Judge Gafni joined the faculty in 1994 as Professor of Law. Before coming to
Villanova, Judge Gafni was in private law practice, an appellate court clerk, an attorney
for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Deputy District Attorney for Law of
Philadelphia, and a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, where he served as Court
Administrator of Pennsylvania for two years.
Judge Gafni has lectured on various legal topics for, among others, the United States
Department of Justice, the American Law Institute, the American Judicature Society, the
Federal Trade Commission, the American Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute,
the Pennsylvania College of the Judiciary, the Pennsylvania District Attorneys
Association, the Philadelphia and other county bar associations and the Annenberg
Research Institute for Judaic and Near Eastern Studies and the Pennsylvania Institute of
Certified Public Accountants, the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
He has taught courses on trial practice, evidence, alternative dispute resolution and
professional ethics at area law schools for over 25 years. He also has prepared many
publications for the education of both the judiciary and the Bar, and written articles
for Temple Law Quarterly and the Pennsylvania Law Quarterly.
Judge Gafni is active in numerous professional and civic organizations. He is a justice
on the Supreme Court of the World Zionist Organization, Chair of the Resolutions
Committee of the Jewish Agency Assembly. In addition, he is vice chair of the
Pennsylvania Appellate Court Procedural Rules Committee and recently completed seven
years as President of the Arbitration Tribunal of the International Commission of
Holocaust Era Insurance Claims. He has received numerous honors for his service from the
Philadelphia Bar.
