The Honorable Bruce L. Castor, Jr. worked in various Pennsylvania prosecutors’ offices from 1981 to 2018 beginning as an intern, assistant district attorney, special deputy attorney general, special assistant district attorney, becoming the twice-elected District Attorney of Montgomery County, from 2000 to 2008. Mr. Castor was later twice-elected Commissioner of Montgomery County (while serving concurrently and variously as special prosecutor as required). He assumed the office of Commissioner on January 7, 2008 concentrating on the Public Safety aspects of government building on his career in law enforcement. Mr. Castor retired on January 4, 2016 after 30 years of service in Montgomery County alone to became Solicitor General and acting Attorney General of Pennsylvania during a time of great turmoil in that office.
Gen. Castor has practiced civil litigation since 2008 in addition to his three decades in law enforcement. He also represents criminal defendants since he stopped representing the Commonwealth in January, 2018. The General focuses his practice on general civil litigation (especially for victims of crime) the rare criminal case, grand jury, trial strategy and tactics, and conducting discreet internal investigations for corporate clients. Gen. Castor is a trial lawyer with special experience being part of government agencies. For example, Gen. Castor acted as Solicitor to the Perkiomen Valley School District from 2015 to 2018. Numerous legal groups and publications frequently and routinely list Mr. Castor among America’s top lawyers.
During Gen. Castor’s law enforcement career, he was especially noted for investigating, either in the field or by way of grand jury, and prosecuting homicide cases. In 1995, Mr. Castor received the Trial Advocacy Award from the National Association of Government Attorneys for his work investigating and prosecuting homicides. He received state-wide recognition for his efforts by the Pennsylvania General Assembly on two occasions, as well as by Governors Ridge and Casey. Gen. Castor has held the top “AV” rating for nearly 30 years and is listed on the Martindale-Hubble Lawyer Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. Mr. Castor is a “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer” each year from 2005 to 2008 & 2011 to present and listed among the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America 2012 to present. The Citizens Crime Commission of the Greater Delaware Valley honored Gen. Castor multiple times during his prosecutorial career, and the Pennsylvania Police Hall of Fame inducted him as a member in 2007, a singular honor for a prosecutor. Mr. Castor is a Senior Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America (LCA), the Trial Lawyer Honor Society where he belongs to the Trial Lawyer Institute and Diversity Law Institute. In oral advocacy, Gen. Castor is a LCA a Barrister in the “Order of Centurions” for having verified 100 or more each of jury and non-jury trials. Gen. Castor is an Advocate the LCA’s “Order of Certus” for his many and skillful arguments in both the state and federal appellate courts. He is one of a very few LCA members to hold both distinctions the Barrister and Advocate certifications. Gen. Castor was named to The National Academy of Jurisprudence, and as a member of Elite American Lawyers.
Prior to becoming acting Attorney General, Solicitor General, Commissioner, and District Attorney, Mr. Castor served as First Assistant District Attorney, Deputy District Attorney (Chief of Trials), Assistant District Attorney in charge of the Major Crimes Unit, and as an assistant district attorney on the Sex Crimes Unit. He has supervised the County Investigating Grand Jury and conducted numerous wiretap investigations. His special prosecutor appointments include the Office of Attorney General, and various counties in Pennsylvania. Most recently, Mr. Castor served a three-year term as a Special Assistant District Attorney for Centre County, PA. finally leaving law enforcement after that appointment expired on December 31, 2017, though he did spend several weeks as a Special Assistant District Attorney in Susquehanna County in 2018 to address a specific case for the District Attorney there at the time. Bruce has frequently lectured on topics related to trial tactics, courtroom preparation, criminal investigations, and prosecutions.
In addition to Pennsylvania, at present, General Castor is a member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court, the Third, Fourth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia, the Federal District Courts for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, the Federal District Court of Colorado, the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Mr. Castor is a Past-President of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys’ Association, a member of the Pennsylvania and Montgomery Bar Associations, and a charter member of then- Pennsylvania Homicide Investigators’ Association. Mr. Castor served on the board of the Montgomery Bar Association and further as a Trustee of Norristown State Hospital having been appointed by Governor Ridge and again by Governor Rendell. He served on the Juvenile Court Rules Committee of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the First Judicial District Reform Commission of the Supreme Court, the General Assembly’s Special Session on Crime called by Governor Ridge in the early 1990, the General Assembly’s committee to author the Evidence Code of Pennsylvania, and on the Senate Select Commission to improve the criminal justice system statewide. As acting Attorney General, Mr. Castor was an ex officio member of the Criminal Rules Committee of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. Gen. Castor lead the defense in 2021 at the Impeachment Trial of the 45th President of the United States, and in 2023, he helped successfully impeach the District Attorney of Philadelphia.
General Castor acquired his undergraduate degree from Lafayette College, receiving his diploma from Astronaut Neil Armstrong, and his law degree from Washington and Lee University where he received the only graduation prize awarded relating to criminal law from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell. Gen. Castor received advanced education from the National College of District Attorneys and at the FBI National Academy National Law Institute in Quantico, Virginia in 1993.
General Castor is a lifelong resident of Montgomery County, PA who grew up in Abington, and now lives in Lederach, Lower Salford Township, with his wife, Elizabeth. The couple have been married since 1989 and are proud of their two grown children, Bruce, III (a former assistant district attorney and current trial lawyer based in the Pittsburgh area, Allegheny County, PA also practicing in Ohio), and Alexandra (formerly a member of the Montgomery County Clerk of Courts’ Office). Gen. Castor coached baseball for many years in the Souderton and Harleysville areas on Montgomery County. He and his family are members of Abington Presbyterian Church (where he and Elizabeth were married and their children baptized and confirmed) and where Bruce taught Sunday school. Bruce is a Master Mason, a 33rd Degree Scottish Rite mason, a Royal Arch Mason, a Knight Templar, and a Shriner.
Practice Area(s): Civil Litigation, Civil Rights, Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, Wrongful Death Litigation