MBA / FEATURE
2009 President
Mark A. Kearney
Confirmed as Federal Judge
O
n Wednesday, December 3, 2014, former MBA President, Foundation Chair, and 2014 Trial Lawyer of the Year recipient Mark A. Kearney was confirmed by the United States Senate in a unanimous voice-vote to serve as a United States District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the oldest and one of the busiest federal trial courts in the United States. The U.S. Senate announced Judge Kearney’s confirmation at 5:35 p.m. after winning cloture earlier in the day by a generous margin of 60 votes to 36 in a difficult year in the Senate for judicial nominations. The following afternoon, President Obama signed the Commission beginning his public service. Judge Kearney became the first lawyer elevated directly to the Court from a Montgomery County law office in the Court’s 225-year history. After a highly favorable review from the distinguished Lawyers Advisory Panel in mid-2013, followed by the joint recommendation of Pennsylvania Senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey and sequential FBI, Department of Justice and ABA exhaustive investigations, President Barack Obama nominated Mark A. Kearney on June 16, 2014. Judge Kearney, an honors graduate, ballplayer and “Viking” at Archbishop Wood High School, later attended Villanova University and Villanova Law School. He is the first college graduate in his family, having worked full time at Genuardi’s Markets and as a sales representative for Lehigh Valley Dairies through college. Upon earning his Juris Doctor in 1987 as a classmate and dear friend of our Court Administrator Michael R. Kehs, he served as the law clerk to the Delaware Court of Chancery, a leading precedential court for the adjudication of shareholder and corporate litigation. SIDEBAR
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A lifelong member of the Pennsylvania and Delaware Bars, his career in private practice began in 1988 as an associate at the large Philadelphia and Pittsburgh law firm of Elliott Mannino & Flaherty, P.C. In August 1990, Judge Kearney became a charter member of the new law firm formed by his senior partners John M. Elliott and Thomas J. Elliott. His colleagues promoted him to shareholder in 1995 and he has continued to serve as lead trial counsel in hundreds of complex commercial and employment class, direct and derivative litigations and regulatory investigations throughout the United States. At the time of his departure, he was a managing and co-hiring shareholder at Elliott Greenleaf for over a decade. He is published in several law journals on issues on fiduciary duties and federal jurisprudence. Throughout his career, Judge Kearney has been highly active in both our Bar Association and Foundation and has earned a reputation as one of the most prolific, influential and energetic leaders of both organizations. In addition to being the leader of the MBA’s Federal Courts Committee since 2000, he has served as the Bar’s legislative liaison and chaired and co-chaired over a dozen committees since becoming a member of our Bar Association in 1992. He is a former director of MCAP and a several-year director of Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania. In the last four years alone, the MBA and PBA have awarded their most distinguished awards to the Judge in tribute to, among other things, MBA125 and his effective advocacy of the Bar’s interests in the General Assembly. The Judge is quick to point out the importance that his involvement, sincere relationships at the Bar, and leadership opportunities have played in his path to becoming
WINTER 2014-15