All Rise…The Hon. Dwayne Woodruff Receives Prestigious Award from Duquesne School of Law

by Bill Neal

The Honorable Dwayne D. Woodruff was the recent recipient of the Dr. John E. Murray Jr. Meritorious Service Award, Friday, Sept. 26, at the Duquesne University 73rd Law Alumni Reunion Dinner, held at the University Power Center Ballroom. Judge Woodruff is currently a judge on the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, presiding in the Family Court Division since 2005 and appointed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court as Supervising Judge of the Juvenile Section in February 2019, serving in that role through 2023.

Judge Woodruff earned a degree in Business Finance from the University of Louisville (1979) and Juris Doctor from Duquesne Kline School of Law (1988), which he attended full-time at night during his professional football career with the Steelers. With the Steelers, he played 12 seasons, including in Super Bowl XIV (1980) as a rookie and being voted Steelers MVP in 1982.

Judge Woodruff has the unprecedented distinction of a dual career in professional sports: simultaneously practicing law with the Meyer Darragh firm and playing football for the Steelers for his final three years from 1988 through 1990, at which time he also served as a team captain for the Steelers. In 1997, he became a founding partner of Woodruff Flaherty law firm.

In 2006, Judge Woodruff was one of four judges appointed by the Pa. Supreme Court to the Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice, tasked with investigating and making recommendations to the state following the Luzerne County “Kids for Cash” scandal that resulted in two judges serving long prison terms. Judge Woodruff was subsequently appointed chairman of the Pittsburgh Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice and was able to enact a rule that non-violent juvenile delinquents are no longer brought into the courtroom in handcuffs and shackles, thereby lessening the trauma that they and their parents experience during court proceedings.

Judge Woodruff founded and chairs the Pittsburgh chapter of the National Campaign to Stop Violence’s “Do the Write Thing” program, an initiative which gives middle school students the opportunity to write about the impact of violence in their lives, and their thoughts on the causes of violence and how to end violence.

Through his job, Judge Woodruff considers it a privilege to be in a position to give guidance to youth, especially the young Black males who come before him in court. He feels his work with youth is a calling with responsibilities that do not end with the job. He is a regular speaker at Duquesne Kline School of Law, including at the annual Future Voices of the People event.

The recipient of numerous awards for community service and his work with youth, on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2020, the Allegheny County Bar Association (Homer S. Brown Division) awarded him and his wife, Joy Maxberry Woodruff, with the Drum Major for Justice Award.

Most significant among his many blessings are his marriage of 47 years to Joy and his three adult children; Jillian Woodruff, M.D., an OB/GYN physician in Alaska; Jenyce Woodruff, Esq., a corporate attorney in Philadelphia; and John B. Woodruff II, Esq., also an attorney and a Major in the United States Marines.

THE HON. DWAYNE WOODRUFF WITH WIFE, JOY MAXBERRY WOODRUFF.

Judge Woodruff and Joy Maxberry Woodruff worship at Allegheny Center Alliance Church, where he serves as an Elder.

“It is our deepest privilege to honor these remarkable alumni,” said April Barton, Dean and Professor of Law at the Kline School of Law at Duquesne University. Barton also referenced the other honorees who received awards on Sept. 26, The Hon. Michael E. McCarthy and Kate L. Stoy, Esq. “Each have dedicated themselves to upholding the highest ideals of our profession and have achieved remarkable success in their respective legal careers. While doing so, they have lived the call for service to others. They have been extremely impactful to Duquesne Kline School of Law, and we are very appreciative of their ongoing and lasting contributions to our school.”