Gary S. Glazer

Gary Stuart Glazer is a retired American judge who served for 30 years in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia, part of Pennsylvania's First Judicial District. During that time, he also served as an administrative judge in two other courts within the First Judicial District. As a Common Pleas judge, Glazer served in the criminal and civil divisions, and was Supervising Judge of Philadelphia's Commerce Case Management Program from 2018 to 2021. In response to the Philadelphia Traffic Court scandal of 2011, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court appointed Glazer as Administrative Judge of the Traffic Court in 2011 to reverse many years of institutional corruption, while still maintaining his role as a full-time Court of Common Pleas judge. Glazer also became known for innovative court programs within the Commerce Court. He has also been very involved in lecturing on the American legal system outside the United States.

Early life and education Glazer is from Ohio. He received his B.A., cum laude, from Ohio State University in 1972, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa, and his Juris Doctor degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1975.

Legal practice Among other jurisdictions, Glazer was admitted to practice law in Illinois' state courts (1975) and Pennsylvania's state courts (1984). He worked at private law firms in Chicago, Illinois and Philadelphia, and was an Assistant United States Attorney in Philadelphia for over 10 years, serving as chief of its Fraud Section, including prosecutions for judicial corruption as well as complex frauds. Glazer also successfully prosecuted Philadelphia Judge Thomas N. Shiomos in a bribery scandal involving illegal payments from a trade union. He was 41-years old at the time. He won retention elections in 2001 and 2011, each for ten-year terms. During his tenure, Glazer served in the Court of Common Pleas' civil and criminal divisions, presiding over a wide range of case types, including, for example, capital and non-capital homicides, professional malpractice cases, general civil litigation and other serious criminal matters, class actions, administrative appeals, real estate cases, and tax matters.

In 2004, while holding a sentencing hearing on a convicted criminal defendant, the defendant physically moved toward Glazer in the courtroom. An armed deputy sheriff intervened and attempted to restrain the defendant from reaching Glazer, ultimately shooting the defendant.

In December 2011, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court made Glazer administrative judge of Philadelphia's Traffic Court, and in 2013, he was made the administrative judge of the Municipal Court of Philadelphia's new Traffic Division. In 2012, he was assigned to the Court of Common Pleas' specialized business court program, the Commerce Case Management Program ("Commerce Court"), additionally becoming the Commerce Court's supervising judge from 2018 to 2021.

In early 2011, the FBI raided the homes and offices of Philadelphia Traffic Court officials, including judges, in connection with an alleged ongoing, years long, pattern of fixing traffic citations. A study and report commissioned by Pennsylvania's Supreme Court concluded that the traffic court practiced a "two-track system of justice, one for the politically connected and another for the unwitting general public. ... [And] that the [traffic court] judges routinely made, accepted and granted third-party requests for preferential treatment for politically connected individuals with cases in Traffic Court."

In December 2011, then Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille and Pennsylvania's Supreme Court removed the Traffic Court's administrative judge and replaced him with Glazer as administrative judge. Glazer was given the task of overseeing the implementation of traffic court reforms, with authority over all of that court's judges. In mid-2013, legislation was passed ending the Traffic Court as a functioning court, and creating the Traffic Division of Philadelphia's Municipal Court to replace the Traffic Court. Glazer served as administrative judge of the Municipal Court's traffic division from its inception in 2013 through 2021, being succeeded by Judge Joffie C. Pittman, III. In all, Glazer served ten years as administrative leader of Philadelphia's traffic tribunals. In 2018, he succeeded Judge Patricia A. McInerney as the Commerce Court's supervising judge.

In 2018, under Glazer's initiative, the Taxicab Medallion Loan Program was created as part of the Commerce Court. There was a financial crisis in Philadelphia's taxicab industry caused when hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans were taken against individual taxicab medallions and licenses, which later lost most of their value after the advent of competitive rideshare programs Uber and Lyft. Lenders were going to court seeking judgments on unpaid loans and seizure of the medallions for sale at auction. The Medallion Loan Program created rules for early court intervention in lender actions, and a streamlined litigation and alternative dispute resolution process to promote potentially more efficient and better resolutions.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 crisis, Glazer led the effort in creating the Temporary Financial Monitor Program. This program was an effort to address the financial crises among small businesses unable to generate sufficient income to meet their debt obligations. It was designed to operate under the auspices of the Commerce Court, by helping small businesses negotiate with their lenders and creditors in an effort to survive the crisis until they could become fully operational again.

He is also one of the few U.S. judges to actively participate in the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts.

Notable cases A few of Glazer's notable cases as a judge include: a suit challenging Philadelphia's soda tax, matters involving the 2020 U.S. presidential elections, and a wide range of matters involving insurance coverage and the disclosure of factual details in connection with the Pennsylvania State University Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal.

Positions and honors Glazer is an adjunct instructor at Villanova University's School of Law (trial practice), and has lectured internationally in France, the United Kingdom, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Belarus.