Judge Todd Woodin has served the community for decades. As a lifetime resident who has held the elected seat of Magisterial District Judge for District 37-4-01 since 2016, Woodin continues to enjoy Warren County and the work he has done and is doing. Pictured are Eric (son), Todd Woodin, and Elizabeth Feronti (wife) standing in Elias National Park, Alaska.
Judge Todd A. Woodin, who has served Warren County as Magisterial District Judge for District 37-4-01 since 2016, has been serving the community in the legal system for decades.
Woodin is a lifelong Warren County resident and Eisenhower High School graduate who attended Pennsylvania State University and graduated in 1993. As a history major at PSU, Woodin completed most of his credits early and had a minimum schedule during his final semester.
“I had enough free time to get a job. I noticed that the Penn State Dairy Farm was looking for help, so I applied. It was a peculiar interview when I explained that I was a senior history major going to law school the following year but that I was familiar with milking cows and particularly running heavy equipment given my upbringing and experience working at a sawmill at home,” the judge said.
“I only briefly worked in the milking parlor and eventually ran equipment exclusively, as most of the Ag majors had no equipment experience. It was neat running a tractor across the street from Beaver Stadium. I worked at the farm until I went to law school in the fall.”
Woodin graduated from Widener University School of Law Harrisburg in 1996 and, upon passing the bar, began general practice with a local attorney in Warren, eventually opening his solo practice. Woodin’s practice included family law, estate, and civil litigation, later focusing heavily on criminal defense work. Woodin said he particularly enjoyed the extensive trial work that included everything from DUI to burglary to homicide.
“I think it was around 2007 when I became the public defender for Forest County,” he said. “I stayed in that position until my election year for magisterial district judge in 2015.”
In addition to running a private practice as the public defender in Forest County, Woodin also served as the Mental Health Review Officer for the 37th Judicial District for several years until his election. A frequent professional opponent during Woodin’s tenure as a defense attorney was then Warren County Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Feronti.
“We had a lot of trials together for a number of years, and I like to say I kicked her butt in most of them, but I’m sure it wasn’t quite as successful as I remember it. In any event, one thing led to another , and we got married in 2010.”
The couple was blessed with a son, Eric, in 2012. Throughout the 2000s and into the 2010s, Woodin hand-built his dream home, a reconstructed barn timber-frame home featuring beam work hand-hewn by Woodin.
“Everything in the house, roof to flooring to doors, 30 of them, are built from trees I cut, skidded, sawed out, dried, and were milled by me. I did it, like everything else, the hard way. But living in a house I built with my own hands is a pretty satisfying feeling,” Woodin said.
In addition to enjoying boating on the Kinzua Reservoir, hunting, and camping, Woodin recently returned from the trip of a lifetime with his family to Alaska, his 50th state.
The Woodins also enjoyed traveling to Italy, Germany, and other European stops. The most interesting hobby, however, has to be his partnership with his lifelong friend in a land speed racing team, “Team Urgently.” Racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats in a highly modified 1989 Camaro, Woodin ran the car to a top speed of 210 MPH in 2021 in an assault on the class record. In 2022, the team raced at Loring, Maine, in a standing mile-and-a-half event and won 2 records at 202+ and 203+ MPH.
“Those records got both my partner and I into the much desired ‘200-Mile-Per Hour Club’ together with the coveted hat that comes with such an achievement. Cool,” Woodin said.
Anyone interested can check out “The Speed Ranch” on Facebook. Running for Magisterial District Judge 37-4-01 in the spring of 2015 and taking office in 2016, Judge Woodin has enjoyed the challenges of a career shift at the midpoint.
“From serving as a part-time presiding judge for the Treatment Court program to midnight arraignments during the pandemic to interacting with local youth with truancy issues, the job has provided a whole new perspective on the legal system that I wouldn’t have been exposed to as an attorney only. I love the job and look forward to continuing service to my community for years.”
In addition to serving as MDJ, Woodin maintains a small private practice that serves a nearly 30-year client base that has come to rely on a small-town, friendly lawyer like Woodin.
Woodin’s career comfort zone presides over Central Court preliminary hearings at the Warren County Courthouse.
“I have a Zen approach to prelim day,” Woodin said. “My job is to stay out of the way and give the attorneys plenty of time to hash out the case with the defendants, police, and victims. I know what’s going on in the back rooms, and it’s a very important day in a case in which all of the players are in the same place at the same time.”
Woodin also volunteers and supports Brokenstraw community swimming. He is a follower of the Youngsville High School marching band, of which his son, Eric, is a trumpeter.
“Summing it up, it’s been an interesting life to this point,” said Woodin.
