Philadelphia Bar Association | Today's News

Women Bar Leaders: Serving Our Profession June 27

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Join us for our next Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor's Leadership Institute program, as we welcome women leaders of several affinity bar associations who will discuss their roles and reflections on the historic number of women currently serving overlapping terms as leaders of minority, ethnic and other bar associations locally, regionally and beyond. Click here to register.

The speakers are Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Sandra Mazer Moss, chancellor, Louis D. Brandeis Law Society; Rachel E. Branson, president, Barrristers' Association of Philadelphia; Rachel Gallegos, president, Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania; and Annette Ferrara, chancellor, The Justinian Society of Philadelphia.

There is no cost to attend this program. Lunch is available for purchase to those who register in advance. The cost of lunch is $8 for members of the Philadelphia Bar Association and $12 for non-members. The program begins at 12 p.m. in the 11th floor Conference Center at the Philadelphia Bar Association, 1101 Market St. Click here to register.

Created by Chancellor Kathleen D. Wilkinson, the Chancellor's Leadership Institute provides ongoing substantive programming aimed at assisting and developing leadership skills and tools for women attorneys, attorneys of diverse backgrounds and young lawyers so they can succeed in their careers. The Institute harnesses the wisdom and experience of some of our region's top legal minds and business leaders.

Save the Date: Friends of Farmworkers Reception

Sun, 5 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Friends of Farmworkers will celebrate, honor and thank FOF General Counsel Arthur Read and outgoing Board members Dan Sipe, Kathleen D. Wilkinson, Kenneth I. Trujillo and Louis S. Rulli for their outstanding service to the organization. The event, an evening of cocktails and antojitos mexicanos, will take place on Tuesday, June 25, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Tequilas, 1602 Locust St. For more information, call 215-733-0878.

Testimony of Chancellor Kathleen D. Wilkinson April 18

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Bench-Bar Returning to Revel Oct. 4-5

Fri, 5 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Revel, the Atlantic City casino resort that hosted the Philadelphia Bar Association's wildly successful and popular 2012 Bench-Bar & Annual Conference, will host this year's conference on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 4-5, 2013.

The Bench-Bar & Annual Conference provides attendees with the opportunity to earn continuing legal education credit while networking with colleagues and members of the bench. Hundreds of attorneys and judges are expected to attend.

Maria A. Feeley, a partner at Pepper Hamilton LLP, and Julia Swain, a partner with Fox Rothschild LLP, are co-chairs of the Bench-Bar & Annual Conference. Bench-Bar Committee vice chairs are John Encarnacion, an associate at White and Williams LLP; Scott W. Reid, a partner with Cozen O'Connor; and Mindee J. Reuben, a partner with Weinstein Kitchenoff & Asher LLC.

A new addition to this year's conference will be a Law Practice Management track among the 21 CLE seminars that will be offered. Another highlight of the weekend will be the Friday night reception at Revel's HQ nightclub. Prices for the 2013 edition of the Bench-Bar & Annual Conference are being kept at 2012 levels.

Sponsors for the 2013 Bench-Bar & Annual Conference include USI Affinity; JAMS, The Resolution Experts; Insurance Adjustment Bureau, Inc; M. Burr Keim Company; Robson Forensic, Inc.; US Claims Inc.; AppearByPhone and The MCS Group. For sponsorship information, contact Tracey McCloskey at 215-238-6360 or tmccloskey@philabar.org.

Philadelphia Bar Receives Grant From ABA Access to Justice Commission Expansion Project

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0400

The Philadelphia Bar Association announced on March 21 that it has received formal approval from the American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education for a grant as part of the ABA’s Access to Justice Commission Expansion Project.

The grant application was submitted by Chancellor Kathleen D. Wilkinson on behalf of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Civil Gideon and Access to Justice Task Force, with letters of support from Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Pennsylvania IOLTA and the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network.

The funding will be used to support ongoing efforts to create a broad-based statewide coalition including the Pennsylvania Bar Association and other key stakeholders to work collaboratively on improving access to justice; to plan and conduct a series of statewide public hearings to generate greater public awareness and understanding of the civil justice gap crisis; to identify various solutions to close the justice gap; and to explore whether Pennsylvania should implement an Access to Justice Commission.

