Kathryn Meloni

Kathryn A. Meloni, Esquire, is a solo practitioner with offices at Santander Bank Bldg., Ste. 205, 2 South Orange Street, Media, Pennsylvania. She is a 1983 graduate of West Chester East High School, and a 1987 cum laude graduate of West Chester University, where she majored in Criminal Justice and minored in both Psychology and Sociology . After graduating from Widener University School of Law in 1990, she initially clerked for the Honorable Francis X. O’Brien in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Family Law Division, and then became employed as an Associate in the Media firm, Michael A. Paul and Associates, P.C. for 4 ½ years. Kathryn has practiced in the areas of family law, personal injury, workers compensation, and wills. She is currently a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) and Delaware County Bar Association (DCBA). She has also spoken on several seminar panels for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. She is a fellow of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation and sat on their Board for the 2000-2001 bar year.

In the PBA-Young Lawyers Division, Kathryn was on the executive council from 1993 through 2001, serving in the positions of Zone 9 Co-chair, Secretary, Chair-Elect, and Chair of the organization. In her role with the YLD, she chaired many committees, including the Awards Committee and the Children’s Issues Committee. In an effort to unify the young lawyers of Zones 1 and 9 (Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties), she began an annual picnic for the 5-county picnic. She has also been a member of the following YLD committees: Statewide Mock Trial (a program for high school students to compete by litigating a mock trial), Law School Practicum (a program for attorneys to enter area law schools in order to help future-lawyers understand the realities of practicing law), Statewide Job Fair (to help new lawyers find jobs), and Regional Bench-Bar Committees (the development of a panel of Judges representing the 5-county area to speak to young lawyers about the practice of law).

Ms. Meloni held the position of Chair of the PBA-YLD in 1999-2000, where her emphasis was on children’s issues; through this, she began a YLD project which was implemented across the Commonwealth where identification cards (including name, vital statistics, picture and fingerprint) were made to be used by the parents in the event of a future kidnaping/missing child scenario. Additionally, one of her platforms included efforts to change the negative image of lawyers. With all of the many community service projects that many lawyers participate in for free in the community, it is surprising that such acts are not reported and the negative image continues. In this capacity, Kathryn served a three (3) year term on the Pennsylvania Bar Association Board of Governors. Since that time, she has continued to be active with the organization through the Members Benefits Committee, Commission on Women in the Profession, Animal Law Committee and Family Law Section.

In the Delaware County Bar Association, Kathryn was extremely active, holding the position of President of the Young Lawyers Section in 1999. Through this organization, she has worked on numerous community service projects, including the annual holiday party for disadvantaged children in the community, reading to Chester elementary school children, working at City Team Soup Kitchen in Chester, and fund-raising for community charities. Other projects in which Ms. Meloni has been fundamental include the Young Lawyers Practicum and the New Judges Dinners held to welcome each new judge onto the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas.

Kathryn has also been active with the Family Law Section of the Delaware County Bar Association, where she held the offices of Treasurer and Secretary. She was chair of the Custody Rules Committee for the Section for two (2) years. Kathryn combined this role with her involvement in the PBA Children’s Issues Committee to present the Delaware County Bar with the idea of a seminar for parties to custody litigation which focuses on the needs of the children involved in this difficult litigation process. A form of the program is now mandatory in Delaware County. Ms. Meloni has spoken on numerous area schools on the effects of custody battles on children.

Kathryn was an active member of the Delaware County Bar Association Law Day Committee (which organizes numerous projects for the community to be held on Law Day (May 1st) of each year), the Family Law Legal Education Committee (which organized family law continuing legal education seminars for the attorneys in Delaware County), and the ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) Committee (which studies and attempts to implement programs to avoid litigation, such as mediation and arbitrations). Further, Ms. Meloni is the recipient of the 1995 DCBA Nicholas D. Vadino, Jr. Award and the 2000 DCBA President’s Recognition Award, two awards of which she is very proud. She served as both Corresponding Secretary and Recording Secretary on the Delaware County Bar Association Board of Directors, as well as serving 2 other terms as Director on the Board.

Kathryn served on the Board of Directors of Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania (LASP) from 2007 through 2013, and was a member of the Board of Overseers of the ALS Association, Greater Philadelphia Chapter from 2010 through 2014, having been involved with the organization since 2004. She is currently very active with PAWS for People, through which her dog is a certified therapy dog, and, as a team, they visit hospitals, nursing homes and elementary schools.

Ms. Meloni held three terms as Judge of Elections for Chadds Ford Township, South West. From July of 2005 through July of 2012, she served as a Hearing Officer for the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania for 6 years. She also has been a Commissioner on the Delaware County Women’s Commission since 2012 to 2017. In addition to her active law practice, she continues as an adjunct professor at Villanova University, where she teaches Family Law in the post-baccalaureate paralegal program.

Further, she served as Executive Director of Grands Stepping Up, a non-profit corporation to assist Grandparents (and other kinship relations) who have custody of their grandchildren from 2020-2021; she incorporated the non-profit, prepared bylaws, and helped to aid in getting the organization up and running.