Judge Lenihan was appointed a United States Magistrate Judge for the USDC for the Western District of Pennsylvania in April 2004, retiring in October, 2023. From January 2000 until her appointment to the bench she served as Assistant Counsel and Corporate Secretary for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Before going in-house, Judge Lenihan was in private practice handling primarily corporate litigation matters. Judge Lenihan is a 1983 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and serves as a member of its Board of Visitors. 

In her role as a federal Magistrate Judge, Lenihan handled a wide variety of both civil and criminal cases. Her federal court case experience spans virtually every type of dispute including employment matters, FLSA claims, class action suits, civil rights litigation, environmental claims, medical malpractice, complex commercial matters, and personal injury. She has presided over many civil and bench trials, ruled on countless discovery disputes, and successfully mediated hundreds of cases for her colleagues on the bench. 

Judge Lenihan was instrumental in developing the ADR Policies and Procedures for the Western District of Pennsylvania and served on the Court’s Case Management and ADR Committee. She completed her mediation training at the Federal Judicial Center and subsequently taught those skills to judges on a national level. She currently teaches mediation skills at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. 

• JD, University of Pittsburgh School of Law - Magna Cum Laude (served on the Law Review)
• BA, University of Pittsburgh

• Fellow of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation, Fellows Committee Member 2015- present
• Allegheny County Bar Association member and participant in numerous ACBA committees
• Federal Bar Association
• Women's Bar Association of Western Pennsylvania
• UPMC Health Plan Board of Directors (June 2014 - present) Chair Quality Committee, Member Information Technology Committee and Governance Committee
• UPMC Passavant/St. Margaret's Board of Directors (2022 - present, elected Vice Chair 2024)
• UPMC Board of Visitors (2014-present)
• Founding Member and Board Chair of Pittsburgh National Youth Boxing/dba Team 412 non profit organization

Mediation/ENE/Special Master rates:  $750/hour. 4 hour minimum charge plus a $200 administrative fee.

Arbitration: Flat rate of $8,000 per day. Fees for time spent on all other services before and after the arbitration are charged at an hourly rate of $750. 

Law clerk work is charged at $300/hour.