Tricia H. Margolis, Esq. Former Domestic Violence Assistant Prosecutor Unit Leader and Special Deputy Attorney General Adult Trial Teams

Tricia began her legal career in 1995 as a paralegal at the US Department of Justice, Anti-trust division, before attending law school. She continued her work in Washington D.C. in 1996, on Capitol Hill, as an intern on the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Economic and Educational Opportunities, subsequent to her first year of law school. She helped draft federal legislation including the Juvenile Delinquency Act. Her real foray into criminal law began with her externships in law school for U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office where she was granted the Court’s permission to conduct criminal preliminary hearings.

1n 1998, after graduating from law school, Tricia served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Richard Camp and the Honorable Hector E DeSoto both sitting on the New Jersey Superior Court Criminal Division in Essex County, Newark. There she researched legal issues and prepared bench memoranda on myriad family and criminal issues. She observed countless criminal trials including many murder trials. She also served as a mediator for special civil cases during that time.

Tricia was hired by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office in 1999. She was the first hire of then Acting Prosecutor and Assistant Attorney General, Donald Campolo. She began in the pre-indictment units, CJP and Drug Court Then she was promoted to the Juvenile Unit where she conducted several successful juvenile bench trials where delinquency was adjudicated. She also helped divert youth offenders to rehabilitation programs when appropriate. She was then promoted to the Adult Trial Team Unit where she managed a caseload of over 65 files from post arraignment through plea negotiations, motions, jury trials, and sentencing. She successfully prosecuted and won 9 out of 10 adult jury trials.

In addition to her courtroom and legal work, she was a Public Speaker and Fundraiser and then the Early Childhood Education Director for The United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley. She began organizing and conducting public speaking engagements to raise funds for the United Way. She then ran their Strategic Partnership with the community leaders in the industry. She acted as facilitator and mediator to the experts.

Tricia returned to the courtroom in 2013 as the Unit Leader for Domestic Violence at the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office. She prosecuted restraining order violations and investigated and prosecuted the indictable offenses.

Tricia is a graduate of the University of Delaware where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice. During the summer of her junior year, she was selected as 1 of 2 students at the University of Delaware to participate in a Comparative International Drug Law Summer Abroad program through Penn State in the Netherlands.