented several hundred plaintiffs in a class action against Sandvik Steel and other companies for toxic contamination at an industrial site near Scranton, resulting in the largest settlement of a mass tort environmental case in the history of northeast Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania state government In 2011, Attorney General Linda L. Kelly appointed Beemer to serve as her chief of staff. In 2013, Beemer was asked to serve as senior counsel and chief of the Criminal Prosecutions Section by newly elected Attorney General Kathleen Kane.

In July 2016, Beemer was appointed by Governor Tom Wolf to serve as Inspector General of Pennsylvania. The following month, Wolf nominated him to be attorney general of Pennsylvania following Kane's resignation. He was confirmed unanimously by the Pennsylvania Senate by a vote of 44–0. After the election of Josh Shapiro as attorney general, Beemer resumed his role as Inspector General of Pennsylvania.

Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Beemer was appointed to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas in 2019. He currently serves in the Criminal Division, handling a specialty court docket in Sex Offender Court (SOC) dealing with crimes against minors.