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www.palomafi nedining.com The Philadelphia L aw y er contents Vol. 74, No. 4 Philadelphia Bar Association Quarterly Magazine Winter 2012

Features Departments

4 From the Editor by Daniel J. Siegel

6 Briefs

7 In Memoriam

10 Advocacy by Richard G. Freeman There is only so much a lawyer can do within the limits of the profession 12 Ethics 24 by David I. Grunfeld Closing files is as much about loss prevention as ethical Photo by John Carlano considerations 14 Annals of Justice: Zoomorphism in the Courtroom 22 Young Lawyers Division Photography Probation officer inquiries about defendants’ inner animals Contest Winners By Steve Lacheen 42 Technology 16 10 Questions for David L. Cohen by Daniel J. Siegel David L. Cohen is executive vice president of Comcast Social media opens a new can of legal worms Corporation and also served as chief of staff to Philadelphia Mayor Edward G. Rendell 46 Book Review By Harold K. Cohen by Mary-Kate Breslin Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mis- 24 Proud to Be a Philadelphia Lawyer takes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers Meet John E. Savoth, 85th Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association 48 That Was Then - 1992 By Steven H. Eichler Chancellor’s Reception - January 9, 1992 30 Preserving a Legacy The Philadelphia Chapter of the National Bar Association Women Lawyers Division celebrates a milestone By Judge Jacqueline F. Allen, Beverly T. Williams and Niki T. Ingram

36 A Human Rights Class Action Distribu- tion in the Philippines A Philadelphia lawyer takes charge of the compensation pro- cess for victims of the Ferdinand Marcos regime By Robert A. Swift 22

Photo by R. Matthew P. Rubba YLD Photo Contest Winner

2 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012

from the editor The Wise Legacy

By Daniel J. Siegel

n my last editor’s column, I promised to explain why was appointed news editor. In addition, my assignments becoming an editor has never been my passion. The sto- included covering the filming and world premiere of “The Boys ry also explains why I am writing “The Wise Legacy,” From Brazil,” a movie directed by F&M alumnus Franklin J. I a book about my college professor and mentor, Sidney Schaffner. During every Schaffner-related event, be it a news Wise, whose legacy includes hundreds of former students who conference, the granting of honorary degrees to Schaffner and serve in government, business and other leadership positions, in film stars Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier, or the film’s most cases because of his insight and inspiration. The following world premiere on campus, I was there reporting the events, is one story of how Sid influenced my life. with Sid almost always at my side. By the conclusion of my sophomore year, I had become The Dear Dan: College Reporter’s managing editor, and everyone expected me I was so pleased to hear of your becoming a partner. to become editor at the end of my junior year. That was not to Surely it must be one of life’s great moments, somewhat be, and therein lies the genesis of Sid’s note card. more significant than becoming Rather than following the tradition in an editor & less significant than which the outgoing editor selected the becoming a father. Congratulations incoming one, the college surprisingly & best wishes – you earned it & decreed that the staff would elect the deserved it. You realize of course incoming editor. Things did not go well. that your wife deserves the lion’s While the staff respected my writing share of the credit. skills, some questioned my leadership skills, and I was not elected editor. I Stay well, was distraught, and sought the solace of Sid Wise 7/25 [1992] Dr. Wise. He consoled me, explaining that what happened was wrong and As a freshman at Franklin and had nothing to do with me, my skills or Marshall College in Lancaster in 1977, leadership abilities. As a 20-year-old, I I had much of the baggage every could not see beyond the rejection, and student probably carries. Confident in vowed never to seek an editorship – of my abilities, I questioned other skills, anything – ever. especially the ability to work with and Dr. Wise then made a suggestion that lead others. When I arrived at F&M, my changed my life, although I did not schedule included one science course, know it then. He suggested that I apply either chemistry or biology; I knew that for a job as a stringer, i.e., a part-time if I took the course – filled with pre- freelance reporter, for the Lancaster meds – I would not be happy, and neither Intelligencer-Journal, the local morning would my grade. So I went to meet with newspaper. I was hired, wrote sports and my designated advisor, Government features, and loved the job. Professor Sidney Wise. I had no idea My work on the Intell (as it was who he was. known) turned out to be invaluable. There, I learned to write I remember entering Professor Wise’s office, a small smoke- well, quickly, succinctly and on deadline, skills that have filled room with floor-to-ceiling bookcases. He met with me, proven invaluable as a lawyer. It is safe to say that not becoming asked why I was there, and I explained why I needed to take a editor was the best thing that happened to me professionally. I different class. He looked at me with some disdain, and inquired also matured and learned skills I could never have acquired at why I was so certain that I did not belong in that class. I do not The College Reporter. These talents have been essential to my remember my answer, but was thrilled and relieved when he career, which focuses on writing briefs and other documents not approved my switching to a course known as “Baby Physics.” only for my clients, but also for other lawyers and their clients. For whatever reason, still unclear after all these years, I graduated from F&M in 1981 with honors in government; Professor Wise took me under his wing and suggested that I Sid was my advisor for the thesis. We stayed in touch, and he join The College Reporter, the college’s weekly newspaper. took a keen interest in my personal and professional lives. He During my freshman year, much happened on campus. I answered calls, responded to letters, and was always there for quickly rose through the ranks of The College Reporter and me.

4 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 In addition, I took to heart Sid’s Sid’s honor). perspective on government – that In 2005, I opened my own law firm you accomplish more, and are more and a technology consulting firm for The effective, by being cordial, by listening, lawyers. I was scared. My confidence by being willing to compromise, by not would wax and wane, and every time it Philadelphia being negative, by not being hostile, and did I remembered Sid’s words. never burning bridges. Still, at times I There is more to the story. I was elected questioned my leadership ability. a commissioner in Haverford Township Lawyer In 1989, I was elected president of the in a 2008 special election, and re-elected Editor-in-Chief Associated Stamp Clubs of Southeastern for a full term in 2009. For those who Daniel J. Siegel

Pennsylvania and Delaware (SEPAD). voted against me to become editor, my Editorial Board My election was controversial, as election must have been a surprise. But Niki T. Ingram were some of the actions taken by the because I try to utilize the skills Sid Jennifer J. Snyder Board under my leadership. First, I emphasized – especially civility and Justine Gudenas eliminated those who created most of compromise – I am proud to be viewed Steven R. Sher May Mon Post the controversy. Second, I changed the as reasonable, and as someone whose David I. Grunfeld organization’s name to the Philadelphia voice is sought. Stephen Robert LaCheen National Stamp Exhibition, arguing To bring things full circle, in July 2011 Harold K. Cohen that the name needed to reflect who we I became the editor of this magazine. John C. Gregory were to non-collectors. Finally, I hired a Richard G. Freeman public relations company, something no ****** April M. Byrd other national show had ever done. Emmanuel O. Iheukwumere Audrey C. Talley The results were tangible. Attendance Until now, I never told anyone what Michael J. Carroll increased dramatically, dealer Sid’s note meant, no matter how many James Backstrom sales improved, and one leading times people asked. Not only was Sid Peter F. Vaira philatelic commentator honored our correct about me, he was also correct Deborah Weinstein “imagineering.” I was hailed as a leader, about each of the people in my book M. Kelly Tillery the trait I had doubted because of The – whose careers demonstrate the need Kim R. Jessum College Reporter. I called Sid to tell for leaders to listen, compromise and Editor Emeritus him of my success. His reply: “I always have confidence in their abilities, no Herman C. Fala knew you could do it. You had to learn it matter how difficult the situation or the Associate Executive Director for yourself.” opposition. Mark A. Tarasiewicz As always, Sid’s message could not Sid always knew which buttons to Senior Managing Editor have been clearer: I needed to recognize push, and how to inspire students and Jeff Lyons my strengths and weaknesses, and work colleagues to reach levels they never hard to improve the weaknesses so that realized they could attain. He not only Design they could become additional strengths. instilled confidence in his students, Wesley Terry In addition, I should not worry what he helped them discover their inner everyone else says because at times life strengths and allowed them to foster is not fair and critics are wrong. Instead, their leadership skills. That is truly the Philadelphia I needed to have confidence in myself “Wise Legacy,” inspiring others to reach and my leadership abilities. Learning inside themselves, to discover their most Bar Association this lesson took a long time, and I important skills, to become leaders, and Chancellor continue to learn it. to utilize those skills to help others, John E. Savoth In 1992, I became a partner in my law always in a civil and caring manner. Chancellor-Elect firm. Again, Sid was there, this time Kathleen D. Wilkinson with his note card, which reminds me of Daniel J. Siegel ([email protected]), the editor-in-chief of The Philadelphia Vice Chancellor what matters most: my wife, Eileen (the William P. Fedullo same name as Sid’s wife), and now my Lawyer, is a local attorney who operates the Law Offices of Daniel J. Siegel, LLC and Secretary two sons, Bradley and Douglas (Douglas Sophia Lee was born in 1994, the year Sid died, and is the president of Integrated Technology Services, LLC. Assistant Secretary his middle name, Steven, was chosen in Jacqueline G. Segal

Treasurer The Philadelphia Lawyer, printed with soy inks on recycled paper, is published quarterly in March, June, September and Joseph A. Prim Jr. December by the Philadelphia Bar Association, 1101 Market St., 11th floor, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107-2955. Telephone: Assistant Treasurer (215) 238-6300. E-mail: [email protected]. Subscription cost for members is $5 which is included in annual Wesley R. Payne IV dues, and for nonmembers is $45 yearly. The opinions stated herein are not necessarily those of the Philadelphia Bar Association. All manuscripts submitted will be carefully reviewed for possible publication. The editors reserve the right Executive Director to edit all material for style and length. Advertising rates and information are available from David Hoeckel, Senior Kenneth Shear Account Manager, Media Two, 1014 W. 36th St., Baltimore, MD 21211, (410) 828-0120, ext. 824. Periodicals postage at Philadelphia and additional locations. POSTMASTER: please send changes to The Philadelphia Lawyer, c/o Philadelphia Bar Association, 1101 Market St., 11th floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107-2955

the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 5 m a k i n gBpa rt n e r ■ mr e r g e r s ■im a nef n e r s ■ i n m e m os r i a m ■ d i v e r s i t y BB rr ii efef ss

