As communities across Western Pennsylvania marked the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, the Allegheny County Bar Association honored Judge Nicola Henry-Taylor for her work advancing justice in the region.
The recognition came during the bar association’s 27th annual prayer breakfast, held in honor of King at Mount Ararat Baptist Church in Pittsburgh’s Larimer neighborhood.
It was one of several events held throughout Western Pennsylvania remembering King’s legacy — including a birthday celebration at New Kensington’s Corner Launchbox and a ceremony at Greensburg’s Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
The breakfast represents the bar association’s continued commitment to civil rights and justice, said Peter McCall, chair of the Homer S. Brown Division of the Allegheny County Bar Association.
“We believe it’s important to invite the community in,” he said, “because Dr. King’s impact is not limited to lawyers. His impact is all over the community and has been for the past 60-some years.”
‘A drum major for justice’
A New York native, Henry-Taylor has served Western Pennsylvania for 30 years. The 53-year-old earned her bachelor’s degree from Slippery Rock and attended law school at Duquesne University before going on to work as an attorney in Clarion, Butler and Allegheny counties.
She began working at the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office in 2001 before transitioning to private practice in 2007. She was elected to the Common Pleas Court in 2021, where she works in the civil division.
Being nominated and selected for the bar association’s “Drum Major for Justice Award” was a humbling experience for Henry-Taylor.
“As an attorney, generally, a part (of the job) is to be of service and doing pro bono work to benefit the community,” she said. “But I think that women of color and people of color who get in this position, we don’t just get to sit here and be comfortable.
“It’s important for us to be seen in the community. It’s important for us to bring other people behind us and to create a space that’s comfortable — to keep them here where they feel welcome and they are growing, because oftentimes in majority spaces, they don’t have that.”
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Nicola Henry-Taylor received the county bar association’s “Drum Major for Justice Award” at Mount Ararat Baptist Church in Larimer Monday morning.
The award is given annually in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.@TribLIVEpic.twitter.com/vIBBKNhdnW
— Quincey Reese (@QuinceyReese) January 19, 2026
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, who received the award in 2023, said Henry-Taylor inspires others to continue King’s legacy — which is still needed today.
“Not at any point in the civil rights movement and the struggles against oppression in our world have we seen one person alone be a deliverer,” said Lee, D-Swissvale. “Instead, what we actually know happened was that behind Dr. King, lifting Dr. King up, was an army of organizers, of activists, of dreamers, of believers, of people who sacrificed themselves when the road was hardest.”
She continued: “Dr. King was not the last or only drum major. We stand in his legacy and people like the honorable Judge Nicola Henry-Taylor still carry on this legacy that we are here to remind each other that everything that we need still is at our fingertips.”
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, speaks to attendees of the Allegheny County Bar Association’s MLK Jr. prayer breakfast, where Common Pleas Court Judge Nicola Henry-Taylor received the “Drum Major for Justice Award.”
Lee received this recognition in 2023.@TribLIVEpic.twitter.com/ExhchNoojV
— Quincey Reese (@QuinceyReese) January 19, 2026
County President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark said she rarely sees Henry-Taylor without a young female attorney at her side, receiving mentorship.
“(Henry-Taylor) demonstrates the true spirit of servant leadership, which some of you know is near and dear to my heart,” she said. “Like Dr. King, she is a servant leader. She is a drum major for justice. She is a drum major for peace. And she is a drum major for righteousness.”