He attended Central Catholic High School and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree from John Carroll University in Ohio in 1967, having attended Loyola University of Rome for the school year 1965-66. In 1970 he received his Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

He completed Basic Officer's Training at Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas, in 1971, and was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain from the U.S. Army Reserve, Medical Service Corps in 1976.

Judge McGinley served as a law clerk for the Hon. Robert A. Doyle of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. From 1971 to 1974 he served as a trial Assistant District Attorney for Allegheny County. In 1974 and 1975 he was an instructor of Criminal Law at Allegheny County Community College. He served as Chairman of the Allegheny County Board of Viewers from 1975 until 1980 and maintained a private practice.

He was commissioned as a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County in January 1981, and served in the Criminal and Civil Divisions of the trial court until commissioned as a Judge of the Commonwealth Court on January 4, 1988. He was retained for ten year terms in 1997 and 2007.

As a member of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges he served on the following committees: Economics and Finance, Retention Election, Judicial Code and Judicial Ethics.

Judge McGinley and his wife, Denise Perrone McGinley, reside in Pittsburgh and have four children.

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