Seven Years to Make Partner, Lawyers Say in Survey

t takes an average of seven years to reach partner status today, ac- I cording to a survey of attorneys by Robert Half Legal. That figure is down from eight years when the sur- vey was conducted in 2003. Lawyers were asked, “What would you estimate is the average number of a firm’s most senior partners have • Immerse yourself in the profession. years it takes for an associate to make postponed retirement, there may be Become involved in the local chapter partner?” The median response was fewer openings for associates,” he said. of the bar association, do pro bono seven years. Robert Half Legal offered the work, volunteer in the community “The time it takes to make partner following advice to lawyers interested or contribute to well-regarded legal has declined slightly, but competition in advancing their careers: publications or forums online. All remains high,” said Charles Volkert, • Focus on professional development. these activities will enhance your executive director of Robert Half In addition to legal skills, professional reputation. Legal. “Some firms have reduced the concentrate on helping the firm • Network consistently. Expand your number of partner positions, which has improve client service levels and roster of professional contacts and prompted associates to seek alternative grow revenue. stay in regular communication with career options, such as a non-equity • Align yourself with a mentor or them. The more people you know, partner track or another less traditional career coach. Find a more senior the more likely it is that you’ll hear path.” attorney who can provide advice of new opportunities that could help The demographics at a given firm and guidance, as well as help you you keep your career on track. also can impede or hasten an associate’s identify ways to raise your visibility route to partner, Volkert noted. “If at the firm. Law Firm Mergers Up Sharply From Last Year

here were 14 law firm merg- The largest law firm combination The remaining eleven combinations ers and acquisitions an- announced in the third quarter was were all acquisitions of firms with 35 T nounced in the United States 500-lawyer, Boston-based Edwards or fewer lawyers, continuing the 2011 in the third quarter of 2011, according Angell Palmer & Dodge’s acquisition trend of smaller deals. to Altman Weil MergerLine. The of Wildman Harrold Allen & Dixon, a Regional expansion continued to be total number of 2011 combinations 160-lawyer Chicago firm. a driver, with California as a target of announced from January through Sep- There were two other sizeable interest for three firms. Philadelphia’s tember is 43, up 79 percent compared deals. Indianapolis-based Ice Miller Fox Rothschild and Kansas City-based to the same nine-month period in 2010. announced its intention to merge with Polsinelli Shugart both picked up Los “It looks like the law firm merger Columbus, Ohio firm Schottenstein Zox Angeles boutiques in the third quarter. market is back,” said Altman Weil and Dunn to form a new 300-lawyer Dallas-based litigation firm McKool principal Ward Bower. “This is the law firm. The acquisition of 67-lawyer Smith acquired 35-lawyer Los Angeles fourth strong quarter in a row we’ve Jackson, Miss. firm Watkins Ludlam firm, Hennigan Dorman. seen, and we’re aware of a lot of activity by Jones Walker, a 300-lawyer New in the pipeline.” Orleans firm, was also announced.

6 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 Manners Matter When it Comes to Advancing at Work, Study Shows Get Published in

t still pays to play nice at work, “In most cases, a minor etiquette a new Robert Half survey con- slipup won’t likely be career-limiting if I firms. Nearly half (48 percent) of you quickly acknowledge it and learn workers interviewed said being courte- from your mistake,” said Brett Good, a ous to others can help an employee rise senior district president for Robert Half through the ranks. Another 41 percent International. “But continual missteps The Editorial Board of this mag- said etiquette plays at least some role in have a cumulative effect that can chip azine welcomes submissions career advancement. away at your professional reputation and from attorneys and other pro- Workers were asked, “In your opinion, get in the way of advancement.” fessionals who wish to share to what extent does being courteous to Robert Half offers four tips on steering their expertise on law-related coworkers positively impact a person’s clear of some of the more common topics. career prospects?” Their responses: etiquette offenses: Greatly, it can accelerate advancement Keep it ‘PG-rated.’ Salty language, Articles must be original and (48 percent); Somewhat, but skills play a off-color comments and politically previously unpublished. bigger role (41 percent); and No impact incorrect jokes can get you into hot at all, it’s who or what you know (10 water. When you wonder if you should Manuscripts should adhere to percent). say something or not, that’s your internal the following word counts: Workers were also asked to recount voice telling you to zip it. Play it safe and the worst or wackiest etiquette blunders watch your words. * Major Law-Related they’ve witnessed or heard about in the Don’t air grievances publicly. Articles: 2,000 words workplace. Here are some of the more Harshly criticizing colleagues in front * Other Law-Related memorable anecdotes: of others or gossiping behind their backs Features: 1,500 words • “While collaborating on a project, I typically only makes you look bad. * General Interest: 1,500 words saw an employee yell, ‘Forget this!’ Address problems with coworkers head- * Fiction: 1,000 words and throw all the papers she was on, but do it respectfully and in private. * Practice Areas: 750 words holding into the air as she walked Take a breather. Although co-workers * Essays or Humor: 750 words out.” may do things that irritate you, take a * Book Reviews: 750 words • “A coworker fell asleep at her desk minute to collect your thoughts before and another team member took a raising your voice or firing off a rude picture of her snoozing and sent it to email. Losing your cool will exacerbate For more information the boss.” your problems. about submitting articles, • “A colleague of mine would actually Put the tweezers away. It’s called e-mail: [email protected]. clip his nails at his desk while personal care for a reason. Confine working.” your grooming activities to your home, • “Someone was stealing other people’s or at least the restroom. The goal is to lunches from the lounge area.” win over – not offend – your fellow • “A colleague purposely sneezed in employees. the boss’s coffee cup.” ■ in Memoriam ■

Hon. Robert C. Daniels Gerald J. Cohen Oct. 3, 2011, Age 73 Nov. 16, 2011, Age 79

Elaine N. Moranz Marvin Lundy Oct. 27, 2011, Age 65 Dec. 1, 2011, Age 80

Mark P. Edwards Please send In Memoriam notices to Nov. 7, 2011, Age 52 [email protected].

Have you considered a contribution to the Philadelphia Bar Foundation in memory of a deceased­ colleague? For information, call Gene Sirni, Foundation Executive Director, at 215-238-6334.

the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 7 STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION Minority Numbers Recover While Women 1. Publication title: The PhiladelPhia lawyer 2. Publication number: 025-241 Associates Extend Two-Year Decline 3. Filing date: September 30, 2011 4. issue frequency: Quarterly 5. Number of issues published annually: 4 6. annual subscription price (if any): $45 aw firms have made up some 7. Complete mailing address of known office of publication: Philadelphia Bar association but not all of the lost ground 1101 Market St., 11th Floor, Philadelphia, Pa 19107-2911 after diversity figures fell in 8. Complete mailing address of headquarters or general business L office of publisher: Philadelphia Bara ssociation 2010, according to the NALP Direc- 1101 Market St., 11th Floor, Philadelphia, Pa 19107-2911 9. Full names and complete mailing addresses of publisher, editor tory of Legal Employers. While the and managing editor. Publisher: Philadelphia Bar association, representation of minorities increased, 1101 Market St., 11th Floor, Philadelphia, Pa 19107-2911. editor: daniel J. Siegel, Philadelphia Bar association, more than making up for the decrease 1101 Market St., 11th Floor, Philadelphia, Pa 19107-2911. from 2009 to 2010, the overall repre- Managing editor: Jeff lyons, Philadelphia Bar association, 1101 Market St., 11th Floor, Philadelphia, Pa 19107-2911 sentation of women declined slightly 10. Owner: Philadelphia Bar association further in 2011 compared with 2010. 1101 Market St., 11th Floor, Philadelphia, Pa 19107-2911 11. Known bondholders: none In 2011, the percentage of both 12. Tax status: has not changed during preceding 12 months women and minority partners in 13. Publication title: The PhiladelPhia lawyer 14. issue date for circulation data below: Fall 2011 law firms was up by a small amount 15. Extent and nature of circulation: compared with 2010. Among 1993, the first year for which NALP Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months a. Total number of copies 10,363 associates, however, representation of has comparable aggregate information, B. legitimate paid and/or requested distribution women declined slightly for the second has been only marginal. At that time (1.) Outside-county paid/requested mail subscriptions stated on PS Form 3451: 9,859 year in a row and for only the second minorities accounted for 2.55 percent (2.) in-county paid/requested mail subscriptions time since NALP started compiling of partners, and women accounted stated on PS Form 3541: 0 (3.) Sales through dealers and carriers, this information in the 1990s. The net for 12.27 percent of partners. Among street vendors, counter sales, and other paid effect was that, for lawyers as a whole, associates, the percentage of women or requested distribution outside USPS: 0 (4.) requested copies distributed by other representation of women overall had increased from 38.99 percent in mail classes through the USPS: 0 decreased by a tiny amount and the 1993 to 45.66 percent in 2009, before C. Total paid and/or requested circulation: 9,859 d. Nonrequested distribution representation of minority women falling back to 45.41 percent in 2010 (1.) Outside-county nonrequested copies stated remained about flat. For minorities and to 45.35 percent in 2011. Over the on PS Form 3541: n/a (2.) in-county nonrequested copies stated on as a whole, representation was up same period, minority percentages have PS Form 3541: n/a slightly. Minorities now make up 12.70 (3.) Nonrequested copies distributed through increased from 8.36 percent to 19.90 the USPS by other classes of mail: n/a percent of lawyers reported in the percent, more than recovering from a (4.) Nonrequested copies distributed outside NALP Directory of Legal Employers, the mail: n/a slight decline to 19.53 percent in 2010. e. Total nonrequested distribution 0 compared with 12.40 percent in 2010. Minority women continue to be the F. Total distribution 9,859 G. Copies not distributed 504 Just under one-third of lawyers at these most dramatically underrepresented h. Total 10,363 same firms are women — 32.61 percent group at the partnership level, a pattern i. Percent paid and/or requested circulation: 100% No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date in 2011 compared with 32.69 percent in that holds across all firm sizes and most a. Total number of copies 9,716 2010, both of these most recent years jurisdictions. Minority women make up B. legitimate paid and/or requested distribution (1.) Outside-county paid/requested mail subscriptions lower than the 32.97 percent mark just more than 2 percent of the partners stated on PS Form 3451: 9,211 reached in 2009. Minority women in the nation’s major law firms. At (2.) in-county paid/requested mail subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541: 0 now account for just over 6 percent of just 2.04 percent of partners in 2011, (3.) Sales through dealers and carriers, lawyers at these firms — 6.23 percent this group continues to be particularly street vendors, counter sales, and other paid or requested distribution outside USPS: 0 in 2011, comparable to the 6.20 percent underrepresented in the partnership (4.) requested copies distributed by other figure for 2010, and lower than the 6.33 ranks, despite a small increase from 1.95 mail classes through the USPS: 0 C. Total paid and/or requested circulation: 9,211 percent figure for 2009. percent in 2010. The representation of d. Nonrequested distribution During most of the 19 years that (1.) Outside-county nonrequested copies stated minority women partners is only a bit on PS Form 3541: n/a NALP has been compiling this higher, 2.47 percent, at the largest firms (2.) in-county nonrequested copies stated on information, law firms had made PS Form 3541: n/a of more than 700 lawyers. Minority (3.) Nonrequested copies distributed through steady, if somewhat slow progress men, meanwhile, account for just 4.52 the USPS by other classes of mail: n/a (4.) Nonrequested copies distributed outside in increasing the presence of women percent of partners this year, up from the mail: n/a and minorities in both the partner and 4.21 percent in 2010. At the associate e. Total nonrequested distribution 0 F. Total distribution 9,211 associate ranks. In 2011, that slow level, minorities account for 19.90 G. Copies not distributed 505 upward trend continued for partners, percent of associates, up from 19.53 h. Total 9,716 i. Percent paid and/or requested circulation: 100% with minorities accounting for 6.56 percent in 2010, and minority women 16. Publication of statement of ownership for a requester percent of partners in the nation’s account for 10.96 percent of associates, publication is required and will be printed in the winter 2011/2012 issue. major firms, and women accounting for a tiny increase from 10.90 in 2010, and 17. Signature and title of editor, publisher, business mgr or owner 19.54 percent of the partners in these still below the 11.02 percent figure Kenneth Shear, executive director I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and com- firms. In 2010, the figures were 6.16 reached in 2009. In Philadelphia, the plete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading in- percent and 19.43 percent, respectively. number of minority women partners formation on this for or who omits materials or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and Nonetheless, the total change since stands at just 1.18 percent. imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties). Widener Leadership Works

