Lauren Tilger is First Deputy for the Montgomery County, PA, Prothonotary. She earned her Ph.D. in French and Women’s Studies from the Pennsylvania State University in 2016. Her work examined crossdressing protagonists in nineteenth-century French literature; she argued that the characters partook in transgender practices and that these literary representations created a space for the possibility of social transformation. Tilger now works in local government for an office where County residents file legal matters, including eviction appeals and protection from abuse petitions.