Philadelphia Law Blog

I was on trial in City Hall in Philadelphia when COVID-19 arrived and shut everything down. The trial stopped and we all left the building, assuming we would return in a matter of days or maybe weeks. Yesterday, 26 months later, I returned to City Hall for the first...

I settled several clients’ lawsuits over the last few weeks. Each settlement had a financial element to it, a payment from one side to the other. But looking back, each case had far more important non-economic terms to it. My clients had non-economic motivations that...

I tried something different recently, I filed a lawsuit in an entirely new practice area. It was challenging. For so many years, the vast majority of my practice has involved business and employment litigation. Trying something new means trying something old. Digging...

What a week! There were not enough hours available to do everything I needed to do this week. That’s what weekends are for. I filed a new lawsuit, tried an arbitration, handled a full day mediation, filed a motion for preliminary injunction, served discovery...

Breach of contract cases generally involve disputes between the parties to the contract. After all, a contract is an exchange of enforceable promises, and it is normally one of the parties to whom a promise has been made that is claiming the promise was not kept. For...

I cannot remember ever hearing the word mediation in law school. As a young attorney, mediation was not a regular part of the litigation process. In the early 1990’s, cases settled on the eve of trial, generally with the help of the assigned trial judge at a Pretrial...

Most business litigation matters end up settling prior to trial. But when? How? Wouldn't it be in the best interests of businesses to immediately identify the potential issues and exposures, then sit down and work out a settlement? In a word...Yes. But that rarely...

Persuasion. That’s what we do. The job of a trial lawyer is to persuade. A judge. A jury. An arbitrator. Opposing counsel. A potential witness. It does not matter who the audience is. . . The task is always the same. With all your knowledge, experience, common sense,...

It’s a sad fact of business litigation life that the most expensive, distracting and contentious cases are those involving disputes among the owners of a business. But aren’t we supposed to be on the same team? Yes. . . Until your aren’t. Just like marriages that fall...

Winning a case and obtaining a judgment in court is not the same thing as money in your pocket. We have all heard the term “judgment proof” and many defendants truly are. That means your judgment is worthless because you cannot collect it. Some defendants simply have...