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This valuable resource features time-saving, must-have information, TO ORDER this all collected in one convenient place: indispensable multi-platform legal resource today, go to • 17,000+ attorney and 1,600+ firm listings • Federal and state court listings plus (including lawyer emails), with hundreds of county court rules and fees www.thelegaldirectory.org. new entries every year • Scores of law-related organizations with QUESTIONS? Please contact • Comprehensive list of Philadelphia-area board members and staff attorneys us at 443-909-7843 or judges with hard-to-find direct-dial and fax numbers [email protected]. Advocacy By Richard G. Freeman A Corrupted Grief There is Only So Much a Lawyer Can Do Within the Limits of the Profession

n Aug. 28, 2009 U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Ingles Dos Reis was reporting for duty to his O security services assign- ment with the 31st Fighter Wing sta- tioned in Aviano, Italy. Dos Reis, driving a borrowed car because his was being repaired, rounded a mountain pass. His car collided with another vehicle. He was killed. Two Italian citizens in the other vehicle also died. Staff Sergeant Dos Reis left a wife and a 2-year-old son. They lived outside the base. The Air Force contacted his wife, who notified his parents, Ed and Liz Dos Reis. Ed and Liz live in Maple Shade, N.J. They arrived in Italy the next day and rushed to their son’s side. They called him “Money” – one of those casual family nicknames that endured. An Air Force colonel told the family they needed to identify the remains on Aug. 31. Under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) the United States signed with Italy, the deaths of military personnel who die there under non-combat conditions are subject to investigation by the local authorities. In Italy the as resembling one of those rubber masks there was nothing this team could do carabinieri – one of those euphonious that jokesters wear at Halloween. This is to restore Money’s appearance by the Italian words that Liz manages to what they remember. time the body reached the U.S. Their enunciate with contempt in her voice – I had represented Ed Dos Reis in a son’s condition barred the family from are responsible. small matter related to his business. opening his casket at a funeral where These events occurred in the midst of When I saw the notice in the newspaper they expressed grief and pride. a typical Italian summer. The carabinieri announcing Money’s death I sent a As lawyers we tell our children that took Money’s body. They held it over condolence note. After a short while we “help people.” Our children in turn the hot weekend without preserving it. Ed ad Liz called. They wanted me to tell their playmates that mommy or I have seen photographs of what represent them and win relief based on daddy is a lawyer and that means s/ Ed and Liz saw that day. The day the what they had experienced. A horrible he “helps people.” Commonly, “help” carabinieri invited them in was the last image tainted their visual memory of the comes in the form of a remedy. What time they saw their son’s face. What young man who died in the midst of a possible remedy could the law offer that they saw in a morgue in Udine was not distinguished military career. He was would erase their memories of what they the face of Money that they knew and the boy they raised to manhood. saw when Liz and Ed last saw their son’s thought they would remember. Instead Other accounts have celebrated the face? they saw a rough mass of protoplasm skill and sensitivity of the Mortuary This story has no resolution. It is that on a good day you might describe Unit at Dover Air Force Base. However, more about what we as lawyers can’t

10 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 As a lawyer I drew nothing but exasperation and a shared sense of sorrow from listening without proceeding to a next step. Sometimes this is all we can achieve. do than as what we can do. The answer kind of resolution. As a result of the Grief, Seneca said, “is not something to the question I just posed is scant and combined effort that grew out of their which is in our power and…no strong short. There is no force on earth that can grief the Department of Defense has feeling is under our control, least of all make the Dos Reis’ ferocious memory promised to reexamine the handling of that which arises from sorrow.” Without go away. And there is only so much a deceased service personnel by foreign the advantage of a remedy that is set lawyer can do within the limits of his governments. And the Dos Reises have forth and spelled out in some law book profession. In the aftermath of their visit created an organization to focus public somewhere, the natural task of a lawyer to Italy the Dos Reises heard much about attention on the issue. Specifically, what sometimes is to serve as their clients’ “Status of Forces Agreement.” So did I. they seek are amendments to the SOFA companion in helping them materially A lawyer can listen. And a lawyer can incorporating standards adopted by the conquer their grief. In publicizing the write letters. Ed and Liz contacted their mortuary industry for the handling of source of their sorrow and hoping to elected representatives. I wrote letters remains. change what intensified it, Ed and Liz and talked to sympathetic people who As a lawyer I drew nothing but Dos Reis have confronted and overcome worked for the Air Force, the Department exasperation and a shared sense of sorrow the inadequacy of the law. of Defense and the offices of senators from listening without proceeding to a and representatives. Moreover, I thought next step. Sometimes this is all we can Richard G. Freeman (rgfrim@aol. it my duty to spare the talk where there achieve. com), a sole practitioner, is a member of can be no promises and simply listen to The ancient Stoics held that the the Editorial Board of The Philadelphia Ed and Liz express their grief. As they physical part of grief – the weeping and Lawyer. did so they worked their way to some helpless anguish – is naturally short.

the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 11 Ethics By David I. Grunfeld Closing Matters Closing Files is as Much About Loss Prevention as Ethical Considerations

hat should you do, and what if anything do you have to do, when W a matter is finished? Whether it’s a completed transaction, an estate administration, a civil trial, a settlement, or a family court hearing, there are some suggestions for communi- cations with your client that are probably more in the nature of loss prevention techniques than ethical requirements. Begin by considering some sort of “file closing” or disengagement letter. This is somewhat similar to a writing that confirms the declining of representation, but instead recites the conclusion of the matter and your cessation of continued representation, but, perhaps from a marketing standpoint, expresses your willingness to remain available for questions or future needs. Make sure that the client has copies of relevant documents, such as a closing binder for a transaction, a fully executed release or settlement agreement, if applicable, the most current court order and the like. Of course, an agreement can be set forth in the initial engagement letter relative to disputes between the lawyer and client as to the file. It is prudent to advise that copies of all documents will be given to the client opine as to that so, again, the client can representation agreement (which would by the lawyer during the course of the monitor the matter diligently and contact include a fee arrangement), that you are representation, and any request thereafter you when necessary. not representing the client in further will incur copying costs. Otherwise, the A question arises as to whether a support or custody proceedings. file is said to belong to the client, and if lawyer has a duty to contact a client For space considerations, many an attorney wants to keep copies it must when a change in the law would seem lawyers utilize outside storage facilities. be at the lawyer’s expense. to make it favorable to take action, such Others retain files in-house for easy If the matter is executory, such as as a request to modify sometime after reference. Many are now scanning calling for installment payments or the entry of a support or custody order. pertinent file documents for electronic future acts (document disclosure or No ethical rule appears to mandate this; storage, and either destroying the exchange for examples), set forth the therefore, doing so would be helpful only balance or offering them to the client timetable to remind the client to diary. from a marketing or risk management for retention, but certainly advising the State or point to events of default so the approach. However, if you do contact a client in the closing letter of the lawyer’s client continues to be aware of deadlines client about taking such action, you must intention. Cost issues attendant to that, and issues to monitor. be sure to avoid any misunderstanding if any, should be addressed in the initial If a statute of limitations would bar with the client about taking action on the engagement letter or contract. Normally, pursuit of a claim, it might be wise to matter. Make it clear that without a new storage of closed files is an overhead