“We are delighted that the Pennsylvania Bar Association and other key stakeholders will partner with us on this very important work, in order to explore strategies to improve access to justice, the issue of civil Gideon and the civil justice gap,” said Wilkinson “Chief Justice Castille has been very supportive of this vital work. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is expected to play a key role in this project, including providing testimony during the statewide hearings that will be planned by the legislative branch."

“The ABA grant is an important first step in the collaboration of our Task Force with the Pennsylvania Bar Association and many others to launch a series of statewide hearings on the need for counsel for low-income individuals in adversarial proceedings where fundamental needs, such as housing and a parent’s access to children, are at stake,” said Joseph A. Sullivan, co-chair of the Civil Gideon and Access to Justice Task Force. “The goals of the hearings, to be chaired by Sen. Stewart Greenleaf and the Senate Judiciary Committee, include learning much more about the difficulties many face in achieving access to justice, and hearing a broad range of perspectives on the consequences of the inability to retain counsel on families, such as loss of jobs, breakdown in family integrity and economic disruption. Our goals also include learning more about the broader impact of lack of counsel on communities and economies – both locally and statewide. We hope to educate the broadest possible audience about these issues, and the benefits of expanding access to justice to everyone in the community,” he said.

“As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Gideon decision, we are thrilled to have this support to move forward a statewide effort to build access to justice for all on the civil side,” added Task Force Co-Chair Catherine C. Carr.

The formation of the statewide coalition will be completed in the coming weeks and a series of strategic meetings will be held to explore how an Access to Justice Commission may improve access to justice.

Access to Justice Commissions are formal entities that bring together the highest level of the state’s courts, organized bar and other stakeholders to support the expansion of access to civil justice for low-income and disadvantaged people. As of March 15, there were Access to Justice Commissions in 27 states and the District of Columbia. Most of the Commissions were created by those state’s Supreme Court.

Access to Justice Commissions have been proven to have a major impact in expanding support for self-represented litigants in the courts; increasing state-level funding for civil legal aid; developing new initiatives to increase pro bono services by attorneys; promoting collaboration and coordination among civil legal aid providers; building a commitment to pro bono and support for legal aid among law students and new lawyers; and increasing awareness among legislators and other key decision makers, the bar, the judiciary and the general public about the legal needs of low-income and disadvantaged people and the social and economic benefits of ensuring that they do not go unmet.

Statement of Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Kathleen D. Wilkinson on the Announced May 1 Resignation of Suspended Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0400

"On behalf of the 13,000 members of the Philadelphia Bar Association, I urge Governor Corbett to nominate, and send to the state Senate for consideration, a qualified candidate to fill the vacancy created by Justice Orie Melvin’s resignation as soon as possible, so that the state Supreme Court can be restored to its full complement of seven justices to ensure unfettered access to justice for the citizens of Pennsylvania."

Chancellor Urges City to Delay Implementation of Conflicts Counsel Reforms

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Kathleen D. Wilkinson sent the following letter Feb. 21 to Philadelphia Deputy Mayor Everett A. Gillison urging the City to delay implementation of proposed reforms in the system of providing legal representation for indigent defendants, in order to more thoroughly consider possible models and alternatives.

Click here to read the Chancellor's letter.

Statement of Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Kathleen D. Wilkinson on the Conviction of Suspended Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0500

"This is a sad day for the justice system in Pennsylvania," said Kathleen D. Wilkinson, Chancellor of the 13,000-member Philadelphia Bar Association.

"Jurors in the trial of Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin have found that she is guilty on six of the seven counts against her.

"Today’s conviction only underscores the need for changing the way appellate judges are selected in Pennsylvania. When judges are forced to engage in election campaigning requiring large sums of money to be raised, citizens become concerned that those judges are then beholden to campaign contributors, party officials and special interests. As a result, many citizens question whether they will receive fair treatment in a court of law.

"The Philadelphia Bar Association has long supported a merit-based, appointive system of selecting appellate court judges. Through such a system, the best qualified candidates are sought out based on stringent standards, and those who are unqualified to serve are eliminated from consideration.

"The time has come to stop electing appellate court judges, to restore the confidence of the electorate in our judicial system, and to open the process to a wider and more diverse pool of well-qualified candidates, by adopting a system of merit selection for the election of judges in Pennsylvania.

"We are hopeful that the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania will soon return to its full complement of seven justices."

Chancellor Issues Statement on Traffic Court Indictments

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0500

The 13,000-member Philadelphia Bar Association released the following statement from Chancellor Kathleen D. Wilkinson regarding the indictment announced today of nine current or former Philadelphia Traffic Court judges and others.

