Civitas Fall 2015

CIVITAS Magazine of the Widener University Commonwealth Law School

The Supremes: A Historic Pennsylvania Election This inaugural issue asks: Should the state Supreme Court justices be appointed or elected?

Fall 2015 vol. 1 no. 1

Photo by Mary Allen

ON THE COVER The statue atop Pennsylvania’s Capitol dome, erected in 1905 and restored in 1998, stands 14 feet tall and bears the name Commonwealth.

Widener Law Harrisburg now bears the name Widener University Commonwealth Law School and the name of this new magazine is Civitas, a Latin word meaning “citizenship, especially as imparting shared responsibility, a common purpose, and a sense of community.” Feature articles in this issue include a story about the historic Pennsylvania Supreme Court election and a debate between two of our experts—Professor Emeritus John L. Gedid and Professor Michael R. Dimino Sr.—exploring the merits of appointing or electing judges.

THIS PAGE Beneath the celestial ceiling of the Forum in the Pennsylvania Capitol Complex, Professor Robyn L. Meadows, who served as interim dean in the recent academic year, commended the 80 graduates who received their JD degrees in May for their high level of civic engagement. Graduates contributed 4,870 pro bono hours of service in their time as law students in Harrisburg. “You are the foundation on which Widener Law Commonwealth will continue to grow and thrive,” Meadows said.

Widener University Commonwealth Law School 3800 Vartan Way, P.O. Box 69380 Harrisburg, PA 17106-9380 Phone: 717-541-3900 commonwealthlaw.widener.edu Published by the Widener University Office of University Relations Executive Editor Lou Anne Bulik Editor Sam Starnes Art Director Melanie Franz

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Class Notes Editor Tiffany R. DePaoli

4 MEET THE DEAN A question and answer with the new dean, Christian Johnson.

Proofreader Kelsey Styles Contributing Writers John L. Gedid Michael R. Dimino Natasha Lewis Corrina Vecsey Wilson Photographers Melanie Franz Diana Robinson Mary Allen Magazine Advisory Board Ben Barros Lou Anne Bulik Jill Family Natasha Lewis Robyn Meadows Corrina Vecsey Wilson For comments or questions about the magazine, please contact Director of Development Natasha Lewis at nclewis@widener.edu or 717-541-3974.

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IN BRIEF

8 A LIFE OR DEATH CASE—WITH A LAW STUDENT BY HER SIDE Student aids African woman in political asylum case.

12 HISTORIC ELECTION IN HANDS OF VOTERS—BUT SHOULD IT BE? A debate on the merits of electing or appointing Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices.

18 CIVIL CLINICS A “GODSEND” A Dauphin County grandmother had nowhere to turn until she found pro bono help in the law school’s Central Pennsylvania Civil Law Clinics.

22 CLASS NOTES 26 HONOR ROLL 27 TWENTY-FIVE CANDLES, ONE NEW NAME Two celebrations on campus recognize the law school’s past and launch a bright future.

28 THE BACK PAGE The lasting legacy of late Professor Starla Williams.

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DEAN’S MESSAGE You are holding in your hands the inaugural issue of Civitas, a magazine created specifically for the newly independent and recently renamed Widener University Commonwealth Law School. This new publication, which you will receive twice annually, represents an exciting and pivotal moment for both our school and the legal community in Pennsylvania.

I am honored to be selected as the first full-time dean for Widener Law Commonwealth, as we will informally refer to the school. Almost from the time it opened in 1989, the only law school in Harrisburg began building a distinct identity based on our location and the expertise of our faculty.

We have taken advantage of our proximity to the Capitol Complex to build a reputation for government law, leading to the founding of the Law and Government Institute in 1999 under the guidance of Emeritus Professor John L. Gedid (who, fittingly, has contributed an article to this publication).

We also built a national reputation in environmental law led by Professor John Dernbach, founding the Environmental Law and Sustainability Center in 2009.

In addition, we have developed specializations for students in business law and advocacy.

Scores of our alumni statewide and nationwide make a difference every day in these and other fields.

I recognize and appreciate that this is the first time in our history that the school has a resident dean who will represent our more than 3,400 alumni, our students, our faculty, and the school in the region. Our new status presents a tremendous opportunity for the law school to move to the next level. I very much look forward to working with you to lead Widener Law Commonwealth to even greater heights in future years.

Dean Christian Johnson

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A NEW DEAN FOR A NEW DAY On July 1, Dean Christian Johnson’s first day on the job, the name Widener University Commonwealth Law School became official and its administration separated from the Delaware-based campus (now known as the Widener University Delaware Law School).

A native of Utah, Johnson, 54, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from the University of Utah. He worked as a CPA for Price Waterhouse before attending Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and executive editor of the Columbia Law Review. After graduating from Columbia in 1990, he worked as an associate for law firms in New York, Las Vegas, and Chicago, focusing primarily on tax law, finance, bank lending, and derivatives.

He began his teaching career in Chicago at Loyola University School of Law in 1995. As a member of the faculty at Loyola, he rose through the ranks to professor, and served as faculty director of the Corporate Law Center. After 13 years at Loyola, Johnson returned to his home state for a professorship at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney School of Law, where he was named the Hugh B. Brown Presidential Endowed Chair in Law. Johnson is a frequent commentator, consultant, and scholar focusing primarily on over-the-counter derivatives and global capital markets. He has coauthored five books and written more than three dozen articles on the derivative and repo capital markets and central banks. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on OTC derivative reforms and made presentations to the staffs at the U.S. Commodity Future Trading Commission and the National Futures Association. In addition, Johnson has spoken and lectured at such institutions as the International Monetary Fund, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the London School of Economics, and the University of Oxford.

His speeches on capital markets have taken him to Australia, the Caribbean, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Singapore, Sweden, and throughout Europe.

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What is your highest priority as the new dean?

To continue to support and sustain the student-focused emphasis and environment at the law school while gradually and thoughtfully increasing student enrollment. We have an extraordinary record of placing teaching and student concerns first and that will continue to be the top priority.

What is a new initiative you plan to introduce?

We are very excited about a new online mentoring program for students that we will introduce this fall. It will enable our students to connect with alumni not only here in Harrisburg, but across the country.

The new system will allow students to search for mentors based on the location of our participating alumni. It will also provide a concrete opportunity for alumni to help mentor students with career counsel and guidance.

What motivated you to develop an expertise in financial markets?

I have been fascinated since college by the ability of investment banks to raise billions of dollars through the underwriting of stocks and bonds, derivatives, and repos. These transactions require extensive legal documentation and analysis. After law school, I worked on Wall Street where I was a first-year associate helping to analyze the tax consequences of very large debt offerings.

In Chicago, I worked in the LaSalle Street “canyon” where I was an associate working on bank lending and on over-the-counter derivatives. As a law professor, I have had an opportunity to write about the

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QA documentation of these financial market transactions and speak before Congress and across the globe. I look forward to sharing what I’ve learned about financial markets in Harrisburg and involving our students in these issues.

Tell us about your move to Harrisburg.

My wife, 16-year-old son, and I are very excited to come to Harrisburg.

We live in Lower Paxton Township, about 10 minutes from the law school, which I guess makes me an East Shore person. We hope to host many law school events for both alumni and the school at our home. I also have a daughter who is starting college in Utah and an older daughter and son-in-law who have three wonderful children. I was excited to see that there is a tennis court on the law school campus.

What’s a favorite book and why?

One of my favorites is a small book by Jerzy Kosinski entitled Being There that was also made into a movie starring Peter Sellers, a favorite actor of mine. Besides being wonderfully entertaining, the

book is a sophisticated satire on the role of television and the media in modern society. I am also a business junkie and regularly read the latest accounts of business misadventures, one of the best books probably being When Genius Failed, a story about the failure of LongTerm Capital Management hedge fund.

Michael Lewis, Roger Lowenstein, and Paul Erdman (who writes fiction) are also favorite authors.

What do you like to do when you are not working?

My wife and I very much enjoy driving through the countryside and learning about the area. I am sure Harrisburg and the surrounding region will keep us busy visiting all of the historical sites and beautiful scenery. We look forward to sampling all types of local cuisine in the region.

We also enjoy participating in community organizations. Last year, my wife was the PTA president for my son’s school and I was the faithful secretary. We also stay busy serving in our local church congregation and in the local community.

I am sure that my new position at the law school will open up more opportunities for us to get involved.

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IN BRIEF Incubator Project Wins Bar Foundation Honor Although the law firm incubator project supported by Widener Law Commonwealth and the Dauphin County Bar Association is less than a year old, it can already be described as “award-winning.”