12 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 In addition, as Attorney DisciplinAry / ethics mAtters technology progresses, more practitioners are “digitizing” files in order to eliminate the cost of hard file

storage. Statewide Pennsylvania and New Jersey matters  No charge for initial consultation cost that is not chargeable to clients. Representation, consultation and expert testimony in disciplinary In addition, as technology progresses, matters and matters involving ethical issues, bar admissions and the more practitioners are “digitizing” files Rules of Professional Conduct in order to eliminate the cost of hard file storage. In this regard, it is important to James c. schwartzman, esq. be cognizant that while “cloud storage” Former Chairman, Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania  Former Federal Prosecutor rental is inexpensive and makes your PA Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Board  Former Chairman, Continuing Legal Education Board of the Supreme Court of PA  Selected by his peers as one of the top 100 Super Lawyers in PA  Named by his peers to closed files (and any other documents Best Lawyers in America in the areas of legal malpractice and professional responsibility stored there) accessible from any location where there is an Internet Dana pirone carosella, esq. connection, recently issues have been Representing attorneys in disciplinary/ethics matters for 16 years  Author/Speaker on ethics matters raised about the security of such types of shared storage as well as the location 1818 Market Street, 29th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19103 and access to the servers on which your (215) 751-2863 specific confidential information is stored. (This issue may be addressed in further depth in a future column). Remember that confidentiality must INCORPORATION AND continue to be protected after the termination of representation. LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY What to do with each file depends upon the nature of the matter, the FFOORRMMAATTIIOONN SESERRVIVICCEESS substantive law, and the perceived future need, with the instruction and direction of the client as the dominant consideration, based upon informed consent. The Pennsylvania Bar Association Committee on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility has addressed some of these questions in Formal Opinion 2007-100, and even • PREPARATION AND FILING • CORPORATE STATUS REPORTS given suggested minimum retention SERVICES IN ALL STATES • UCC, LIEN AND JUDGMENT periods in various kinds of matters. It • CORPORATION AND LIMITED SEARCH SERVICES would be helpful to read it, and to keep LIABILITY COMPANY OUTFITS • DOCUMENT RETRIEVAL these closing considerations in mind • SAME DAY SHIPMENT OF YOUR when entering into an engagement • REGISTERED AGENT SERVICE IN and when creating firm policies and ORDER ALL STATES procedures.

David I. Grunfeld (DGrunfeld@ M. BURR KEIM COMPANY Astorweiss.com), of counsel to Astor Weiss Phone: 215-563-8113 Fax: 215-977-9386 Kaplan & Mandel, LLP, is a member of 2021 ARCH STREET the Editorial Board of The Philadelphia PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103 Lawyer. www.mburrkeim.com

the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 13 Zoomorphism in the Courtroom Annals of justice

By Steve LaCheen

ack in the day,” specifically, during the early years of incarceration rather than non- custodial supervision. A few my practice, I handled a fair number of state criminal examples should suffice: cases, generally minor felonies. In that dark age, prior “B Q: What’s your favorite animal? to the emergence of “the Warren Court” and the decisions that we A: Elephant. quickly familiarized as short-hand references for defense-friendly Q: Why? A: Being so big, nobody messes constitutional holdings – Gideon, Mapp, Escobedo and Miranda, and with him. their progeny – most defendants pled guilty or were convicted at trial, Analysis: Defendant desires to bully others. and eventually stood for sentencing. Q: What’s your favorite animal? A: Bunny Rabbit In most instances, the court would simply determine the Q: Why? nature and extent of the defendant’s prior criminal record, A: He’s cute, and everybody likes him. employment record and family situation, and then impose Analysis: Defendant is pretending to be non-violent. sentence immediately. And all too often the defendant was taken into custody forthwith, to begin service of sentence. Q: What’s your favorite animal? It was only in more serious cases that the court ordered a A: Cat pre-sentence investigation by the Probation Office. It is Q.: Why? that particular circumstance, that particular interim period, A: Because a cat always lands on all four feet. between verdict and sentence, that gave rise to this anecdote. Analysis: Defendant intends to commit new offenses. Pre-sentence investigators, then as now, usually fall into one of two groups – detectives or social workers. As luck would Dozens of other examples come to mind; each scenario have it, the particular probation officer assigned to the area resulting in the carefully considered opinion in the pre- of the city in which most of my clients resided actually had sentence report that the defendant had revealed himself, by his a Master of Social Work degree, and had more than a passing identification with whatever animal he had chosen, as someone acquaintance with the various mental and emotional disorders who, even if demonstrating an acceptance of responsibility for that may be seen as contributing factors to criminal conduct. prior criminal conduct, was nonetheless clearly capable, even The problem was that he used that knowledge to bolster his likely, to commit further offenses. own simplistic formula for criminal sentencing – “Commit After a number of such debacles, I advised a client not to the crime, do the time” – that he cleverly concealed from respond. His refusal to provide an answer was interpreted defendants until it was clearly visible, between the lines, as it as a refusal to cooperate with the pre-sentence investigator. were, of his pre-sentence report. Another defendant who explained why he declined to answer One of the ways he would disarm a defendant being – because his response would be used against him – was interviewed was to ask, about halfway down the list of written up as “paranoiac.” innocuous tell-me-about-yourself questions: “What’s your Finally, after considering that even a letter from me to the favorite animal?” court, confirming my advice not to respond, might win a battle And then, as soon as answered, the fatal follow-up: “Why?” for one client but guarantee never-ending antagonism from the No matter the animal, and no matter the reason, the P.O. P.O., I decided to try a different tack first. The Q & A session interpreted the defendant’s responses to indicate anti-social in the next encounter played out a little differently: behavior, and a serious risk for recidivism, clearly deserving

14 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 Q: What’s your favorite animal? A: The Sphinx. Glossary from the Q: The Sphinx!? Why the Sphinx? Book of Imaginary Beings, A: Because he keeps his mouth shut and don’t have to eat by Jorge Luis Borges (1969) his words. Centaur: A naked man to whose waist the body and Analysis: The defendant is a smart aleck; but the P.O. had hindquarters of a horse are uncomfortably fixed. to acknowledge some merit in defense counsel’s argument Cerebus: The three-headed dog, doorman at the Gates of that the defendant had obviously given the question serious Hell, denoting the past, present, and the time to come. thought and had considered the consequences of his answer. The Cheshire Cat: Lewis Carroll’s cat endowed with the Having made the point once, I wanted to avoid perpetual faculty of slowly disappearing to the point of leaving only its psychological one-upmanship, and I arranged a private grin without teeth and without a mouth. meeting with the pre-sentence investigator, and offered him a Chimara: Tripartite animal; a lion in its foreparts, a goat in the deal: If he would forego asking those questions, he would not middle, and a serpent in its hind parts. have to deal with successive clients of mine offering as their Griffon: The head and body of an eagle and the hind parts of favorite animals a litany of mythological beasts, including a lion. the centaur, the cerberus, the Cheshire Cat, the chimera, the Hippogriff: The head and body of a griffon and the hind parts griffon, the hippogriff, the kraken, the manticore, the minotaur, of a horse. the phoenix, the remora, the unicorn and the zaratan, all of Kraken: Scandinavian version of the sea dragon or sea snake of the Arabs; its back protrudes from the sea like a floating whom chosen specifically for their mythological nature; the island. “why” for which would clearly be the specific purpose of Manticore: The face and ears of a man, the body of a lion, avoiding the superficial negative psychological interpretation and a tail like a serpent; it has a triple row of teeth, which fit that had been the norm of so many prior encounters. into each other like those of a comb. We came to an understanding that the prior line of Mitotaur: Half-man, half-bull. questioning would be abandoned, and shook hands on the Phoenix: An eagle-like bird of red and gold plumage, agreement. But, as I was about to leave, I couldn’t resist one immortal, rising anew out of its own ashes. final question. Remora: A sucking fish, with the power to hold a ship fast by “By the way,” I asked, “what’s your favorite animal?” clinging to it; able to cast a spell to hinder litigation and delay He looked at me, and smiled. “The one I hoped every premature birth. defendant I ever asked that question would have answered.” Sphinx: Usually, a lion with the head of a man; otherwise, a “What’s that?” I asked. winged bull with a man’s bearded and crowned head, or the head of a ram on the body of a man. “The human animal,” he answered. Unicorn: A white horse, with the forelegs of an antelope, a goat’s beard, and a pointed twisted horn projecting from the Steve LaCheen ([email protected]) is a sole middle of its forehead. practitioner and member of the Editorial Board of The Zaratan: A sea turtle (sometimes a whale), of such huge Philadelphia Lawyer. size that it is mistaken for an island, which sinks into the sea drowning sailors who have camped on its back.

the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 15 Ques10tions for David L. Cohen Executive Vice President of Comcast Corporation

Interview by Harold K. Cohen

avid L. Cohen is executive vice president of Comcast who answers that question would say Corporation, where he is responsible for corporate no. It’s almost impossible to predict what your career is going to be like communications, government affairs, public affairs, over the course of a long period of corporate administration, and serves as senior counselor time. If anything, and this may sound to the CEO. Before joining Comcast in July 2002, he was surprising, given what my career has D looked like, my assumption was, I a partner in and chair of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP. Cohen would go to college, go to law school, served as chief of staff to Philadelphia Mayor Edward G. Rendell from graduate law school, go to work for a January 1992 to April 1997. He is a graduate of Swarthmore College and the law firm, and then work at the same University of Pennsylvania Law School. law firm for my whole life. My father worked for almost 60 years for the same company – the Bulova Watch Harold K. Cohen: When you were 13, what did you Company. I spent a lot of time trying to figure what the perfect want to be when you grew up? law firm was. My friends kept teasing me, saying, “What does it matter? You try one and if you don’t like it, you go to another David L. Cohen: When I was 13, I wanted to be a lawyer. I’m one. It’s no big deal.” Even when I was looking for a summer told that from when I was 4 or 5 years old, I said I wanted job after my second year of law school, I really wanted to find to be a lawyer. From the earliest days when people would ask the perfect law firm. I basically said to myself “I’m going to me what I wanted to be when I grew up, when kids typically pick a law firm, I’m going to go to it, and that’s where I’m said fireman, major league baseball player, or basketball player, going to be for my whole life.” I said I wanted to be a lawyer. Neither of my parents was a And at almost each step of the way – I clerked for a year, I lawyer. But my father’s father was a lawyer and a judge in New went to Ballard Spahr, I took my leave to work with Ed Rendell York. We had a unique relationship, although he died when I and the administration – I always assumed I’d return to the was very young. So that was always I said what I wanted to be. practice of the law and in all likelihood to Ballard Spahr. I never made that a formal commitment, but when I knew it was time During your school years and your early years in for me to leave, there wasn’t any thought that I’d go anywhere practice, did you have any idea your career would take else but Ballard Spahr. Looking back on it, I think it’s pretty this arc? clear what my mindset was and what I wanted to do. And when If you asked me if I ever thought my career would go the way in I went back to Ballard Spahr, I assumed I’d be there for the rest which it has, the answer would have to be no. I hope any adult of my career.