"This is a sad day for the justice system in Pennsylvania. The charges against these Traffic Court judges and others who have been indicted today cast a shadow on the court that compromises the ability for justice to be dispensed fairly. These indictments, while allegations are pending, raise serious concerns about equal access to justice for thousands of Philadelphians. It is imperative that the Traffic Court's sitting judges who have been indicted resign immediately to maintain the integrity of our justice system. Any implication of favoritism through a selective meting out of unequal justice merits swift condemnation.

We respect the work done by Traffic Court Administrative Judge Gary S. Glazer to enact measures to restore integrity and public confidence in the operations of the court, and believe an overhaul of Traffic Court is needed so that justice is dispensed fairly and without favoritism."

New Professional Liability Insurance Coming for Bar Members

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0500

With the new year comes an exciting change to the Philadelphia Bar Association's Insurance Program - a new and much-improved lawyers' professional liability product offering.

Over the course of the last year, USI Affinity, the Association's exclusively endorsed insurance broker, worked with the Association to review its professional liability insurance offering. When it was determined that improvements were needed, an RFP process was undertaken. That process included soliciting and reviewing proposals from potential new carriers, interviewing carriers and then making a decision on a carrier and product. At the end of that process, USI Affinity recommended that the program be switched from the current carrier, Westport/Swiss Re to CNA. That recommendation was approved by the Association's Board of Governors at its November 2012 meeting. Policies that renew on or after April 1, 2013 will now be written with CNA.

Part of the reason for making the decision to switch the endorsement was CNA's position as a leader in providing professional liability insurance to law firms, with more than 50 years of experience and more than 44,000 firms insured nationwide. Their underwriting and claims teams are committed to a "customer first" approach, and their risk control resources provide both up to date and very practical assistance in running a practice while avoiding professional liability claims.

Another consideration was making the new offering more affordable for Association members. CNA has designed its rates for this program to be lower than expiring premiums in the current program. In addition, Association members will benefit from a new credit providing 5 percent off a firm's professional liability premium. For each attorney in a firm who is a Philadelphia Bar Association member, the firm will receive a 5 percent credit on that attorney's pro-rata share of the firm’s premium. In addition, CNA is offering a 7.5 percent risk management credit per attorney (in the same manner as the Association membership credit) for two years after taking the risk control program given by the Association's Insurance Programs Committee. This combination should result in significant savings for program participants.

Finally, the policy form is improved over that provided under the current program, being significantly better in some areas. Full details about the new offering will be coming soon, and members will have the information needed to make an informed decision when it is time to renew their professional liability coverage. If your firm is currently insured through the Philadelphia Bar Association program with Westport Insurance Company, USI Affinity advises that the transition will take place as follows:

• In the near future, your firm will be receiving a Non Renewal notice from Westport Insurance Company. You do not need to be concerned: this is a legal requirement and simply part of the transition process to the new program underwritten by CNA.

• Your current coverage underwritten by Westport is not cancelled and you will not be without coverage. Your coverage will continue with Westport until your policy Expiration Date.

• USI Affinity will remain your broker and administrator and will transition your coverage to the new CNA policy when your current policy expires. Here is how that will work:

• Approximately 90 days prior to your Professional Liability policy's expiration date, you will receive your CNA renewal package from USI Affinity.

• This package is designed to make the transition to CNA as easy as possible for your firm. It will contain a simplified renewal application for your firm to complete.

• Simply follow the instructions included for filling out and returning that CNA renewal application and USI Affinity will transition your firm's coverage to the new Professional Liability program.

"If you are not currently with the Philadelphia Bar Association's professional liability program, we urge you to give it a long look. We think you'll agree that this new endorsed professional liability offering is a great value, and a tremendous member benefit," said Carl "Hank" Delacato Jr., co-chair of the Association's Insurance Programs Committee. "We have worked in partnership with USI Affinity to make sure that our members have access to the best products and get the best possible service. This change in our professional liability offering is another example of that focus on excellence. Our members now have access to a superior professional liability insurance offering, with outstanding coverage, services and value."

USI Affinity is a leader in providing professional liability insurance, with more than 60 years of experience, 30,000 attorneys insured nationwide and more than 30 bar association endorsements, including those of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Philadelphia Bar Association and many of Pennsylvania's other county bars.