Ronald C. Nagle, Of Counsel in the West Chester office of MacElree Harvey, Ltd., is a member of the Firm’s Land Use and Zoning Section. Mr. Nagle advises clients on matters concerning real estate acquisition and development, eminent domain, representation of municipal and county governments, zoning hearing boards and municipal authorities, and private individuals and estates and related litigation.

Born and raised in West Chester, Mr. Nagle is a graduate of Saint Joseph’s University and the Temple University School of Law. He was admitted to the Bar of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in November 1965. Following service with the United States Department of Justice, in the Fall of 1969, he co-founded the law firm of Buckley & Nagle, where he remained in private practice until his appointment to the Bench of the Chester County Court of Common Pleas on February 9, 2005. He was subsequently elected to a ten-year term on the Court, where he served as a trial judge until his retirement on December 31, 2018. He previously served in various capacities with the Court, including Law Clerk to the Honorable Thomas C. Gawthrop, President Judge of the Chester County Court of Common Please, the Court’s Juvenile Court Master, and its Mental Health Hearing Officer.

During his years as a practitioner, he handled a wide variety of both civil and criminal cases, eventually concentrating his practice in real estate acquisition and development, land use and zoning litigation, and municipal law, representing both private individual sand governmental entities.

He was active in various community charitable organizations, including a long-term Board Member and President (1979-1980) of Handi-Crafters, an organization founded in 1961 to provide a continuum of services to support the needs of individuals who are developmentally disabled, and was a founder and past president of the Handi-Crafters Foundation. He was a twenty-year member of the Westtown Township Zoning Hearing Board before assuming the Bench.

Judge Nagle was active in the Chester County Bar Association in various capacities: member of the Board of Directors (1979 – 1988); Executive Committee (1982-1988); Treasurer (1982-1984); Vice-President (1985); and President (1987). He co-founded the Chester County Bar Foundation in 1985 and served as its President in 1986, and in 1988-1990. He and his wife, Ann are the parents of four adult children and grandparents of fourteen grandchildren.

Previous Memberships

• Chester County Bar Association
  • Board of Directors (1979 – 1988)
  • Executive Committee (1982-1988)
  • Treasurer (1982-1984)
  • Vice-President (1985)
  • President (1987)
• Chester County Bar Foundation
  • Co-founder (1985)
  • President (1986, and 1988-1990)

Community Involvement

• Handi-Crafters, Board Member and President (1979-1980)
• Handi-Crafters Foundation, Founder and Past President
• Westtown Township Zoning Hearing Board, Member (1983-2004)

Articles

• Vision and Persistence: How Two Families Cleared the Way to Bring a New Boutique Hotel to Downtown West Chester
• Report From The Bunker
• Governor Allows Construction to Resume May 1; New Law Tolls Time for Action on Land Use Applications: Updates from MacElree Harvey, Ltd.’s Land Use Department
• Judge Ronald C. Nagle Joins Firm