People in the News—March 5, 2019—GMR
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Additions
Partner Robert P. Stein returned to the firm GMR.
As a litigation lawyer, Stein practiced law for more than two decades throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania in a career that includes a prior term with GMR as well as being managing partner/founder of a litigation firm.
His practice is rooted in automobile negligence, general liability, workers compensation defense, maritime law and contracts.
He handles a wide variety of cases ranging from construction litigation to dramshop to tractor-trailer collisions with catastrophic injuries.
Stein is licensed to practice law in New Jersey State Courts, Pennsylvania State Courts, the U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Stein will be leading GMR’s New Jersey team of litigators to add to the firm’s jury trial defense verdicts throughout the state.
Elected and Appointed
The disciplinary board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania announced the appointment of Philadelphia County Andrew Trevelise as board chair and Philadelphia-based James C. Haggerty as vice-chair.
The appointments are effective April 1.
Created in 1972, the 13-member disciplinary board is an independent agency under the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction.
Its members include 11 attorneys and two non-lawyers from across the state.
Funded by annual assessments paid by attorneys licensed to practice in the commonwealth, the board assists the Supreme Court in all matters involving attorney licensing and discipline.
Trevelise was appointed to the board in 2014, reappointed in 2017, and first appointed as vice chair in 2018. Prior to being named to the board, he served multiple terms as a hearing committee member.
Trevelise also served for three years as chair of the rules committee of the disciplinary board.
Trevelise has more than 35 years of experience as a litigator representing corporations in complex litigation involving mass torts and products liability, asbestos, pharmaceutical, medical device and financial services litigation.
Trevelise currently practices with The O’Brien Firm in Philadelphia. Prior to joining O’Brien, he spent nearly three decades in practice in the Philadelphia office of Reed Smith.
Haggerty was first appointed to the board in April 2015 and reappointed in 2018. A founding partner of Haggerty, Goldberg, Schleifer & Kupersmith, Haggerty’s practice focuses on bad faith, insurance coverage, uninsured/underinsured, personal injury and appellate litigation.
He is a frequent lecturer throughout Pennsylvania on insurance and litigation matters.
Haggerty served on the board of directors and as president of the Pennsylvania Defense Institute and as a member of the appellate rules committee of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Currently, he serves on the board of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice.
Events
The Philadelphia Bar Association announced that the first annual 2019 Chancellor’s Forum will bring together Philadelphia city leaders for a discussion centered on “Right to Counsel for Low-Income Tenants.”
After commissioning an in-depth report finding that the City of Philadelphia would save $45.2 million annually by investing $3.5 million to fund counsel for low-income tenants facing eviction, the Philadelphia Bar Association publicly called on city leaders to provide a right to counsel for all Philadelphia residents facing eviction, regardless of income.
The forum is scheduled for noon March 11 at the Philadelphia Bar Association, with lunch and registration at 11:30 a.m.
Speakers are set to include Neil Steinkamp, managing director of Stout Risius Ross LLP; Rasheedah Phillips, managing attorney of the Community Legal Services housing unit; Ethan D. Fogel of Dechert; and Eva Gladstein, deputy managing director for Health and Human Services in the City of Philadelphia.
The forum is set to be moderated by Catherine C. Carr, co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association civil Gideon and access to justice task force .
The Philadelphia Bar Association’s 2019 Chancellor’s Forum is part of the 10th anniversary celebration of the civil Gideon and access to justice task force, whose mission is to investigate and consider all aspects of an effective system.
“Civil Gideon” refers to a growing national movement to provide legal counsel, as a matter of right and at public expense, to low-income persons in civil legal proceedings where basic human needs are at stake, including involving shelter.
