Christopher C. Conner

After more than 20 successful years as a federal judge, Judge Christopher C. Conner continues his decorated and renowned career at Saxton & Stump following his retirement from the bench. Judge Conner joined the firm in 2025 after serving as a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania from 2002 to 2024. His time on the bench also included the esteemed honor of serving as the district’s chief judge from 2013 to 2020.

At Saxton & Stump, Judge Conner serves as co-chair of both the firm’s Appellate and Post-Trial Advocacy and Investigations and Criminal Defense groups, and he is a member of the Commercial Litigation, Franchise Litigation, and Intellectual Property groups. Judge Conner also works in an advisory role for clients facing complex government investigations and courtroom trials (including appeals).

Judge Conner joins the Hon. Lawrence Stengel (Ret.) and the Hon. Margaret Seymour (Ret.) –all former federal district chief judges–as part of the firm’s affiliate company, Optimal Dispute Resolutions (ODR). In this role, Judge Conner acts as a mediator assisting clients in achieving amicable resolutions prior to trial. He is also happy to accept appointments as a special master or arbitrator in complex litigation, including multidistrict litigation matters (MDL). Our dispute resolution practice is national in scope, and the team is prepared to travel to any jurisdiction.

Thousands of cases came into Judge Conner’s courtroom, where he fairly and impartially presided over some of the most significant cases in the Middle District. Among the most notable was the “Kids for Cash” case, where two federal judges in northeast Pennsylvania were sent to prison for receiving money from the developers of juvenile detention centers in exchange for declaring juveniles delinquent and assigning them to the detention centers, the vast majority of whom were declared delinquent for infractions that typically would result in minor penalties. Judge Conner presided over multiple hearings and a lengthy trial to determine damages for the individuals impacted by the scheme. The case drew national headlines for months as it played out in Judge Conner’s courtroom, and was later depicted in a book entitled “Shackled: A Tale of Wronged Kids, Rogue Judges, and a Town that Looked Away,” by Candy J. Cooper.

Judge Conner’s judicial experience has made him a coveted speaker on continuing legal education (CLE) panels and lectures in Pennsylvania. He’s also a sought-after author and has spoken and written on a broad spectrum of litigation-related topics and ethical issues.

Before being appointed a federal judge, Judge Conner worked in private practice in his native Harrisburg, a time when he was very involved in leadership positions at the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He served as President-elect and Vice President of the PBA in 2001-02. He also served two additional terms on the PBA Board of Governors, and he is a Life Fellow of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation.

Judge Conner was also an adjunct professor at Penn State Dickinson School of Law, where he taught federal criminal practice and at the Widener University School of Law (now Widener Law Commonwealth) in 2020, where he taught trial advocacy. He is a graduate of the Dickinson School of Law, and he earned his undergraduate degree at Cornell University. He was later named a “Distinguished Alumni” for Cornell’s Class of 1979.