The program kicked off in January as the first of its kind based entirely in Pennsylvania. It provides new legal professionals in Harrisburg with office space, computer and printing equipment, training in the work of building a law practice, mentoring, and networking support.

“This program is dynamic because it not only gives the new attorneys legal

Top, participants in the law firm incubator project undergo training; below, Elizabeth G. Simcox, executive director of the Dauphin County Bar Association, has been a major supporter of the program that partners with the bar association.

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experience and business skills, but it adds affordable legal services to the community,” said Professor Robyn L. Meadows, who was serving as interim dean when the program launched. “We hope it will build a lasting appreciation for the importance of assisting the underserved, no matter where their careers take them.”

In May, with the program still in its infancy, the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation awarded it the Louis J. Goffman Award. The award honors people or organizations whose commitments to pro bono work J. Palmer Lockard, associate professor of law and have made a critical difference in director of the Central Pennsylvania Civil Law Clinics, enhancing the delivery of legal and Kimberly Moraski ‘07 at the Pennsylvania Bar services to Pennsylvania’s poor Association awards program in March where the or disadvantaged. incubator program was honored. Moraski earned an The American Bar Association award for service (see page 24). has encouraged development of incubator programs as a way for new lawyers to secure work while helping graduates: Patrick Daniels ’13, Mark to meet the legal needs of poor or moderateCalore ’14, and John Sweet ’14. In income individuals who have difficulty exchange for their acceptance into the affording an attorney. New attorneys who are one-year program, they agreed to pay for gaining legal experience, while their their malpractice insurance and commit to significant business expenses are being providing 100 hours of pro bono legal offset by an incubator program, can bridge work through MidPenn Legal Services, a a gap. They provide legal representation at nonprofit firm that provides free civil legal a lower cost for a sector of the population assistance to low-income families in crisis. that finds the fees of more established “I’m incredibly grateful for what they’ve attorneys out of reach. done and what the law school has done,” The ABA recognizes 43 incubator projects said Calore, 32, a Wilkes-Barre native, in 21 states. The project in Harrisburg is the who halfway through the program secured only one profiled in the ABA incubator permanent employment. “I want there to directory for Pennsylvania, although the be a long legacy of service to this program.”

Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services The inaugural incubator project organization, with offices in Pittsburgh and attorneys will transition to independence Ohio, has been operational since 2014. The at the end of this year. Applications for ABA reports that the first incubator project the 2016 pool will be accepted through was formed more than a decade ago through October 1. the City University of New York.

For more information, contact J. The three inaugural participants are Palmer Lockard, associate professor of law, all recent Widener Law Harrisburg at jlockard@widener.edu.

Tax Assistance Program Puts Money Back in Citizens’ Pockets How much money can five students and eight alumni return to the pockets of lowto-moderate income taxpayers?

If joined by seven community volunteers on Saturdays during tax season, the answer is substantial: $358,000. The total amount comes from help provided by the school's branch of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program to 243 clients with their tax returns in 2015. “It’s an excellent way for the law school to give back to the community and our students who volunteer get an opportunity to build client-relations skills,” said Widener Law Commonwealth's Associate Professor Michael J. Hussey, who oversees the VITA program.

The Harrisburg VITA program aids taxpayers in three counties through the Money

In Your Pocket campaign. In total, the program prepared returns for about 5,200 clients and was able to generate more than $5.2 million in federal refunds. It was estimated that each tax return would have cost between $250 and $300 had it been done by a paid preparer.

Widener’s efforts alone were able Megan Henry, a 2012 alumna who is an associate to save clients more than $60,000. attorney at Goldfein & Joseph, P.C., consults her Volunteers were required to com- resource guide while reviewing a tax return. plete an intensive IRS certification, and an advanced tax preparation Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, certification. David Braden of the Pennsylvania West Virginia, California, Washington, Department of Revenue presented a threeWashington D.C., and Ontario, Canada. hour tax law training presentation in In January, the campus hosted three weeks November. This presentation was hosted of software training for VITA volunteers on campus, but broadcast to sites in from the community.

Professor Appointed to Uniform Law Commission Professor Juliet M. Moringiello, a bankruptcy and commercial law scholar, has been appointed to the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), continuing a tradition of service by Harrisburg law professors to the commission.

The commission provides states with nonpartisan legislation that brings clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law. One of its most successful projects is the Uniform Commercial Code. As co-chair of the Uniform Commercial Code Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Section of Business Law, Moringiello has played a key role in the enactment of several amendments to Uniform Commercial Code articles in Pennsylvania, including two sets of amendments governing secured transactions. “Being involved in the enactment of commercial law in Pennsylvania is a great benefit of teaching here in the state capital,” Moringiello said. “It helps me stress to students that they, too, can be involved in making law.”

In addition to her Uniform Law Commission appointment, Professor Juliet M. Moringiello has been elected to the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers.

Others to serve on the ULC include Emeritus Professor John Gedid, who served as a commissioner from 2003 to 2012, and Adjunct Professor Vincent C. DeLiberato Jr., director of the Legislative Reference Bureau who received a life membership at the ULC

Annual Meeting in recognition of 20 years of service as a commissioner. The Pennsylvania delegation to the ULC also includes two Widener Law Harrisburg alumni: Marisa Zizzi Lehr ’12, deputy general counsel in the Pennsylvania Office of General Counsel, and James Mann ’00, deputy chief counsel to the Pennsylvania House Republican Caucus.

A faculty member in Harrisburg since 1993, Moringiello teaches Property, Bankruptcy, Sales, and Secured Transactions courses. She has taught seminars on Cities in Crisis, the Mortgage Crisis, and Electronic Commerce.

The class of 2014 honored her with the Outstanding Faculty Award for excellence in teaching and she has twice received the Douglas E. Ray Excellence in Faculty Scholarship Award. In March, Moringiello was elected to membership in the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers in recognition of her substantial contributions to the promotion of learning and scholarship in commercial financial law.

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A Life or Death Case— With a Law Student by Her Side Harrisburg Law Student Aids Woman Facing Deportation in Dangerous Political Asylum Case

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Photos by Diana Robinson

Above: Marissa Mowery ’15 outside the York County Prison where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained her client.

Left, with Mary Weaver, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC).

By Sam Starnes

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he timid, young African woman in the yellow prison garb facing immediate deportation from the United States looked like a teenager. “She was terrified,” said Marissa Mowery, then a secondyear law student on a class visit to observe federal immigration hearings. “It was clear that she could have benefited from help.”

Mowery was in Widener Law Commonwealth Professor Jill E. Family’s immigration law survey course when she saw the young woman appear before the immigration court judge. “She really made an impression on our class,” said Mowery, a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of Grove City College north of Pittsburgh.

The young woman had escaped her home country after facing a life-threating situation involving a militant terrorist organization (the specific details of her story are being withheld to ensure her safety). She fled to South America, found her way to the U.S. border in Mexico where she presented her identification and asked for help. She was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency more commonly known as ICE.

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When Mowery first saw her on the class trip in November 2013, the young woman was being held behind bars in the York County Prison in Pennsylvania, awaiting a decision on whether she would get the opportunity for a political asylum hearing to stay in the United States or be sent back to her home country.

The judge granted her the right to a hearing that day. Mowery assumed she would never see her again.

Mowery, an undergraduate Spanish major who before coming to law school in fall 2012 had taught English in the Dominican Republic, was cultivating an interest in immigration law. With Family’s help, she started an internship the following semester in 2014 with the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC) based in York.

Family, a faculty member in Harrisburg for ten years who now directs the school’s Law and Government Institute, is renown for her immigration law expertise. In March, she testified on Capitol Hill regarding immigration policy before a U.S. Senate subcommittee. She also shares her insight on immigration law with her students, regularly taking classes to observe immigration court hearings. “It’s so hard to get a sense of a hearing unless you see it,” said Family, who served as a board member for PIRC. The nonprofit agency based in York provides legal advocacy to immigrants fleeing persecution, to those challenged by mental health diagnoses, and to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. The agency, which has 11 staff members,

including five attorneys, provides legal orientation and education to thousands of detained immigrants, and handles immigration cases. “Our mission is to provide access to justice for vulnerable immigrants,” said Mary Weaver, executive director of PIRC. Widener Law Commonwealth students from Harrisburg frequently fulfill internships with PIRC. The agency offered Mowery the opportunity to assist with a political asylum hearing.

She jumped at the opportunity, not knowing whose case she would handle. She was in for a surprise. “She came walking in the door and it was the same girl we had seen,” Mowery said.