16 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 PHOTOGRAPHED BY John Carlano

But then the Comcast opportunity came up – and it seemed I don’t really like it when other people do it, so when I’m in irresistible. And, of course, since I’ve arrived at Comcast, I’ve meetings now, I generally do not look at my BlackBerry. I never had any regrets. wait until the meeting is over. I think the lesson from my career is be careful about choosing a place where you work. I ended up choosing a career I really Where did you get your work ethic? liked and enjoyed and choosing workplaces where I felt very The honest answer to that question is, I don’t know. My father comfortable and firms that would support what you’d call a worked hard, but he had what I call a normal working-hard lot of extracurricular activities and then being open to what existence. He was home for dinner with my mother virtually happens to you when it comes along. And you should also be every night and would see the kids before they went to sleep. willing to take some risks over the course of your career. You When I was in high school, I worked hard, but I didn’t work have no idea where they might take you. ridiculously hard. Rhonda loves to tell the story that in college I had to set an alarm clock to make What’s a typical day for you? sure I was up for the kickoff of It varies more now than it used NFL games at 1 in the afternoon. to because I travel so much. I’m Of course, I think my work probably out of Philadelphia ethic has clearly grown over time. three or four days every week. I think I worked a lot harder in When I’m in Philadelphia on college than I did in high school a typical day, I get up at 4:30 or and a lot harder in law school 5 o’clock and try and go to the than I did in college. In all of the gym two days a week. On the professional jobs I’ve hard, I’ve days I don’t go to the gym, I try worked extremely hard. It’s just and get into the office by 6:30 something that’s grown on me so I have a couple of hours to and something I’ve become more do work when the phone isn’t comfortable with. ringing and meetings aren’t Some of that is the people who occurring. And the rest of my day you work with. Whether you’re at is a series of telephone calls and Swarthmore College or Penn Law meetings during the traditional School or Ballard Spahr there working hours. Then, especially are a lot of really smart people in Philadelphia, but increasingly who work very hard. In all those in Washington and New York, I environments, it was a bit of a turn to my evening schedule – I cultural expectation. tend to do at least one event every I think the other advantage night, maybe two or three events is that I’ve absolutely loved – whether charitable, political or every job I’ve ever had. I can’t just having a business or a social remember waking up a single dinner. And when I get home, I day since I’ve been working do my reading and my writing. and saying “gee whiz I’m tired, I bring a folder or a briefcase of I don’t feel like going to work what I didn’t get to during the today.” Every day, I’m excited day. about getting up and going to I’m a religious email user work and doing whatever it is that and responder. I get somewhere around 600 emails a day. I I have to accomplish that day. deal with what I can during the course of the day, but I save My work ethic also comes from a part of the answer to anything that might require thought or more work until either the last question, which is having jobs that you love and that that early block of the day or that late in the evening block. you’re passionate about and working with people who are I try and get through all of my emails and my reading and smart and share a passion for the profession and whatever it writing before I go to sleep, and then I start all over. is that they’re working on. I never consider work a burden. When I’m not in Philadelphia – I try and sleep at home as It may sound like an unusual thing to say, but it’s part of my much as I can – it’s much the same schedule. Most people entertainment for the day. who want to get me either go through my assistant who will Now, I’ve learned that everyone doesn’t work the hours that track me down or just send me an email and say can you give I do. Everybody shouldn’t work the hours that I do. I try really me a call when you get a chance. I’m more likely to read that hard to make colleagues aware that to work with David Cohen on the BlackBerry and be able to react to it. (By the way, for you don’t have to work 20 hours a day. the record, we’ve been here 15 minutes and I haven’t looked As my career has developed, I think working hard and being at my BlackBerry once!) Even though I’m pretty good at prepared (even overprepared) and reading a little bit more multitasking, a couple of years ago, I reached a conclusion than you have to read or doing one extra draft of every letter that sitting in a meeting and going through emails is just rude. or document, all of that has served me very well in life.

18 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 I’m a religious email user and responder. I get somewhere around 600 emails a day.

So when I was deposed or testified as a for production of documents included I’ve heard over the years that you witness in a trial, I’d get asked “do you you?” I said, “I didn’t know specifically have a prodigious memory. How know what a request for a production but I’m not surprised.” “Would you be has that helped? of documents is?” And I’d answer yes. surprised to learn that in 67,000 pages As you get older, your prodigious “Did you know there was a request for of documents produced by the city, memory starts to get less prodigious. production of documents in this case?” there are no handwritten notes from I’ve always had a good memory, and “Yes.” “Did you know that request you?” I said, “I wouldn’t be surprised what particularly scares people is I have included a request for handwritten at all.” “Well, why not?” “I don’t take a good memory for odd facts. I have a notes?” So I said “yes.” And then I was notes.” That always makes people pretty good memory in general, but if asked, “do you know that the request pause. “What do you mean you don’t I’m in a meeting or having dinner with someone and they mention that their son is going to Rutgers, five years later I will say something like “has your son graduated yet from Rutgers?” People just sort of look at me and think how in the world does he remember that? The famous Buzz Bissinger story, which really is a true story, comes from the transition when Ed Rendell was elected in November of 1991 and the resumes were pouring in. I think by the time of the inauguration we had 10,000 resumes. I didn’t look at all of them, but a lot were coming across my desk and I’d pass them along to the transition team. I was at Reading Terminal Market on inauguration night and Buzz was with me. Someone I knew slightly came up to me. He said it was totally embarrassing and there’s no way for you to remember, but I have applied for a job with the administration and I was hoping if you could look out for my resume, I’d appreciate it. I looked at him and said, “I remember the resume. It was on buff paper.” I had a picture of the resume in my head. And he looked at me and said “that’s exactly right. How did you know that?” I’m fortunate enough to have a very good memory. And it’s served me well in a number of respects. I’ve been a lawyer for most of my career, and I remember training clients to be careful about notes that they take and keep. Since I’ve become a client, I am known for not taking notes. I might take notes if there was specific follow- up things that had to do with a meeting, but when I completed the task, I cross out the task and throw the paper away.

the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 19 take notes?” “I don’t take notes.” That’s one of the reasons I never like it. You’d much rather read a wildly fawning and was always the Law Department’s favorite witness. favorable article. But you have to recognize that that’s not always going to be the case. Sometimes, there are going to be You graduated from Swarthmore. Did that Quaker people who disagree with you and who, given the opportunity, education affect you? are going to take shots at you. Sometimes, there will be things I went to Swarthmore at a pretty funny time. I got there in that you do that make all the sense in the world and may be the 1973, so we were still in the Vietnam War and Swarthmore right thing to do but they may not be popular and there may was the Berkeley of the East. Other than Berkeley, it might not be positive things said at that time. And sometimes, you have been the most radical, not liberal, but radical, college in make mistakes. And everybody makes mistakes. And, when the country, and that included professors as well as students. you make a mistake in something that’s very public and that’s I was, at the time, a registered Republican, but I think I was passionate for people, you’re likely to get bad things written a pretty moderate and rational person. That made me a real about you. And all of the above has happened to me. I try outlier at Swarthmore. So, yes, Swarthmore is a Quaker to learn from the mistakes that I make and try not to repeat institution, and yes there are real Quaker values that infuse the them. I do believe, and I give this advice to other people all institution, but a far-left liberal theocracy was by far the most the time, and I should take it myself, that working really hard dominant influence at Swarthmore in to have a positive relationship with the 1970s. In retrospect, within five the media and having a good strong years of graduating Swarthmore, I relationship with people who don’t thought that I got the best possible agree with you is a good way to go education I could receive from through life. Swarthmore. And not just because Swarthmore is an excellent I bet you get a lot of advice on institution of higher learning, but In my opinion, I have what you should do with your also because I was put under pressure career. What kind of advice do in almost every class to defend my the best job in America you get? thinking and to defend my views. The most common question or While I felt almost persecuted when today. I can’t imagine suggestion that I might get is to I was at Swarthmore, with a little ask me if I would do public service bit of distance and time, I figured anything would be again or might run for public office out that many professors saw in me sufficiently attractive myself. My answer, by the way, is a thirst for work and a capacity to that, even though my mother taught reason and argue that was a little that would cause me me never say never, I am essentially unusual. They were trying, in the prepared to say that I will never run best possible way, to educate and to have any interest in for office. One thing I have learned teach, and they were challenging is to follow my mother’s advice – me to do more on the theory that I leaving Comcast. it’s almost always good. would end up, after a Swarthmore education, having learned even more Does that include appointment than I would have otherwise learned to office? with a “traditional” education. I feel It does. I think there’s a difference very fortunate as a result of that. between running for office and being appointed to office. But Most of the publicity you’ve received has been in my opinion, I have the best job in America today. I can’t overwhelmingly positive. How will you react when imagine anything would be sufficiently attractive that would you receive negative publicity that is strong? cause me to have any interest in leaving Comcast. Of course, I’m a public person and there are times when that’s nice and if you go back 10 years, and if you asked me whether I’d have there are times when it’s less nice. I’ve been very fortunate any interest in leaving Ballard Spahr, and taking another job, I to enjoy largely positive treatment by the press, including would have said that I had the best job in law, the mix between the Philadelphia press, national press and trade press. The being chairman of the firm and practicing law, and doing it in good news is I take the positive press with a grain of salt. I a firm that is so fully and publicly engaged and committed to try not to let nice things that are written about me and said service as Ballard Spahr was, that I couldn’t imagine going about me turn me into a different person. There’s also been any place else. So today I can’t imagine that I would go plenty of negative things written about me (and Comcast). I anyplace else. And I also have an intense feeling of loyalty to think having lived through not only the six years in City Hall the people I work with and the institutions that I’m involved working for Ed Rendell, but also a career that has involved with, so all that is a really big hurdle to see me doing anything working with a number of prominent public personalities, else other than what I’m doing now. whether elected officials or elsewhere, you have to develop pretty thick skin. I think I understand the way this game is You’ve kind of touched on it, but what do you find played. But when the tough things are written about you, you most satisfying of all the things that you do?

