The Hon. Stephen G. Baratta is a judge for the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania. He was elected to the bench on November 4, 1997 and retained in 2007 and 2017.
Baratta has presided over civil and criminal trials. He also held assignments as the Administrative Judge of Domestic Relations, the Asbestos Docket, the Criminal Court, and the Juvenile Court. He also sat as President Judge of the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas.
Prior to his election, Baratta served as First Assistant District Attorney for the Northampton County District Attorney’s Office, a position to which he was named in 1992.
Baratta earned a bachelor’s degree from Lafayette College in 1978. He then completed a J.D. at Fordham University School of Law in 1981.
After graduating from law school, Baratta entered into private practice in Easton. He worked in that capacity until 1985, at which time he became a solicitor for Northampton County Children and Youth Services. Then, in 1990, he joined the Northampton County Solicitor’s Office, where he spent the next two years as an assistant county solicitor representing the Department of Human Services.
His memberships have included the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Northampton County Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges, and the American Judicature Society. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Club of Easton and the VIA of the Lehigh Valley.
Baratta attended Bangor Area High School.
He is registered as a Democrat.