Mowery began meeting with the young woman in the York County Prison, preparing to represent her in an asylum hearing scheduled for February 2014. “A lot of it at first was basically establishing rapport,” Mowery said.

She took a detailed statement from the client and worked with PIRC staff to write a brief for the court. The young woman, who is in her early twenties, faced serious danger if she lost her asylum case and was returned to her African home. “ICE detainees can be immediately deported,” Mowery said. “She could have been deported because she didn’t have the means to be here.”

Mowery said the young woman’s case fits an insightful description of immigration cases she has heard: “Every immigration

Photo by Melanie Franz

case is like a death penalty case with the resources of traffic court.”

Mowery helped her prepare for the political asylum hearing, going over the details of her life and making sure there were no inconsistencies, a red flag for ICE attorneys. “Her story was complete—and it was horrific,” Mowery said.

her, and Mowery picked her up at the jail and drove her to the new home. “She was in shock a little bit,” Mowery said. “She kept saying, ‘I can’t believe I’m sitting in this car with you.’”

Mowery, who later worked in the summer and then on a part-time basis at PIRC, remained in touch with the young woman.

The hearing lasted 45 minutes…“It was the scariest thing I’ve ever done,” Mowery said.

The hearing lasted 45 minutes, with the judge, Mowery, and the young woman exploring in detail her request for political asylum. “It was the scariest thing I’ve ever done,” Mowery said.

At the end, the judge granted the young woman political asylum in the United States. “I was thrilled,” Mowery said. “I had put so much time and worry into this young woman’s case.”

The young woman was released that day.

PIRC had arranged for a host family for

The young woman is trying to build a life in America and also trying to reconnect with family who are scattered in refugee camps. “It was amazing to see the process all the way through,” Mowery said.

Mowery graduated with her juris doctorate in May and has relocated to San Diego with her husband, a Navy doctor. In July, she started a position with the American Bar Association’s Immigration Justice Project.

She plans on taking the bar in California and, inspired by her experience with the young woman and her coursework, hopes to work in immigration law, a field she finds to be very fulfilling.

“You can make a huge impact on somebody’s life,” she said. “It has global impact.”

Professor Jill E. Family, a faculty member and director of the Law and Government Institute who testified in March before a U.S. Senate subcommittee on immigration policy, regularly takes her classes to observe immigration court hearings.

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Photo by Diana Robinson

A Historic Election in the Hands of the Voters— But Should It Be? A debate on the merits of electing or appointing Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices 12

By Corinna Vecsey Wilson Not since William Penn’s time have there been as many vacancies on Pennsylvania’s highest court. For the first time since 1703— more than 300 years ago, when Pennsylvania was a British colony— there is a trio of open seats awaiting new Supreme Court justices.

Pennsylvania voters in November will go to the polls to select justices to fill the seats. The incoming justices will make up almost half of the seven-member court. Potential landmark rulings facing the new court include the constitutionality of changes to public pension benefits and a challenge to Gov. Tom Wolf’s death penalty moratorium. “Such a large turnover on the Supreme Court has not occurred in centuries and will certainly affect the outcome of many cases of importance to voters,” said Widener Law Commonwealth Professor John Dernbach, an internationally recognized environmental law expert who observes the court closely.

Pennsylvania is one of only six states in the nation to elect all of its judges—from local magistrates to the highest state appellate court—in partisan elections. This critical Supreme Court election raises a long-debated question: Should judges in Pennsylvania be elected, or should they be appointed by another method as is done in most states?

It is a question that will continue to resonate in Pennsylvania as three of the five sitting Supreme Court Justices will face mandatory retirement in the next three years, prompting three more open seats to appear on future ballots.

We asked two Widener University Commonwealth Law School experts, Emeritus Professor John L. Gedid and Professor Michael R. Dimino Sr., to consider the issue of elections versus appointments.

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In Favor of Appointments

By John L. Gedid Emeritus Professor of Law

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he Pennsylvania Constitution should be amended to provide for an appointive system for selection of all appellate court judges. Why? Because there are many serious faults in the present partisan elective judicial selection system.

The Merit Plan eliminates the flaws of the present elective system and has been tried and proven to work well in other states.

Problems of the Present Partisan Elective System Judges must campaign to be elected under the present system. Many of the donors to judicial races are the lawyers who appear before that judge after she is elected. Receipt of donations creates the appearance among the public that judges favor those law firms or persons who have contributed money to the judge’s election campaign. One survey disclosed that 88 percent of Pennsylvania citizens believed that contributions affected judicial decision making.1 There is a related money/fundraising problem that has become more serious in recent years. U.S. Supreme Court decisions permit unlimited monetary support to judicial candidates. This means that corporations and single issue organizations with substantial funds may campaign on behalf of judicial candidates whom they believe will support their philosophy or attack candidates (or sitting judges who are up for reelection at the end of their ten-year term) even though the judge makes decisions in cases that come before her, as she should, on the basis of the facts and the law. The attacks by moneyed single-issue organizations compromise the independence of judges. Knowing that hundreds of thousands of dollars will be spent if a decision runs against an organization may affect many judges.

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In Pennsylvania, judges are elected in a partisan election: they run for office on a party ticket. This feature creates the appearance of political party influence on judges. Moreover, the support of the political party on whose ticket a successful judicial candidate runs may create a sense of obligation to the supporting political party on the part of the judge. Electing judges leads the public to believe that judges are “politicians in robes.”2 Also, the rigors of having to raise money statewide, which involve travelling the entire state to meet donors and prospective donors, and the need to meet and gain acceptance of political leaders in every county, is a daunting task.

It is one that no doubt would discourage many highly qualified and successful lawyers from seeking partisan judicial election.

Appellate judges are elected on a statewide basis. Voters in most parts of the state do not know candidates for appellate judgeships or their experience and record.

So voters choose judges on the basis of political affiliation or some other criterion (such as where the judge resides). Instead of choice based upon competence as a judge or possession of judicial qualities and experience, the candidate is elected on the basis of unrelated, extraneous factors.

The system for election of judges in Pennsylvania is seriously flawed. That gives rise to a second question: how should we select judges?

The Solution: A Depoliticized Judicial Appointment System Fortunately, there is a system for judicial selection that eliminates most of the problems created by electing judges. It is sometimes known as the Missouri Plan, for the first state to adopt it, or the Merit Plan.3

More than 30 states have at the present time adopted some variant of the Merit Plan.

The steps of a Merit Plan judicial appointment are as follows: First, a nonpartisan commission or council nominates several highly qualified judicial candidates. Second, the governor appoints a judge to fill a vacancy from the judicial commission nominees. The initial appointment is for a limited term, often one year. Third, voters approve the nominees after the first year in a retention election.

There are several details of this procedure that must be included in order to prevent problems that exist with the present partisan judicial election method. In the first place, the appointment and makeup of the judicial selection commission is of crucial importance.4 The commission must be nonpartisan.5 This goal can be accomplished by having a mix of persons—laymen, lawyers, and judges—who are not permitted to serve in any political capacity, such as an officer in a political party.6 The commission members serve staggered terms for a fixed number of years. This arrangement helps to reduce the influence of the executive who makes the appointment.7 These restrictions on the activities of the commission are intended to insulate it from political pressure and seek to make it nonpartisan.8 Even though he may be affected by political considerations, the executive chooses among highly qualified candidates proposed by the commission. This feature changes the judicial election process from one involving choice by uninformed voters to one involving choice from an array of competent judges who are independent because they are not indebted to donors or to political parties. continued on page 16

A Vote for Elections

By Michael R. Dimino Sr. Professor of Law

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oters in Pennsylvania this fall will choose three justices on the state Supreme Court, as well as several judges on lower courts. Most of these voters won’t have any idea who the candidates are and relatively few will have an appreciation for the jobs that these judges will do once in office.

So why in the world do we select judges by popular election? Wouldn’t it be better to leave judicial selection to lawyers? Alternatively, why not adopt a method of judicial selection modeled on the federal system, where the President nominates judges, but those judges must be confirmed by a majority vote of the Senate?

The truth is that each of these systems has advantages and each has disadvantages. For popular elections, the advantage is democracy.

And the disadvantage … is democracy.

Judges, like officials in the executive and legislative branches, make policy. They have discretion in the way they carry out their responsibilities, and different judges will exercise that discretion in different ways. We can disagree about whether we prefer Thurgood Marshall or William Rehnquist, Louis Brandeis or William Howard Taft, Ruth Bader Ginsburg or Antonin Scalia, but we all agree that those jurists have different philosophies that lead to different results.