20 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 So, I’m going to answer that in two ways. I’m very proud that every organization I’ve been associated with and every team that I’m involved with performs at an extraordinarily high level. And in the business world, I can’t tell you how proud I am to be associated with Comcast and with visionaries like Ralph Roberts and Brian Roberts, and my colleagues like Mike Angelakis and Neil Smit and Steve Burke. These are the smartest business people I’ve ever seen. They’re the most effective team that I’ve seen in corporate America. To be a part of that team, and producing the business results, the innovation results, and the financial results that as CLE class discount LLMC Digital a company we are able to accomplish Court Records & National Consumer quarter after quarter and year after year is just a remarkable enterprise, and I’m Briefs Index Law Center enormously proud to be a part of it. Second, I’m almost equally proud Discounts on document NewsBank of the time that I’ve been able to delivery & research Nolo Press spend and the commitment that I’ve projects been able to make to non-work related PA Legal Forms causes. All of my employers have actively encouraged this community Fastcase PA Legislative Histories engagement, including the incredible - full package commitment that Comcast has to ProQuest Congressional community investment, which is what General OneFile we call our philanthropy. This is not 15 minutes free research really giving things away, it’s making HeinOnline per request investments in communities to make them healthier and more vibrant places LegalTrac Westlaw Onsite for our employees and our customers to live and work. So I can walk around Lexis Onsite WilsonWeb this city, and I can see ways in which Ed Rendell and his administration, and Comcast and its community investment activities, Penn, United Way, the Red Cross, Federation, the Urban League, City Year, the Chamber of Commerce, or any of the many other Jenkins Law Library – your legal resource partner – supports organizations I’ve had the privilege of being involved with, have had a real your practice through its extensive collection and databases, and positive impact. And so I have an specialized research and educational services. Leverage enormous amount of pride in seeing the impact that these organizations your valuable time with the many benefits of membership. have been able to make in the quality of life in Philadelphia and across the Call 215.574.1505 today and use code: 2012-01-12 to join. country. And I find that work incredibly rewarding and incredibly important. Join today to take advantage of our Harold K. Cohen (hkcohen@hotmail. extended 2011 discounted rate. com), a sole practitioner, is a member of the Editorial Board of The Philadelphia Lawyer magazine. 833 Chestnut Street, Suite 1220 Philadelphia, PA 19107 | www.jenkinslaw.org

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Runner-up

by John Rafferty

This year’s Young Lawyers Division photo contest asked for images of summer in the city and young attorneys responded with many creative entries. The first-place photo was taken by Matthew P. Rubba, an associate at German Gallagher & Murtagh, P.C. The photograph was taken from the South Street Bridge on a clear summer day. “My girlfriend and I were taking a walk, enjoying a nice day, and taking photos of the skyline. At the time this particular photo was snapped, a boat had just passed and left its wake in the water. The resulting water ripples created an interesting reflection of Center City.” The runner-up photo was taken by John Rafferty, a member of the Class of 2012 at Villanova Law School. Rafferty spent the summer before his 3L year volunteering with the International Organization for Migration’s Anti-Human Trafficking Team in Ecuador where he took this picture. Rafferty spent a long weekend in Cuenca, which is fabled 260 South Broad Street by some to be the Latin city of El Dorado. “I often bring nothing more than my full- Philadelphia, PA length tripod and earbuds while getting to know new cities. This particular trip was no exception. While exploring the back streets of Cuenca, I stepped into a cobblestone street 215-790-1515 named Via Larga, hoping to snap this scene just as the last of the vehicles exited. With my Panasonic Lumix ZS-7 (point and shoot) firmly affixed to my tripod, I was able to capture this moment during a magical summer afternoon.” Rubba and Rafferty received gift certificates to Ruth’s Chris Steak House for their winning entries.

Proud to be a Philadelphia Lawyer

85 th Chancellor John E. Savoth

By Steven H. Eichler

John and Nancy Savoth on the Boardwalk in Asbury Park, N.J.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY John Carlano eet my dear friend, the 85th Chancellor of the Philadelphia me. Of course he got to pick the cereal we would have for the Bar Association, John Edward Savoth. It has been my week, which was good thinking privilege for 28 years to know John and his accomplished on his part.” M If John’s instinct to help those wife, Nancy, to meet each of their boys at birth and beyond and to benefit in need was nurtured by his regularly from his keen insights, cool composure and compassionate mother’s loss, it may have been his dad’s respectful manner and concern. It is now my pleasure to introduce you to him. fair treatment of others that influenced John to always treat Philadelphia is 75 miles from John’s childhood home in family, friends, colleagues and Neptune City, N.J. which on a clear day may be visible from even strangers equally, with courtesy and respect. His father his office on the 52nd floor of Liberty Place. Just south of taught him, and John taught his sons, that you owe others Asbury Park, N.J., Edward and Catherine Savoth welcomed courtesy, esteem and respect without regard to status, rank or John, their third son, on Oct. 26, 1958. Brothers Bill and position. Tom, older by four and two years respectively, were constant Edward Savoth also taught self-reliance and did so by sources of older brother-administered “tough love.” example. Catherine struggled, without complaint, to relearn Edward Savoth owned and operated Charles P. Savoth & the tasks of daily living with one arm. The story is told in Sons wholesale bananas, a banana ripening and distribution the Savoth family of Catherine’s particular difficulty one company founded by his father and later run by his son, Bill. day opening a jar in the kitchen. Bill Keller jumped to her If you ate bananas in New Jersey from aid, only to find himself restrained the 1930s through the 2000s, it’s likely by Edward. Catherine struggled, but they were distributed by Savoth & Sons. opened the jar. Edward had the wisdom John’s formal education began at to see that Catherine had to develop the Neptune City Elementary School, “John is a great skills to be independent and to succeed number one in his graduating class, as she had before. Wisdom imparted to followed by Neptune High School, communicator and John and his brothers, and thereafter by Dickinson College and Delaware Law a great listener. John to his sons. Self-reliance and self- School (Moot Court Honor Society and respect as cornerstones for success in Mock Trial champion). Following law He is a patient guy all endeavors. Lessons carried forward school, John clerked for two years for after Edward’s death in 1999. the late Justice James T. McDermott of who understands A significant early influence in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court – two John’s consideration of the law as a years that provided stories and memories people and gets profession was Bill Keller. Bill married for decades to follow. along with people.” John’s cousin Cathy when John was John’s early practice years were with five. Bill’s oversized personality and Philadelphia trial lawyer William “Bill” passionate pursuit of his cases and Keller at Keller & Associates, until myriad endeavors drew John to Bill – it became Keller & Savoth. In 1996 and to the law. When years later they John formed the Law Offices of John E. Savoth, and in 2003 began to practice together, family members were happy, but merged practices with William Fedullo to create Fedullo & not surprised. Savoth. A testament to the quality of character of both is The Middle Years their ongoing close friendship and mutual respect following John’s decision in 2007 to join Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & John fell in love with Nancy Polhemus before they even Bendesky (SMBB) in an Of Counsel position. Bill will be met. She cheered the soccer team from the cheerleading squad Vice Chancellor in 2012 and they look forward to working as he watched the games – her – from the sidelines. They together again. formally met in ninth grade experimental physical science A Helping Hand class at Neptune Junior High. Nancy recalls, “he was quiet, very cool, but pretty shy with girls.” Today quiet is hard to Bone cancer in his mother Catherine’s left arm when John imagine; cool is hard to deny. He wore his hair fashionably was two was treated by amputation at the shoulder – a 1960 “Afro,” played soccer, basketball and baseball and played on treatment method that spared her life and has her alive and the school’s golf team. He worked at the family business and well today at 87. It was then that John’s instinct to help those through his high school years his life-long love affair with in need first surfaced. “John sensed that I needed help. He music began to take hold. would push his little step stool to the counter and hold a bowl He attended Dickinson, studied in Germany, and Nancy I was stirring while providing any other help I may have attended West Chester University. College distractions aside, needed.” As he grew, he tied her shoes, helped with jewelry, they remained loyal and in love. They married on April 24, opened cans and helped with grocery shopping. “John was the 1982, and will celebrate their 30th anniversary during John’s one who always volunteered to go grocery shopping to help chancellorship.

26 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 The Savoths (clockwise from top) - Alex, John, Nancy, Nate and Evan at their Swarthmore home. John Savoth is Of Counsel to Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett & Bendesky PC.

