Sophia Zoe Kilmer for Judge
MISSION STATEMENT
I am running for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County to be a Judge for the people and community I care so much about.
Having dedicated years to practicing and studying the legal philosophy and the rule of law I am a jurisprudent with deep understanding of the philosophy of law.
I have the judgement, intelligence, temperament, work ethic and jurisprudence to serve my community from the bench.
I would be the first openly trans individual to serve as a Judge at the Court of Common Pleas level or higher in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and I don't take that history making opportunity lightly.
To my community, the queer community and to all my trans siblings, I am running for Judge so I can serve as a lighthouse for all queer people to see that we can stand up for ourselves "the oppressed" and make ourselves visible.
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OPEN LETTER
Dear Democratic area leaders, committee members, and elected officials and representatives of Montgomery County and most importantly to all Democratic voters:
Please allow me to introduce myself, I am Sophia Zoë Kilmer, I am a proud Montgomery County citizen, and I am grateful to raise my child in our fine diverse community. I am running for Common Pleas Judge of Montgomery County in the upcoming election in 2025
I write to you to let you know about who I am and what I represent and believe in.
I will be “fair and impartial” to all parties who come before me. I believe that judge’s must be “fair and impartial” because the role of a judge is to sit in judgement of others and all parties who come before a judge should know that they will be treated fairly.
However, when the law applicable to the case is not clear cut, and it is anything but black and white many times, even in being fair and impartial judges are called on to exercise their own jurisprudence when reaching a decision or a ruling in a case where the case before them has no clear precedent on point to help interpret the law and resolve the parties’ dispute.
I am honest during my campaign that my jurisprudence will be educated and guided by my world views as a lifelong Democrat and Progressive, my upbringing, my life experience as a trans woman and a member of the queer community, my education, and my experience representing individuals seeking justice in the legal system.
I have 13 years of legal experience living every day the principles and values of representing the disadvantaged and oppressed as a trial litigator representing injured individuals for catastrophic injuries and family members of those tragically killed due to another’s negligence in wrongful death cases. I have had the honor of helping countless amounts of individuals over the course of my career who at the time they came to me were at their weakest and most vulnerable state and through, empathy, compassion and tenacious advocacy I have helped those clients find solace in the legal system.
Throughout my entire career as an attorney, I have always represented people. Having worked in the field of catastrophic loss and wrongful death representing clients and settling cases worth millions of dollars over my career. During my illustrious career I have had cases against some of the largest corporations and organizations in the world, ranging from litigation against mega corporations to suing the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
I have represented police officers, firemen and EMS workers who were injured in the call of duty.
I have represented oil refinery workers, retail workers, construction workers and union workers throughout my career in many different areas of the law including, civil litigation, workers compensation law and Social Security Disability law.
I believe the legal system in our society should not be a tool of the oppressor, and when there is an interpretation of the law that decides an issue, and there is a grey area of the law in how a law should be interpreted and applied to the facts I will be guided by my jurisprudence. However, I will vow to never back down to the values of selfishness, greed, xenophobia, racism and discrimination of queer people.
I am running for judge as a Democrat because I believe in our party the power of a collective organization of people to change our world for the better if only incrementally. I welcome the opportunity to discuss my qualifications, platform and any other question that one may have about myself or my campaign. Thank you for being an integral part of democracy. I welcome hearing your voice in relation to what you are looking for in a judicial candidate.
Sincerely,
Sophia Zoe Kilmer, Esq.
LEGAL EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL CAREER
Sophia Zoe Kilmer is internationally educated judicial scholar having received her Legal Masters degree from the world-renowned Maastricht University in the Netherlands and her Juris Doctorate from Washburn School of Law located in her native home of Kansas all within three years.
During Sophia’s legal education at both universities she would receive accolades, and was referred to as a “brilliant legal mind” by the legal faculties of the schools. She graduated from Washburn School of Law with Dean’s Honors in three years while simultaneously studying abroad and graduating from the world-renowned Maastricht University in the Netherlands with an LLM in Globalization and the Law.
During Sophia’s legal education she would receive the Honor of Top Paper (which is highest of all A’s) in several of her legal courses including, Contracts, Conflicts of Law, and International World Trade Organization Law. She also graduated with Dean’s Honors’ from Washburn School of Law.
Sophia is a internationally educated judicial scholar having studied the “Rule of Law” and “Globalization and the Law” at world-renowned Maastricht University. While simultaneously attending law school at Washburn School of Law she published a master’s thesis at Maastricht University about Private Military Contractors and Accountability Abroad: A case Study Examining how Private Military Contractors could be held accountable for gross violations of international criminal law.
Sophia is a avid scholar of judicial philosophy. She has dedicated her entire life to studying the rule of law, proper and ethical jurisprudence, landmark constitutional and civil rights cases and judicial philosophy.
She has utilized her skills as a gifted public speaker for over 13 years as a trial attorney specializing in complex civil litigation. She is a brilliant legal mind that has been responsible for crafting out of the box, nuanced, ingenious legal arguments which have helped clients in high profile legal cases, representing victims of sexual abuse against medical institutions, injured NCAA athletes and victims of heinous criminal acts.
During her illustrious and meteoric rise in the legal profession she has worked for solo practitioners, boutique law firms and multimillion-dollar law firms all in the pursuit of helping people in her community.
She has been honored by her peers by being selected by Super Lawyers as a “Rising Star” for the last five years at three different law firms as she progressed in her career. She has been selected as a “Top 40 under 40” Lawyer in Pennsylvania by The National Trial Lawyers Association.
Sophia has served the Democratic party and her community as an elected official as a Democratic Committee Person Cheltenham precinct 2-4 and on the Cheltenham Democratic Committee Executive Committee and valued and cherished the experience and opportunity to be a part of Democracy.
She is an active member of the Montgomery County Bar Association, Philadelphia Bar Association, Bucks County Bar Association, Montgomery County Equality Caucus, Human Rights Campaign Partner, Pennsylvania Association for Justice and the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association.
ABOUT THE CANDIDATE
Sophia Zoe Kilmer is a loving parent to her preschool son that she co-parents. She enjoys playing ultimate frisbee and flag football. She is an avid runner and is currently training for the Philadelphia Marathon in 2025 having just finished the Philadelphia half marathon in both 2023 and 2024.
In March 2023, Sophia Zoe Kilmer came out to her family, friends and world as a trans woman. She has been living life as her authentic self since that time and has a new found passion for life. She is a victim of abuse and has dedicated her life to representing and helping victims of abuse. She is a proud member of the #OutoftheDarkness community and a strong mental health advocate.
In February 2023 Sophia nominated Neil Makija for Commissioner at the MCDC convention and would go on to give an impassioned speech in favor of an open primary, which would provide Neil Makija the ability to convince the democrats of Montgomery County his progressive values were the way forward during the May 2023 Democratic Primary and she served as Neil Makija's LGBTQ+ policy advisor during his 2023 campaign.
Sophia lives by the mission that everyday in her life she tries to do a little bit better than she did the day before and continues to strive to be the most authentic and the best version of herself and invites others to do the same.
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