At the trial level, for example, some judges will be more likely to issue search warrants, and some judges less so. Some will impose harsher sentences; others will impose more lenient ones. At the appellate level, some judges will interpret statutes by looking only to their text; others will consider legislative history, purpose, and other factors. Some judges will seize on ambiguities in the law to advance one form or another of “social justice” or morality; others will favor economic efficiency; still others will favor other goals. In shaping the common law, judges will reach different results depending

on their philosophies of judging and the goals they believe the law should pursue. And in constitutional interpretation, some judges will seek to interpret the text consistent with the document’s original meaning, while others will view the Constitution as “living” and will impose a meaning that could not have been anticipated by its framers. While judges are fond of expressing the half-truth that they merely apply the law, anyone who has the slightest familiarity with the law understands that different judges apply the law differently.

Certainly people who appoint judges understand that the choice of judges makes a tremendous difference. Presidents have long looked at judicial appointments as a way of extending their influence long after their terms in the White House have ended. On the state level, the recent controversy surrounding gubernatorial appointments to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court shows the value that both the governor and the state senate place on the choice of judges.

The essence of representative democracy is that policy decisions will be made by officials who are chosen by, responsible to, and representative of, the people. We wouldn’t want to have an unelected, unaccountable legislature deciding whether to have the death penalty, abortion, gay marriage, tort reform, no-fault divorce, casino gambling, or any other controversial policy.

(Indeed, the 17th Amendment made the Senate subject to popular election so that policy decisions would be made by people who were directly accountable to the people). So why should we want those issues decided by unelected judges? If judges affect government policy, as we all know they do, there is considerable democratic value in permitting the people to elect them—particularly because judges’ policy preferences make a significant difference in the way they decide cases.

Some commentators argue that judges should be removed from politics to free them to follow the law, but getting rid of elections does not get rid of politics. An appointed judge does not receive his appointment based strictly on “merit” (even if we could agree on what that means); rather, he gets his appointment in part for political reasons— for example, whether he is the right race, sex, or religion; whether he comes from the right geographical area; whether he has an ideology compatible with the governor’s; whether he has been a faithful supporter of the right party; and whether he is friends with the governor or an influential member of the legislature. And it is definitely true that some members of the public will vote for judges who share their policy views. But politicians with the power of appointment are at least as likely to have ideological litmus tests as voters are.

Judicial elections have problems—just as all other elections do. But they may be the best of the available options. At the very least, we should not pretend that the process of selecting judges would be less political if the politics is moved from the ballot box to the back room.

Professor Michael Dimino is the author of Voting Rights and Election Law, a casebook, and he has written widely on the election of judges. He also teaches and writes about constitutional law, legislation, constitutional criminal procedure, administrative law, federal courts, and U.S. Supreme Court politics. A 2001 graduate of Harvard Law School, he has been a faculty member since 2004. He was the 2011 recipient of the Douglas E. Ray Award for Excellence in Faculty Scholarship.

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lecting judges leads the public to E believe that judges are “politicians in robes.” — Emeritus Professor John L. Gedid Some persons have objected that this type of nomination from commission-recommended judicial candidates means selection is made by a politician—the executive—or a group of politicians on the basis of back room political deals. They argue that the Merit Plan will result in appointment of political party “hacks” instead of competent and independent judges.9 However, the fixed, staggered terms of the members of the nominating commission, who are not permitted to hold any political office, assure that partisan political considerations or executive partisan pressure are minimized. The Merit System eliminates in great part the political element in judicial selection by removing political parties as players in judicial selection.

The use of a one-year appointive term for judges creates an opportunity to observe the judicial performance of appointed judges, at least to the extent that it is possible to do so. The retention election also makes available an opportunity for citizens to vote on the tenure and selection of judges. This satisfies the objection that the use of an appointive or commission system takes away the opportunity of citizens to vote on judicial candidates.

The Merit System eliminates the appearance of justice purchased by donations to judicial candidates running for election. Instead, it substitutes a system largely removed from politics and based upon transparent procedure to nominate suitable judicial candidates.

Pennsylvania should adopt the Merit Plan in order to reap the benefits of a commission-based judicial selection system.

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Emeritus Professor John L. Gedid is the founder and former director of Widener’s Law and Government Institute. He served as founding vice dean for the Harrisburg Campus from 1989 to 1995, and as vice dean from 2007 to 2009.

He was awarded emeritus status in 2013. He is past chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Administrative Law Section. He has served on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Procedural Rules Committee, and continues to serve as a consultant to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Judicial Independence Commission. harles Gardner Geyh, Publicly Financed Judicial Elections: C An Overview, 34 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 1467, 1470-71 (2001).

2 Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor quoted in Shira Goodman, Lynn A. Marks, David Caroline, WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT: ELECTING JUDGES OR JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE? IT’S TIME FOR PENNSYLVANIA TO CHOOSE JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE, 48 Duq. L. Rev. 859, 860 (2010).

3 I shall use the term Merit Plan, since it is fairly well recognized.

4 James E. Lozier, THE MISSOURI PLAN A/K/A MERIT SELECTION IS THE BEST SOLUTION, 75 Mich. B.J. 918, (1996).

5 Id. 6 Lozier, supra n. 4, at 920.

7 Allen Ashman and James J. Alfini, The Key to Judicial Merit Selection: The Merit System, 7.

8 Lozier, supra n4 9 John M. Roll, Merit Selection, 22 Ariz. S. L. J. 837, 839 (1995).

1

The Court and the Candidates Candidates for the Supreme Court can run as a Republican, Democrat, or an independent.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court currently has two open seats: one created by the mandatory retirement of Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille, the other by the resignation of Justice Seamus McCaffery. The State Constitution requires that one additional seat, now held by Justice Correale Stevens, must be filled in the November election. (Stevens ran but lost

in the Republican primary in May for the seat he had filled temporarily since his appointment by former Governor Tom Corbett in 2013; because he was appointed, he was not eligible for a retention election.)

Republican justices hold the current majority by a 3-2 margin, but risk losing it in the November general election.

Once a Supreme Court justice has been elected, he or she must participate in a retention election every ten years.

Candidates

The top three vote-getters among these six candidates will win a seat on the court

Commonwealth Superior Court Court Judge Judge Christine Anne Covey (R).

Donohue (D) 1984 graduate of Widener University School of Law, Delaware Campus.

Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Kevin M. Dougherty (D)

Adams County Court of Common Pleas President Judge Michael George (R)

Superior Court Judge Judith F. Olson (R)

Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Paul P. Panepinto (I).

1976 graduate of Widener University School of Law, Delaware Campus.

Superior Court Judge David Wecht (D)

Justice

Chief Justice

Justice Debra

Correale F. Stevens (R)

Thomas G. Saylor (R) manda-

McCloskey Todd (D) next

The Court

Current Supreme Court Justices

? ?

Justice Max Baer (D) mandatory retirement 2017, vacancy election 2017.

Justice J.

Michael Eakin

(R) mandatory retirement 2018, vacancy election 2019. Widener honorary doctor of law 2005.

Vacant

Vacant

(lost in the May primary).

tory retirement in 2016, vacancy election 2017.

Widener honorary doctor of law 2002.

retention election 2017, mandatory retirement 2027.

17

Clinic a “Godsend” in Grandparent Custody Case Widener Law Commonwealth’s Civil Law Clinics have been assisting Dauphin County residents and providing students with experience for more than two decades.

By Sam Starnes

Above: J. Palmer Lockard, associate professor and founder and director of the Central Pennsylvania Law Clinics, and Mary Catherine Scott, adjunct faculty member and supervising attorney for the clinics.

At right: Faye Youmans and her grandson at their home.

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Faye Youmans didn’t know where to turn.

She wanted to file the legal paperwork to win custody of her 13-year-old grandson from a troubled daughter, but the attorneys she called were too expensive. “One attorney wanted $1,000 up front just for paperwork, and then $95 an hour,” said Youmans, a Halifax, Pennsylvania, resident who works in bill collection. “I couldn’t afford that.”

She worried about her grandson who had come to live with her being forced to return to a threatening environment of drug abuse he’d survived while living with his mother. “He came to me in 2013,” Youmans said of an arrangement that initially was supposed to be only a few weeks. “He didn’t want to go back home. He told us about things that would make you cry.”

Without custody, she could not get health insurance for him, enroll him in school, and tend to other matters that required a legal guardian.

She also worried about her daughter coming to reclaim her son and insisting on taking him back into a perilous environment against his will. At one point Youmans considered taking her grandson and hiding him from her daughter. “I wanted to protect my grandson any way I could,” she said.