Nancy is an accomplished freelance writer publishing in Supreme Court; a member of the Temple American Inn of a wide variety of periodicals and newspapers. She works Court and Public Justice Foundation; Board of Directors, as an instructor in Widener University’s Writing Center, Homeless Advocacy Project; The Justinian Society, Friend tutoring students from freshmen to doctoral candidates. She of the Justinians; member of the American Association for is currently writing a middle-grade novel set in 1970s Asbury Justice and Pennsylvania Association for Justice; Chair, YLD Park and Neptune, along with other children’s books that deal Long-Range Planning Committee; Member, Campaign for with friendship, race, bullying and the environment. Qualified Judges; Member, Board of Governors Cabinet; Family First Trustee, Philadelphia Bar Foundation; Member, Board of Governors; Chair, Services Task Force; Co-Chair, Professional Family first – John’s bedrock belief and practice, a way of Responsibility Committee; Chair, Professional Responsibility life clear to me from the moment we met. John and Nancy live Committee; Co-Chair, Committee Review Task Force; Chair, in Swarthmore, where they raised Alex (24), Nate (20) and Wachovia Fidelity Award Committee; Assistant Secretary, Evan (13). The boys share many of John’s passions, foremost Board of Governors; Secretary, Board of Governors; Chair, music. Young Lawyers Division; Vice Chair, Board of Governors; Alex is a graduate of Syracuse University with a BFA in film Chair, Board of Governors; Chancellor Elect; Vice Chancellor; art. He plays several instruments and sings as he navigates and on Jan. 1, Chancellor. Philadelphia’s music scene. When not performing on stage Multifaceted - Multidimensional at area venues, Alex is recording in a studio or serving wine at Tria. He quickly became the family’s wine expert and John is witty, educated in the classics and foreign language, occasionally tempts John from his single malt to a special well traveled, well read and writes. His passion for music vintage. takes him regularly to major and minor performance venues. Nate studies literature in the Honors Program at Temple His iPod? How about just a few offerings: John Coltrane, Bill University where he excels at jazz guitar while youngest Frisell, Brad Mehldau, Thelonious Monk, Vijay Iyer, Tom son Evan entertains on the keys, spending more time than Waits, Frightened Rabbit, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Radiohead, ever on the family’s piano. Evan can be found most days on David Bowie, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Sigur Ros and Swarthmore College’s soccer field playing a pick-up game Neptune City’s neighbor and Asbury Park’s native son, Bruce when not playing with his own club team. Springsteen - 100 concerts and hopefully counting. Music and sports, important legacies from father to sons, He and the boys attend concerts together. He and Nancy take a back seat to legacies of character and conduct. “What attend concerts together. The full family attends concerts I will say about my father is that he is a man of his word. As together. Movies, readings, lectures, stage shows, golf, a child there were a few things that he decided warranted a baseball, Yankees and Phillies and YANKEES, YANKEES stern talk, however, the biggest issues were always related to and YANKEES! And should the Phillies face the Yankees in conduct,” says Alex. the World Series during John’s Chancellorship, stay tuned! The path to Chancellor may vary from year to year, but no I don’t know anyone who reads more. Much of my own one ascends overnight. John’s service record is distinguished reading is at John’s insistence with books arriving from and spans 20 years. In that time, he has been a member Amazon from time to time marked “must read.” Literature, and chair of the Disciplinary Board of the Pennsylvania periodicals, blogs. A short list of his favorite authors – John

28 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 Steinbeck, Don DeLillo, Sebastian I were alright or to know if we needed years, having met while coaching a Barry, Philip Roth, Malcolm Gladwell, anything.” T-ball team. Andy shared that John is Thomas Friedman, Dave Eggers, Mark Bill Fedullo, John’s friend and “tough, smart, honest and as loyal as Halpern, Cormack McCarthy and Ian former law partner, now with Rosen, they come.” Shelter served two recalls McEwan. And the periodicals – The Schafer & DiMeo, shared that John is to active duty, 1990 and 2001, and told New Yorker, weekly for 30 years, the “epitome of a great husband, a great me that John “was an enormous help Harper’s Magazine, Outside, The father and a great friend.” He described with my family while I was away.” In Paris Review, McSweeney’s Quarterly, John as “energetic and focused” and addition “he introduced me to single Down Beat, local, state and national as a person who cares deeply for the malt scotch, good jazz and Philadelphia bar magazines and daily, The New York underserved. Helping others is critical politics.” Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer. to John’s mission and no one should be Natalia Volz lost her husband Pete last John enjoys cycling and running. He left out. Bill has no doubt that under year to pancreatic cancer. The Volzes attends Union soccer games, Phillies John’s leadership we are in for a very and Savoths met eight years before at games and Yankee games. Social special year. a baseball game in Swarthmore. The scheduling in October is subject to the White and Williams LLP partner friendship blossomed and they began to MLB playoff schedule, and watching David Creagan, a fellow Swarthmorean travel to Maine together each summer. John watch a Yankee playoff game and friend for more than 15 years, After Pete’s diagnosis, “John was is pure entertainment, drama of the described John as “always insightful” one of the first people at Pete’s side. highest caliber. and whether it is presidential politics He didn’t use clichés to placate. John What Others Say or politics of the bar “he has a way of listened, invited Pete for walks, to hang reconciling the ideal with the possible.” out, to watch Phillies games. He didn’t Of counsel at SMBB, John’s office David offered “John’s devotion to his tell Pete how to feel or how to act, he is on the 52nd floor of Liberty Place, family, especially his wife Nancy and was just there for Pete and he was there at a firm whose talent base quickly his three sons, Alex, Nate and Evan, is throughout the grueling 19 months exhausts any repertoire of adjectives. palpable. Equally apparent are John’s right to the end of Pete’s life. John is as Firm managing shareholder and John’s loyalty to his friends and his compassion real, as giving, as genuine as they get.” friend and colleague, Larry Bendesky, for those who have had to struggle in Welcome John Edward Savoth – our told me that all of the SMBB partners life.” To David, “John seems happiest next Chancellor. are excited for John’s stewardship. reading and debating the merits of good “John is a great communicator and a books, preferably with a wee dram of Steven H. Eichler (seichler@ great listener. He is a patient guy who single malt scotch in hand.” margolisedelstein.com), is a partner with understands people and gets along with Commander Andy Shelter has known Margolis Edelstein. people. John’s leadership will aid how John and Nancy for nearly twenty lawyers in our city are viewed.” Larry and his partners believe that John’s leadership will follow in the tradition of other great trial lawyers who have led the Philadelphia Bar Association, and cited Alan Feldman and Allan Gordon. Middle brother Tom shares the irony of looking up to his little brother but admires John’s gregarious personality and infectious love of life. “He’s always living large.” Tom remembers that early in life John admired Atticus Finch. Tom recalls that for as far as his memory goes John was determined to be a lawyer or a rock star. Brother Billy shares a serious note involving John’s commitment to family and friendship. “Four years ago after my wife Karen passed away, John continued to call me every single day for more than a year. Not a day went by without him reaching out to me. Whether we talked about the Yankees, or business or our families, his support was there. He just The brothers Savoth - Tom, Bill and John - wanted to hear my voice and to make with their mother, Catherine. sure that Catelyn, Edward, Chelsea and

the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 29 Judge Doris May Harris (from left), Dr. Sadie T.M. Alexander and Justice Juanita Kidd Stout are among the pioneers of African-American women lawyers. (Photo of Dr. Alexander courtesy of University of Pennsylvania Law School) THPreservingE NBA Wa LegacyOMEN LAWYERS DIVISION PHILADELPHIA CHAPTER

By Judge Jacqueline F. Allen, Beverly T. Williams and Niki T. Ingram

and the African-American he National Bar Association (NBA) is the oldest and largest legal community aware of association of African-American attorneys in the United States. its organizing efforts and its This organization was started in 1925 with a mission to advance proposed agenda. T Since that initial meeting, the science of jurisprudence; uphold the honor of the legal profession; the local chapter of the NBA-WLD has flourished. and protect the civil and political rights of United States citizens. As the Over the last 30 years, number of women attorneys increased, the NBA recognized that there was the group has focused its a specific need to support African-American women attorneys, and in 1972, efforts on addressing the challenges to advancement the Women Lawyers Division of the NBA was formed. The NBA Women in the legal profession faced Lawyers Division operates on a national level with its own officers and by women of color in the Philadelphia area. During board of directors and on a local level through affiliation. the early years of the group, there were 100 members. Today, the membership includes a network of more This fall, the Philadelphia chapter of the National Bar than 300 lawyers and jurists, who span the gambit of age and Association Women Lawyers Division (NBA-WLD) celebrated experience from law student members to founding members, its 30th anniversary. The chapter was formed in 1981 by Lydia who are known as the “Vintage Ones.” Y. Kirkland, Angela E. Nolan and Beverly Williams. African- The NBA-WLD has worked hard to advance diversity in American women attorneys were “summoned” to appear at the the local law schools, law firms and corporations through its group’s first meeting, which was held on July 1, 1981, at the scholarship programs, continuing legal education seminars, then Temple University School of Law. Fifty women attended community service projects and networking opportunities. that first meeting, where a program planning committee was In the words of Adiah Ferron, an attorney with AstraZeneca formed and charged with the responsibility of formulating Pharmaceuticals and a former president of the NBA-WLD the structure and goals for the organization. The members of Philadelphia, “…I truly feel that I am part of a legal sisterhood. the planning committee were Jacqueline Allen, Joan Brown, The women of this organization are always there to lend a Lydia Kirkland, Shawn Lacey, Angela Nolan, Jean Purnell, hand, an ear or words of advice.” This mantra expresses the Covette Rooney, Beverly Williams, and Diane Wilson. On feeling of the many African-American women whose lives Oct. 8, 1981, the Program Planning Committee hosted the have been impacted by this organization. group’s first reception at the University of Pennsylvania The success of the current program, however, is indebted Law School as an effort to make the local bar associations to the legacy of three extraordinary women who reached

