County Solicitor

Joe Khan was appointed County Solicitor upon a unanimous and bipartisan vote of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners on January 6, 2020.

As County Solicitor, Mr. Khan is the chief legal officer for the fourth largest county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As head of the Bucks County Law Department, he initiates all lawsuits brought by and defends all lawsuits brought against, the County and its subdivisions and employees. He and his team of new attorneys have successfully drafted innovative legislation, including Pennsylvania’s first used car lemon law and its first countywide ordinance regulating massage parlors to fight human trafficking, and policy reforms on issues such as Fair Chance and Equal Pay hiring, voter protection, and prison oversight.  Mr. Khan also provides administrative oversight for the County’s Legal Services Division, which includes the Law Department and the Department of Consumer Protection and Weights and Measures as well as the independent Office of the Public Defender.  For his performance as Bucks County Solicitor, he has been honored with the Government Lawyer of the Year Award by the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Outstanding Solicitor Award by the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania.

Career

Prior to his appointment as County Solicitor, Mr. Khan built an award-winning public interest law practice. He previously served for a decade as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where he resolved high-stakes matters across southeastern Pennsylvania and led the historic City Hall corruption probes in Allentown and Reading. Since beginning his career prosecuting sexual assault, child abuse, and domestic violence in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, his work and commentary have been featured often in national and local media.

Community Service, Teaching, and Education

Mr. Khan has served on the adjunct faculty at the University of Pennsylvania Law School since 2015. He has led several nonprofit boards, including Smith Memorial Playground and Playhouse, where he continues to serve on the Executive Committee. He previously served on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Commission for Asian Pacific American Affairs.  Mr. Khan is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and Swarthmore College and a Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America.