Instead of running away, however, she found the Central Pennsylvania Law Clinics, staffed by Harrisburg law students and faculty. Two students and a supervising attorney handled her case pro bono, helping her win full custody of her grandson. “They were a godsend,” she said. “They have no idea what they did for us.”

Photos by Melanie Franz

Johelys Cecala ’15, left, and Kosta Patsiopoulos ’15, right, handled Faye Youmans’ custody case under the supervision of Mary Catherine Scott, center.

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More than Two Decades of Service The Central Pennsylvania Civil Law Clinics, founded in 1991 by J. Palmer Lockard, an associate clinical professor who continues to direct the program, until recently were known collectively as the Harrisburg Civil Law Clinic. The clinics now consist of the Administrative Law Clinic, the Consumer Law Clinic, the Elder Law Clinic, and the Family Justice Clinic.

The clinics serve two main purposes: providing free legal services to residents of Dauphin County in need of representation in civil cases and giving law students hands-on training and experience.

Alexis Miloszewski, a 2008 graduate of Widener Law Harrisburg, said her experience as a student working in the clinic helped her to choose a career in family law. “I was exposed to various areas of law, and I had an opportunity to get a sense of what I enjoyed,” said Miloszewski, now a family law attorney for JSDC Law Offices in Hummelstown, near Hershey.

She said her practical experience in the clinic gave her confidence when she began her career.

“When I started in a small firm, it was sink or swim,” Miloszewski said. “I already had experience handling cases at the clinic. It relieved my anxiety. That experience was invaluable.”

Miloszewski said she also found the mission of helping those who could not afford legal services very rewarding. She said she often refers prospective clients who can’t afford legal fees to the clinics. “I know that they will be well represented,” she said.

Court of Common Pleas Judge Jeannine Turgeon, managing judge for Dauphin County’s Family Law Court, said that about 80 percent of custody cases in her court involve people who don’t have legal representation. The clinics, she said, help to offset this high number of unrepresented litigants. “They provide a great service,” said Turgeon, who also teaches at Widener Law Commonwealth as an adjunct faculty member. “Their work is very important. It’s certainly essential for us to meet the needs of those who can’t afford attorneys.”

Grandparent Custody Cases The Dauphin County Area Agency on Aging and MidPenn Legal Services often refers those in need of legal services to the clinics. In the past year, the clinics have handled five cases involving grandparents seeking full custody of grandchildren. “The need is there to help indigent clients with as many custody cases as we can,” said Mary Catherine Scott, a supervising attorney for the clinics who also teaches as an adjunct faculty

FACTS ABOUT WIDENER’S CIVIL LAW CLINICS • The Central Pennsylvania Law Clinics, previously known as the Harrisburg Civil Law Clinic, consist of the Administrative Law Clinic, the Consumer Law Clinic, the Elder Law Clinic, and the Family Justice Clinic.

• The Harrisburg Civil Law Clinic opened its doors in 1991.

•S ince the program’s inception, almost 1,000 students have earned course credit for working in the clinic.

•S ince spring 2000, the clinics have opened more than 3,000 cases. Last year, a total of 226 cases were opened. member. “Grandparent cases are a rarity, but very rewarding to students when we can assist them.”

Two law students who graduated in May 2015—Johelys Cecala of Frederick, Maryland, and Kosta Patsiopoulos of Harrisburg—helped Youmans file her request for custody and present it in the Dauphin County Family Law Court.

The case began with Cecala, who met with Youmans in the fall 2014 semester and began preparing her paperwork. “She really wanted to do this for her grandson,” Cecala said. “She wanted to give him a better life.”

She worked with Youmans until the case carried over to the spring semester, where it was picked up by Patsiopoulos. “It was my first case,” Patsiopoulos said. “I realized how important this was—this is dealing with a young child that has been brought up in unimaginable circumstances.”

He read through the inch-thick file, met with Youmans, and then successfully presented Youman’s request for custody before a judge. “It was an eye-opening experience,” he said. “You can read so much about a case, but you see the human emotion in person.”

Youmans was thrilled with the full custody result Patsiopoulos and Cecala achieved for her and her grandson in March. Her grandson now lives with her without fear of having to leave. He is enrolled in middle school and enjoys playing soccer, going fishing, and working on cars with his uncle, especially a 1995 Chevy S-10 pickup that they have been restoring. He also plays with his younger cousins who live next door to him and his grandmother.

Youmans shudders at what might have happened to him had she not found the clinics. “If I had to pay a regular lawyer, I could not have done it,” she said.

•C ases commonly handled by students and supervising attorneys include divorce, support, custody, bankruptcy, estate planning, unemployment compensation, and social security disability.

•C linic staff encourage alumni who worked in the clinic to get in touch and share their experiences. Donations to benefit the clinics can be made on the law school’s website at http://commonwealthlaw. widener.edu/alumni-friends/give or by calling 717-541-3974.

• Contact: J. Palmer Lockard, Director 3605 Vartan Way, 2nd Floor Harrisburg, PA 17110 Phone: 717-541-0320 Email: jlockard@widener.edu

For more information, visit commonwealthlaw.widener.edu 21

CLASS NOTES CLASS OF 1992 Frank A. Mazzeo is the 20152016 chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section. He is a founding partner in Ryder, Lu, Mazzeo & Konieczny, LLC, an intellectual property boutique law firm with offices in Colmar and Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.

CLASS OF 1993 William O. Krekstein joined Fort Washington, Pennsylvaniabased law firm Timoney Knox.

He practices in the areas of arson, insurance fraud, extracontractual, bad faith, and property coverage, as well as insurance industry business practices. In his practice, Krekstein represents national and international insurers in a diverse array of first- and third-party coverage disputes under all types of insurance policies. Krekstein has successfully litigated against policyholder lawsuits, pursued insurance fraud and arson cases, and defended extracontractual claims.

Robert O.Lindefjeld of Pittsburgh, general counsel and chief intellectual property counsel for Nantero, Inc., is immediate-past chair of ABA International Property Law section and was a co-chair of the section’s Joint Task Force on Online Piracy and Counterfeiting Legislation. He was quoted in in the March 2015 issue of the ABA Journal in the article “Another Shot: ABA section’s white paper 22

proposing controls for online piracy makes opponents of Internet regulation see red.”

The article said: “After SOPA and PIPA went down in flames, the group continued working, because ‘we knew the problem of online piracy and counterfeiting wasn’t going away,’ says Robert O. Lindefjeld.” He is quoted later in the piece, saying, “SOPA/PIPA placed on Internet search providers a lot of burden of policing against online infringement. In the white paper, we took the approach that the burden should be placed on the IP owners. We want a regime where a foreign website would have notice and an opportunity to defend itself, which is another big difference from SOPA/PIPA.” The full text of the article can be found on www.abajournal.com.

Thomas O. Williams testified before the Commerce Committee of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

He answered questions from members of the committee and submitted written testimony regarding House Bill 726, 2015 session, concerning proposed amendments to the Pennsylvania Contractor and Subcontractor Payment Act. Williams is a shareholder with the law firm of Reager & Adler, PC, in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.

Mark K. Emery has recently been named as one of Susquehanna Valley’s “Select Lawyers in the fields of Commercial Litigation and General Civil Litigation.” Emery is the sole practitioner at the Law Offices of Mark K. Emery in Harrisburg.

CLASS OF 1996 Joseph T. Giglia II has been named vice president of human resources and general counsel at The Buffalo News in Buffalo, New York. He will oversee legal matters and manage the Human Resources Department and labor relations.

Giglia previously served as a vice president at Catholic Health in Buffalo for the past five years.

CLASS OF 2000 William P. Doyle was confirmed by the United States Senate to another term in office as a Federal Maritime Commissioner. The confirmation vote took place on March 23 on the Senate floor and was unanimous. Doyle was ceremonially sworn in on May 27 in York, Pennsylvania.

Congressman Scott G. Perry of Pennsylvania’s 4th congressional district administered the oath of office.

Maggie M. Finkelstein has been named a shareholder in the newly established firm of Saxton & Stump LLC, which represents a new and unique business model dedicated to the changing and often challenging needs of the health care community. By assembling an exceptional team of litigators, paralegals, doctors, nurses, and consultants all focusing on defense litigation, risk management, patient safety and quality assurance work, the firm is not only well positioned to defend health care professionals, but also can

help clients reduce litigation through innovative risk management strategies.

CLASS OF 2002 Charles L. Riddle launched EsquireTrademarks.com, a service of Riddle Patent Law, LLC dedicated to the practice of trademark law. Riddle also celebrated the birth of his second son, Landon, born August 2014. His first son, Charlie, was born in 2013.

State Senator Richard L. Alloway II was recently elected to the Board of Directors of ACNB Corporation at the corporation’s annual meeting of shareholders.

Alloway will serve as a Class 2 Director for a three-year term, which expires in 2018. He also will serve on the Board of Directors for the corporation’s banking subsidiary, ACNB Bank.

CLASS OF 2004 Ashley H. Buono was elected a shareholder of Chiumento McNally, LLC. Her areas of practice include civil litigation, criminal litigation, administrative litigation, construction claims, commercial claims, personal injury, professional liability claims including attorneys, architects and engineers. Buono has active trial experience before all state courts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and has successfully represented licensees before administrative boards in disciplinary matters.

Widener Law Alumna to Lead State Bar

Joseph L. Hoynoski III was published in the Health Law Supplement of The Legal Intelligencer. His article, published in January 2015, was titled, “Certificate of Merit Status Quo Has To Go.” Hoynoski also was named a 2015 Pennsylvania Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine for his medical malpractice defense. He has been named a Pennsylvania Rising Star consecutively since 2012.

Hoynoski is an associate at the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, office of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin.

Peter M. Vaughn took over his father’s practice, The Vaughn Law Firm LLC, effective January 1, 2015. His father is now “of counsel.” The firm is

Pictured, from left, are Peter M. Vaughn ’04, Glenn C. Vaughn, and Jeremy D. Williams ’12.

a general practice and has been in the same York, Pennsylvania, location on Beaver Street since 1973.

CLASS OF 2005 Ehsan F. Chowdhry has been designated as an Advocate by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and is currently completing his designation as a Master Advocate. Chowdhry also has been certified by the American Bar Association’s National Board of Trial Advocacy in Criminal Trial Advocacy and is only one of five lawyers in New Jersey

A 1993 alumna of the Widener Law Harrisburg campus is in line to become president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA).

Sharon R. López, founder and managing partner of the Lancaster-based firm Triquetra Law, began serving as PBA vice president in May 2015. She will become president of the 27,000-member association in 2017, the first graduate of Widener Law Harrisburg to hold that position.

“I chose Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg because of the campus focus on public interest law,” López said.

“I learned to advocate for my clients and for policy issues I cared about. Now I can apply that same big picture thinking I learned at Widener to the lawyers of Pennsylvania.

Widener’s commitment to excellence, diversity, and pro bono work is consistent with PBA goals. I am thrilled to be the first PBA president who is a Widener alum.”

López’s practice represents workers and plaintiffs in employment law, discrimination, and civil rights cases.

She also served as special counsel for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission from January 2014 through June 2015.

López is a life fellow and a Commonwealth Club member of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation, co-chair of the PBA Membership Development Committee, and a past co-chair of the PBA Civil and Equal Rights Committee. She is an active ally to hold such a designation, and the only prosecutor. He was designated a Certified Criminal Trial Attorney by the New Jersey Supreme Court.

He is a graduate of Temple University’s James E. Beasley School of Law’s top ranked LLM degree program in Trial Advocacy in 2007. He is currently in his tenth year as an attorney and works as an Assistant Prosecutor in the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office in New Jersey. He is

member of the PBA GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender), the Minority Bar Committee, and the Women in the Profession Committee. She served as the first editor of the GLBT committee’s electronic newsletter, Open Court and the Minority Bar Committee’s first newsletter, Houston’s Legacy. She was appointed to the PBA Diversity Team in charge of implementing the PBA Diversity Task Force Recommendations (2012 to 2015) and the Judicial Evaluation Commission responsible for developing and implementing a judicial evaluation process for appellate judicial candidates in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (2011 to 2015). She is a member of the PBA Civil Litigation, Labor and Employment Law, and Solo and Small Firm Practice sections.

Her father was a native of Mexico and her mother was Pennsylvania Dutch. She was born in Mexico City, and lived in Mexico and Uruguay before her family moved to Pennsylvania where she started grade school. She graduated from Lancaster Mennonite High School and earned her undergraduate degree from Eastern Mennonite College. As an alumna, López earned two Widener Law Harrisburg awards: in 2014, she was honored for her efforts to promote diversity in the legal profession; in 2008, she was awarded the Alumni Outstanding Service Award for her work in promoting diversity and mentoring law students and new lawyers.

the first recipient of the prestigious Ten Leaders Award as a government prosecutor and has successfully convinced that organization to include government lawyers for the first time in their selection process.

Bret D. Keisling was a presenter at the 2015 National Center for Employee Ownership conference in Denver, Colorado, in a session titled, “Navigating Internal Trustee Waters—Best Practices from the Perspective of an External Trustee and Counsel.” In addition to his law practice in Harrisburg, Keisling is

managing director of Capital Trustees, LLC, which provides trustee services to employee-owned companies. He also is a member of the law school’s Board of Advisors.

Michael J. Dennin began his tenth year of practice with the Law Offices of Vincent J. Ciecka in Pennsauken, New Jersey.

He practices in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and handles 23

Alumna Honored for Outstanding Service A 2007 Widener Law Harrisburg graduate has been honored by the Young Lawyers Division of the Pennsylvania Bar Association with the 2015 Michael K. Smith Excellence in Service Award. Kimberly M. Moraski, an associate with the Chartwell Law Offices in Scranton, received the annual award in May that recognizes an individual who, through exemplary personal and professional conduct, reminds lawyers of their professional responsibilities.

Moraski serves on the board of the Lackawanna Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and assists with a number of the division’s projects and programs, including the high school mock trial competition. She has served for two years on the board of the Pennsylvania Defense Institute and also serves on the board of the Lackawanna Pro Bono Inc., which provides free or reduced legal services to indigent citizens.

Moraski concentrates her practice in representing self-insured employers, insurance companies, and governmental and quasi-governmental agencies in workers’ compensation matters. “I see this award as acknowledgement of the things I have done as a lawyer to date,” Moraski said, “but also

plaintiffs’ personal injury and workers’ compensation cases in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Last year, Dennin was the secretary of the Camden County Bar Association and this year will be the treasurer of the association. He is the cochair of the New Jersey Association for Justice Workers’ Compensation committee and gave a lecture in May 2015 at the New Jersey Association for Justice Foundation Boardwalk Seminar. The lecture was on the differences in New Jersey and Pennsylvania workers’ compensation law.

24

as a challenge to continue to strive to be the best attorney I can be.”

She began her legal career with Munley and Associates, Scranton, and later joined the Lackawanna County Public Defender’s Office. While at Widener, Moraski authored “C.S. v.

Department of Public Welfare: A Concurrent Collision of Appellate Review in Two Separate Forums,” published in the Widener Law Journal in 2007.

The Michael K. Smith award is named in memory of a young Philadelphia lawyer who was committed to providing legal services for low-income people and to offering law-related educational programs to students.

Moraski never met Smith, but said that she learned much about his work and his inspirational example. “I believe it is every lawyer’s duty to use their skills and abilities in the best way possible for the greater good,” she said. “The only way we can truly foster an environment of justice is to ensure that we are respecting the law and working to uphold the same without prejudice as to race, religion, economic status, and any other identifying adjective or grouping that would possibly preclude equal access to justice.”

Dennin also was named a 2015 Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine. He has two sons, ages four and one,

Lawyers Committee. Erhard was also appointed to chair of the Adams County Young Lawyers Committee.

and a three-year-old daughter.

CLASS OF 2006 David R. Erhard was elected to the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys (PACDL) Board of Directors and was appointed the co-chair of the Young

Angela M. Coxe is currently senior patent counsel at Hewlett-Packard Company in New York. Coxe has worked in-house for Hewlett-Packard Company for the past four years in various roles related to patent preparation and prosecution and monetization of patent assets.

Jeremy A. Donham now practices in Pennsylvania and West Virginia with Donham Law. His firm handles employment, ERISA, healthcare, and privacy cases. He has been voted one of the 2015 Super Lawyers Magazine Rising Stars.

Erik Roberts Anderson left a position with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office to help open a new office for Scranton-based boutique law firm Myers Brier & Kelly LLP. Anderson, who spent 18 months handling labor and employment matters under Attorney General Kathleen Kane, is the first of three attorneys planned for MBK’s new Harrisburg office.

Anderson will handle government investigations and civil defense matters for MBK.

CLASS OF 2007 Christopher F. Schellhorn Jr. joined the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes/Child Endangerment Unit in Morristown, New Jersey in September 2014.

Rebecca M. Cantor joined Zurich American Insurance Company as staff attorney for the Lehigh Valley staff legal office. Cantor defends Zurich commercial liability insurance holders in all phases of litigation. Previously, she spent five years at an insurance defense firm in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

Brian C. Jordan, a shareholder at the Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania firm of Cramer, Swetz, McManus

& Jordan, P.C., has been named a 2015 Pennsylvania Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine.

CLASS OF 2008 Casey L. Sipe joined Caldwell & Kearns, P.C. in Harrisburg with a primary focus on employment law and commercial litigation. Additionally, he was appointed to the board of the Cumberland Area Economic Development Corporation.

Nikhil Patel is of counsel at Lathrop & Gage LLP in Boston.

Patel focuses his practice on patent prosecution, litigation, and client counseling on patent, trademark, and copyright issues.

Niki E. Carter is now a contract analyst in the Aerospace, Defense, and Marine business unit for TE Connectivity Ltd. in Middletown, Pennsylvania.

Thomas L. McGlaughlin is now general counsel at Keystone Custom Homes in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

CLASS OF 2009 Daniel B. Fix is now associate at the White Plains, New York, office of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP. Fix focuses his practice on commercial and municipal litigation.

Frances E. Barto, an associate with Scarinci Hollenbeck in Jersey City and Lyndhurst, New Jersey, was named a top litigation

attorney by (201) Magazine’s annual Bergen’s Top Lawyers peer-review survey.

CLASS OF 2011 Nichole C. Wilson is now vice president of research and communications at Cause of Action in Washington, D.C. Paul D. Edger was promoted to managing attorney of MidPenn Legal Service’s Cumberland County office.

Edger was awarded Widener University School of Law’s Outstanding Recent Alumni Award at an alumni reception in Philadelphia in March.

Obituary

Student Ben Loomis

A third-year Widener Law Harrisburg student has died after a long illness.

Benjamin James Loomis, 29, of Rushville, New York, died Monday, June 15, 2015. A 2004 graduate of Marcus Whitman Central School in Rushville, he graduated from the State University of New York Geneseo in 2009 with a bachelor of arts in history and sociology.

He began studying law in Harrisburg in fall 2010 and interned for Yates County Family Court Judge W. Patrick Falvey near his hometown in New York for two summers. “His desire and commitment to pursue a legal career was evident during his time at the law school,” said Professor Robyn L. Meadows who served as interim dean. Widener Law Commonwealth will honor Loomis during the fall blood drive on campus. Because Loomis was benefitted by blood collected by the Red Cross during his illness, the Student Bar Association has decided to dedicate their fall blood drive, which is conducted annually with the Red Cross, to Ben’s memory.

CLASS OF 2012

CLASS OF 2013

CLASS OF 2014

Jeremy D. Williams (pictured on page 23) celebrated two years at The Vaughn Law Firm LLC in York, Pennsylvania.

Williams focuses his practice in the areas of DUI, drug offenses, and violent crimes.

Jolee M. Van Horn married fellow alumnus Joshua J. Bovender ‘12 in May. They met while attending law school in Harrisburg.

Megan D. Strait is now an associate attorney at Benn Law Firm in York, Pennsylvania.

Peggy L. Morningstar is now chief financial officer for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Office of LongTerm Living.

Samuel Shusterhoff, founder and president of LawNearMe. com, was featured on the legal news site Above the Law in an article titled, “The ATL Interrogatories: 7 Questions With Samuel Shusterhoff of LawNearMe.” Shusterhoff found his passion with LawNearMe.com, a conduit where consumers can find an attorney, research the credentials of an attorney, and schedule an appointment instantly.

Alexandra R. Heaney is now an Associate at Tully Rinckey PLLC in Buffalo, New York. Heaney focuses her practice on labor and employment law.

Ryan M. Molitoris announced his candidacy for magisterial district judge in the 11-3-08 district, which consists of Plains Township and Laflin Borough, Pennsylvania.

Molitoris, a licensed and practicing attorney, is a third-generation resident of Plains Township. Molitoris is a member of the American Bar Association, Pennsylvania Bar, United States Federal Bar for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Lackawanna Bar Association, and Luzerne County Bar Association.

Jason E. Boone is now staff counsel at GEICO in Jacksonville, Florida.

Alumni Unite!

Volunteers Wanted For New Alumni Association Widener Law Harrisburg has graduated 3,414 students since its first commencement in 1992. Of those graduates, 3,285 are practicing in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands. With the new name of the law school and our organizational separation, we are establishing a new alumni association and we invite you to get involved. Please contact Tiffany DePaoli, assistant director of alumni engagement, at 717-541-3922 or trdepaoli@widener.edu.

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HONOR ROLL Widener Law Commonwealth 2014-2015 Honor Roll of Donors

This listing recognizes gifts made between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015.

Our staff has made every effort to ensure that the honor roll is accurate and complete. If, however, you discover an error or omission, please contact Natasha Lewis at nclewis@widener.edu or 717-541-3974.

INDIVIDUALS Jurists' Society $25,000–$49,999 Alexander & Ann Bratic C hristopher & Caroline Bratic '11 Mazza Chancellors' Club $20,000–$24,999 Stephen Wirth Douglas Wolfberg '96* Ambassadors' Club $10,000–$19,999 Michael '94 & Catherine Aiello Partners' Club $5,000–$9,999 Douglas '94* & Trudy Steinhardt Benefactors $2,500–$4,999 Jorge Casimiro Dean's Council $1,500–$2,499 S cott '97* & Tanya Colbert Blissman ‘97 James '96 & Gina Bohorad Kathryn Peifer '02* Law School Associates $1,000–$1,499 Jonathan Bigley '95 Nicholas Stapp & Jill Family John & Carol Gedid George & Nancy Hassel Bret Keisling '05* R obyn Meadows* & Richard Meadows Bench and Bar Club $500–$999 C. Grainger* & Sandra Leanna Bowman F rank Emmerich Jr. '95 & Angela Corbo, PhD Patricia Fox Natasha Lewis A lbert & Sally Nuttycombe '03

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Thank You For Your Support!

Rutherford Donald '00 & Dorothea Smith Century Club $250–$499 G eorge '03 & Kristen Opdenhoff '03 Bibikos Richard Burridge '93 H on. Pedro Cortés '10H & Lissette Lizardi Cortés B enjamin Del Vento Jr. '94 & Karen Del Vento P resident James T. Harris III+* & Mary Harris Ronnie Siegel Hess '95 Michael & Julie Hussey Michelle Latta '13 Colleen McDonough Juliet Moringiello Amir Raminpour '09 Z achary '99 & Melissa Rubinich Anthony Seitz '08 G erald Strubinger Jr. '92 & Carolyn Strubinger Philip & Valerie Viglione Donors Molly Acri Britt Anderson '96 Harold Anderson '96 Robert Angert Edward & Lettica Applegate W ilson Barnes III '98 & Kelly Barnes E rnest Baynard & Lindsey Dickinson Baynard ‘00 Gregory R. Beckenbaugh '95 Caitlin B. Blazier '17 Cheryl Underwood Brown '96 D ouglas & Erin Grady '09 Burlew V incent '01* & Heather Champion Angela Coxe ‘06 Barbara Darkes '95 R onald Nagle & Nan Davenport '94 D. Robert Davidson '02 C hristian '92 & Joan Davis Tiffany DePaoli B arbara Kern '97 Dietrich Robert Dolbin Matthew Dorry '12 L eo Dunn '07 & Paul Rowe Paul '11 & Katelynn Edger C ol. William Erle '94 & Erin Erle Cheryl Family Marshall & Pam Family John '95 & Patricia Feichtel Joshua Feldman ‘04 Barbara Feudale '99 Melvin Fleming

Clarissa Freeman '08 Harold Gabler IV '11 Kevin '92 & Andrea Geary Tina Georges R obert & Sandra Graeff Brian Gregg '08 Donald Gual '15 A nthony '98 & Kirsten Kutler '11 Gulotta Paula Heider K evin Helm '95 & Cynthia Armour-Helm S tephen '92 & Barbara Harrington '92 Hladik D esmond Thompson & Kelly Hoover Thompson '99 J ames Hoppenjans '11 C hristian Hugel '93 Randall Hurst ‘99 Dale Jenkins ‘02 E ric Kniskern '99 & Kevin Jones Kyvele Karpouzis Na Shona S. Kess '18 Joy Kolodzi '08 Corey Korinda '13 Douglas Kozak '16 Ian Lang '04 Brenda Lawrence Zhao Liu '16 Ronald S. Lombard Victoria Madden '95 Grant Malleus '15 N icholas J. Marinelli '16 Jessica Miraglia '16 Ryan Molitoris '13 Vincent Monfredo '07 Michael Mongiello '01 Chelsey Murta '17 Katharine Nelson H eather Troutman '02 Nicoletti Michele C. O’Dowd ‘04 Mark R. Owens ‘99 Nicholas & Donna Patsiopoulos Cara N. Phillips ‘17 S pencer Phillips MD & Andrea Phillips Christopher Preate '96 Nicole Radziewicz '12 Tiffany Raker '16 M aryKay Andrewson Rauenzahn '93 L awrence Rife III & Patricia Rife Lawrence Rife IV '11 Christopher Robinette T odd Rothermel '09 & Susan Temme Kenneth Rouse III '18 Ann Russo Adam '09 & Lauren Santucci D aniel Schuckers & Sara LeCleire Schuckers

K evin & Mary Catherine Woodman '94 Scott Matthew Sembach '10 D an Altemose & Karen Shriner '94 Hon. Joseph Sklarosky Jr. '94 Richard Spevack '17 Rosina Stambaugh '13 K elly Klimkiewicz '97 Swartz R obert '93 & Michele '04 Torres P eter ’04 & Christine Vaughn Jonathan Villa '10 Jennifer Walker '05 Rhonda M. Weaver ‘98 Shana Weinstock '15 Ian Wetzel '08 William '92 & Krista Whitman Joshua J. Wilkinson ‘11 LaTasha Williams '17 Thomas Williams '93 M ichael Zittle DO & Brenda Zittle ORGANIZATIONS Leadership Circle $100,000.00 + Pennsylvania IOLTA Jurists' Society $25,000–$49,999 The Mutual Fire Foundation Inc. Chancellors' Club $20,000–$24,999 Page, Wolfberg & Wirth, LLC Benefactors $2,500–$4,999 Pennsylvania Bar Association Law School Associates $1,000–$1,499 E ckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC Pepper Hamilton, LLP William Penn Social Association Bench and Bar Club $500–$999 Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, PC Pennsylvania Bar Foundation Donors Buscarini Law Firm, P.C. Dunn Law Family Design Resources, Inc. J ames S. Bowman American Inn of Court Law Offices of Kevin R. Helm, LLC MATCHING GIFT COMPANIES The Hershey Company Nike

Class years indicate Widener Law class only. *Widener Law Commonwealth Board of Advisors +Widener University Trustee

Dean Christian Johnson, in the center of the front row, with faculty members, administrators, and staff who wore t-shirts trumpeting the school's new name on July 1.

Two special events celebrated the campus's first quarter century and set the stage for a bright future for Widener Law Commonwealth Launching a Bright Future A launch party was held on campus on July 1—the day that the Widener University Commonwealth Law School name became official and the school became a separately accredited, independent law school.

Dean Christian Johnson addressed the festive gathering outside the main classroom and law library building. “It’s going to be a great year for Widener Law Commonwealth,” Johnson said on his first official day on the job. “I’m very bullish—to use an economic term—on our future.”

Celebrating the Past Widener Law Harrisburg campus's 25th anniversary party on April 18 included a golf outing, a live band, food, and a wine tasting in the library. Alumni came from near and far to celebrate the campus that opened in fall 1989 and completed its first academic year in spring 1990.

“It’s great that Widener has become such a force in Harrisburg,” said Kenneth Robinson ’09, who traveled from his home in Templeton, Massachusetts, for the event. “It continues to produce leaders. I put so much of what I learned here to good use in my practice and my community service.”

From left, Jonathan D. Koltash ’07L, Alaina C. Koltash ’10L, and Professor Jill E. Family enjoy the 25th anniversary celebration.

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A Lasting Legal Legacy The Jurist Academy, a program founded by late Professor Starla Williams with the mission of increasing diversity in the profession, lives on at Widener Law Commonwealth

By Natasha Lewis, Director of Development A recent Washington Post article highlighted the longstanding issue of the lack of diversity in the legal profession. Of the professions featured in the article—architecture, engineering, accounting, law, and medicine—law is least diverse. Fewer than 7 percent of law firm partners identify as African American, Latino, Asian American, or Native American.

For the past four years, Widener's Harrisburg campus has done its part to try to turn the tide and introduce undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds to law school and the legal profession.

In 2011, the late Starla Williams founded the Jurist Academy program at Widener Law’s Harrisburg campus to provide opportunities for advancement to historically underrepresented groups by promoting law school application, acceptance, and attendance.

Promising undergraduate students are provided a tuition-free, two-week long intensive preview of the law school experience, including LSAT preparation and mock testing, introductory coursework, personalized feedback, and in-depth conversations with distinguished members of the bar and judiciary. Through Williams's diligent efforts 38 aspiring legal professionals were introduced to the skills they would need to enter law school and careers available to law school graduates during the first four years of the program.

Williams passed away in November 2014 at the age of 50 from congestive heart failure. She was a professor, as well as the school’s director of multicultural affairs, pro bono activities, and externships.

As the first attorney in her family, Williams understood the power and impact that a legal education could have on the lives of individuals from diverse backgrounds. Her distinguished background included a law degree from Duquesne and a master of laws degree from Georgetown University, her undergraduate alma mater.

Her love of the law was sparked at a young age, and Williams pursued it fearlessly.

While still in high school, she asked a local judge in Pittsburgh for permission to visit his courtroom each day after she left school.

There she would study the interactions between the attorneys and plan for her own legal career. She would later serve as an advocate

Professor Starla Williams, left, remains a prominent influence in the life of second-year law student LaTasha Williams.

for underrepresented families both in private practice and through her non-profit and volunteer leadership. But her true passion was teaching. Joining the Harrisburg faculty in 2008 was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. She shared her passion for legal education through the Jurist Academy.

One of the students directly impacted and mentored by Williams is LaTasha C. Williams. Having completed the Jurist Academy program in 2013, LaTasha, who is no relation to Starla, is the full embodiment of Starla’s vision for the program and its participants. LaTasha’s positive experience during her two weeks at Widener led her to apply for admission to attend the law school in fall 2014. Now as she begins her second year of law school at Widener Law Commonwealth, LaTasha is on her way to realizing her dream of entering the legal profession. She is no stranger to the legal community. For seven years, LaTasha worked as a legislative research analyst for the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus, but is now focused on completing her legal education.

After her anticipated graduation in 2017, she plans to follow her passion by helping marginalized groups within the criminal justice system—particularly those whose guilt is not absolutely clear. She has already spent more than ten years working as an advocate in this capacity. The Jurist Academy program was just the catalyst she needed to move her career to the next phase. Although it has been challenging, LaTasha is glad she made the decision to attend law school. “I have a hard time putting into words the integral role that the Jurist Academy and Professor Williams played in my law school successes,” LaTasha said. “It is my sincerest hope that the Jurist Academy continues for as long as there is Widener Law Commonwealth.”

To make a donation in memory of Starla Williams or to the Jurist Academy, call Natasha Lewis, director of development, at 717-541-3974 or visit the law school’s website at commonwealthlaw.widener.edu.

A New Name for a Familiar Friend Introducing the Widener Law Commonwealth Fund

A gift to the Widener Law Commonwealth Fund stays in Harrisburg to support the law school and its signature programs.

Your gifts advance the law school in a number of ways: • Students are able to participate in competitions and programs that provide hands-on, real-world legal experience.

• The law school is able to provide quality Continuing Legal Education (CLE) programming, attracting national and international legal scholars.

• Robust alumni support improves the law school’s reputation in legal education and enhances the value of a Widener Law Commonwealth degree.

Make a gift today. Visit our website commonwealthlaw.widener.edu or contact Natasha Lewis, director of development, at 717-541-3974 or nclewis@widener.edu

3800 Vartan Way, P.O. Box 69380 Harrisburg, PA 17106-9380 Address Service Requested

Widener Law Commonwealth

A New Day for Harrisburg’s Legal Education Leader

Widener University is proud to announce that on July 1 the two campuses of the School of Law became independent, separately accredited law schools.

Widener Law Harrisburg is now the Widener University Commonwealth Law School, known informally as Widener Law Commonwealth.

We are building on the law school’s 25 year history in Harrisburg with exciting new initiatives.

Along with the new name and independence, other new happenings include: ■

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enewed, separate ABA accreditation R A new dean, Christian Johnson, based in Harrisburg A new board of advisors strictly for Widener Law Commonwealth Creation of an alumni board consisting of only graduates from Harrisburg An enhanced school website: commonwealthlaw.widener.edu

To learn more, visit our website or call 717-541-3900.