the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 31 out to the group at its inception and served as mentors to the and objectives. Because of the support she provided, in members of the NBA-WLD Philadelphia individually and 1984 the NBA-WLD established the Sadie T.M. Alexander to the group as a whole. They are Dr. Sadie T.M. Alexander, Book Scholarship as a tribute. Each year the organization, Judge Doris May Harris and Justice Juanita Kidd Stout. The in conjunction with the six area law schools, selects six law significance of their roles cannot be overstated. Each of these students whose proven ability and potential for professional women are remembered for their contribution. success in the practice of law best epitomizes the achievements Dr. Sadie T.M. Alexander of Dr. Alexander. Shelley R. Smith, the current city solicitor, is one of the past recipients of this scholarship. The choice Dr. Sadie T. Mossell Alexander blazed the trail not only of a book award as a way to honor Dr. Alexander was made for African-American women lawyers but for women in because of her love of reading. Her daughter Rae Alexander general. She was a woman of many firsts. Dr. Alexander Minter said, “The scholarship would have special meaning for became the first black woman to graduate from the University my mother because she knew the importance of the written of Pennsylvania Law School when she received her J.D. in word and how its meaning and interpretation could benefit or 1927. She was the first African-American woman to be an be deleterious, particularly to those marginalized by society.” associate editor of the school’s Law Review. It is interesting Cassandra Georges, a young lawyer in private practice and to note that before receiving her law degree, Dr. Alexander a former president of the NBA-WLD, commented, “I learned received a Ph.D. from the University about Dr. Alexander’s long list of of Pennsylvania in economics and accomplishments while fundraising was the first black woman to do so. for the Alexander Civil Rights Chair Dr. Alexander was the first at Penn Law. Even though I never African-American woman to be The NBA-WLD has met Dr. Alexander, she touched admitted to the practice of law in my life through her example. She Pennsylvania. She initially joined worked hard to showed such poise and perseverance the law practice of her husband, advance diversity in in the face of adversity and the late Judge Raymond Pace discrimination. She opened the door Alexander, and later became an the local law schools, for me as a black woman to graduate assistant city solicitor for the city of from Penn Law, to be admitted to the Philadelphia from 1928 to 1930 and law firms and Pennsylvania Bar, and to pursue my from 1934 to 1938. She was the first corporations through own practice as a solo practitioner. It black woman to serve as an assistant is an honor and privilege to follow city solicitor, and for a period of 20 its scholarship in Dr. Alexander’s trailblazing years, she was the only minority footsteps.” woman lawyer in Philadelphia. programs, continuing Judge Doris May Harris After leaving the solicitor’s office, she returned to practicing law with legal education Judge Doris May Harris was a her husband until his appointment to seminars, community native Philadelphian who graduated the Court of Common Pleas bench; from Overbrook High School. She she thereafter maintained her own service projects received her BA magna cum laude practice for many years. Upon her from Howard University and her retirement, she became of counsel to and networking law degree from the University of the firm of Atkinson, Myers, Archie Pennsylvania Law School in 1949, and Wallace. opportunities. the second black woman to do so. Dr. Alexander dedicated much of Judge Harris was admitted to the her life to advancing civil liberties Pennsylvania Bar in 1950. Before and equal rights. President Truman becoming a judge, she served as an appointed her to his Commission on Civil Rights. She also attorney advisor to the United States Government Regional served as a member of the Philadelphia Commission on Counsel of the Price Stabilization, assistant city solicitor for Human Relations and was the chair of that commission from the city of Philadelphia, attorney for the United States Small 1962 to 1969. When she was appointed in 1962, she was the Business Administration, and assistant general counsel for the only black woman to have chaired such a commission. As a School District of Philadelphia. She was a founding partner member of the Fellowship Commission, she helped to draft of Norris, Schmidt, Green, Harris, Higginbotham and Brown, a section of the Home Rule Charter of 1952. Dr. Alexander which many consider to be Philadelphia’s first African- also helped to found the Greater Philadelphia Branch of the American law firm. She was a rarity in being a named female American Civil Liberties Union and for many years was an partner in a law firm. active member of its board of directors. In 1980, she was Judge Harris was appointed to the Court of Common Pleas appointed chair of the White House Conference on Aging by in 1971. During her years on the bench, she was involved in President Carter. numerous professional and community activities. She served Dr. Alexander was one of the original supporters of the on the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, NBA-WLD and helped the organization to shape its goals the Judicial Planning Commission of Pennsylvania, and the

32 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 National Council of Negro Women. She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Penn Towne Chapter of LINKS Inc., and served on the boards of many organizations including the Women’s Christian Alliance and the Executive Board of the United Way. Until her death in April 1985, Judge Harris was a mentor to as many of the NBA-WLD members as she could squeeze into her busy schedule on the Court of Common Pleas bench. Upon her death, she left behind a legacy of professional excellence and commitment to education. On Feb. 28, 1989, in her honor and memory, the organization presented a portrait of Judge Harris to the Court of Common Pleas. That same year the group established an annual award in Judge Harris’ memory. The Judge Doris May Harris Image Award recognizes an African-American women attorney who the often shark-filled waters that Judge Harris’ legacy lives on through best personifies the values held by Judge described the practice of law for these initiatives of the organization. Harris. Recipients of the Harris Image women, particularly African- Justice Juanita Kidd award include Charisse Lillie, vice American women. She was known Stout president of community investment, for her intellect, impeccable style, Comcast, and executive vice president keen insight, especially in matters Justice Juanita Kidd Stout was born of the Comcast Foundation; Dean of involving juveniles, but notable in Wewoka, Okla. in 1919. Not one the Beasley School of Law at Temple was her decision to hire and to allow societal prejudices to limit or University; Dean Phoebe Haddon of the mentor African-American women deny her ambitions, she left Oklahoma University of Maryland Law School; immediately after law school. Her at age 16 to find an accredited college and Audrey Talley, a past Chancellor standards were high; she expected that would admit African-American of the Philadelphia Bar Association and her law clerks to exhibit integrity, women. In 1939, she earned her partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. professionalism, and to pursue Bachelor of Arts degree from the “As a young lawyer, I was blessed excellence. Her law clerks went on University of Iowa. She received her with amazing role models and mentors. to the bench, private practice, and a J.D. degree in 1948 from the University Some of my early mentors, Judge variety of positions.” of Indiana and received her LL.M. from Clifford Scott Green and Judge A. Leon Judge Harris’ demonstrated deep the same school in 1954. Higginbotham Jr., often told me great commitment and tireless service to the In September 1959, only five years stories about Judge Harris’ talents as a community and was a motivating force after she had passed the Pennsylvania lawyer, judge and community activist. in the organization’s establishment of bar exam, Gov. David L. Lawrence I was humbled and honored to receive various community outreach activities appointed Kidd Stout as a judge of the award in her name. I continue to such as: what is now known as the Municipal aspire to the high standards she set and • Establishing a pro bono legal Court of Philadelphia. That November, met in her professional life,” Lillie said. defense fund to represent the poor; she won a 10-year term on the court Judge Harris was known as “mentor • Establishing a mentoring initiative and became the first African-American in chief” to African-American women with teenage girls at the Harriet woman appointed or elected judge of lawyers in the Philadelphia area. Tubman House; a court of record. In 1969, Kidd Stout Retired Judge Kathryn Lewis, who was • Partnering with the Say Yes To was the first African-American woman her former law clerk, reflected: Education and Tell Them We Are to be elected to the Philadelphia Court “Judge Harris was a self-appointed Rising Programs sponsored by of Common Pleas. In 1988, she was committee of one who dedicated the Philadelphia Bar Association/ appointed to the Pennsylvania Supreme herself to erecting a bridge for Philadelphia Futures; Court and became the first African- African-American women to enter • Adopting students at the John American woman in the United States the legal profession. It was one thing Wanamaker Middle School; and to serve on a state Supreme Court. to build a bridge, but Judge Harris • Conducting holiday toy and book Justice Stout received many awards, was dedicated to helping young bag drives for children at area including Justice of the Year by the women successfully navigate homeless shelters. National Association of Women Judges

the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 33 (1988), the Sandra Day O’Connor Award (1994) by the think of her as a brave woman. She left Wewoka, Okla., at the Philadelphia Bar Association, and was designated as a “Legend age of 16 to attend college because no college in Oklahoma of the Bar” (2002) by the Philadelphia Bar Association as part admitted blacks. Her journey was a marathon. She was a of its 200th Anniversary celebration. Documents concerning teacher and secretary before she attended law school. She Justice Stout’s life as a jurist are now housed in the Library stayed the course and, as a result, accumulated an impressive of Congress (the Juanita Kidd Stout Collection consists of array of firsts: first black woman appointed to the bench in 35,000 items). Philadelphia, then first black woman elected judge in the Many of the judges and attorneys in today’s courtrooms U.S.,” Talley said in explaining why Stout was so revered. can attribute a milestone or two to this To ensure that Justice Stout’s role model who accomplished much remarkable legacy of accomplishments “just because she wanted to.” Justice Let us all be is carried forth by women of color Juanita Kidd Stout was a mentor, as they enter the profession she so friend and guiding light for lawyers in mindful of Judge dearly loved, in 2008 the NBA Women Philadelphia, especially the co-founders Lawyers Division Philadelphia Chapter of NBA-WLD Philadelphia. Judge Harris’ sage began awarding a tuition scholarship in Jacqueline Allen, a co-founder, reflects her honor and memory. that “Judge Stout was known to all of us advice, “Let us Since the inception of the National as the judge’s judge – she was indeed always reach Bar Association Women Lawyers my role model and mentor – her picture Division Philadelphia Chapter in 1981, a hangs in my robing room today, and her back.” generation of African-American women favorite document, the “Judge’s Prayer,” attorneys has entered the profession is on my desk – you could say that – she standing on the shoulders of Dr. Sadie ‘watches’ over me. I am mindful of the tremendous legacy that T.M. Alexander, Judge Doris May Harris, and Justice Juanita she left behind and seek to emulate her life in all that I do.” In Kidd Stout. These three icons would each be proud of the addition to being a mentor and role model, Judge Stout, during seeds they have sown. Let us all be mindful of Judge Harris’ the early years of the organization, carved out a specific role sage advice, “Let us always reach back.” as the organization’s self-appointed “watchdog” in that she scrutinized and critiqued the organization’s every effort to Judge Jacqueline F. Allen sits in the Court of Common Pleas, ensure that all activities were of the highest caliber. It was not Civil Division. Beverly T. Williams is in private practice in at all unusual to receive a phone call from Justice Stout, which Montgomery County and is a former deputy director at the usually began with the opening phrase, ‘Now, ladies, ...was University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Niki T. Ingram is fine, but in the future, you may wish to consider...’.” assistant director, Workers’ Compensation and Employment Law “Justice Stout was far more than a woman of firsts. She Department at Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin was a warrior for dignity, self-respect and decency in the face and a member of the Editorial Board of The Philadelphia Lawyer. of the onerous burden of racial discrimination she endured. I

NBA Women Lawyers Division Philadelphia Chapter

African-American Female Attorneys in Philadelphia By the Numbers: Then and Now: 1981-2011

Key Positions Then (As of 1981) Now (As of 2011) Partners in Major Law Firms 1 5 Judges on Bench, Philadelphia 2 20 (includes 1 federal judge) Corporate Leaders 0 4 Law School Deans 0 2 City Solicitor 1 4 Chancellor, Philadelphia Bar Association 0 1 President, Philadelphia Bar Foundation 0 1

34 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012

Cover Story

PHOTOGRAPHED BY Antonio Oquias Filipinos wait their turn to receive their compensation for being victims of the regime of former Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos.

ntonio Abiog approached me in a wheelchair, his emaciated body slumped to one side. Eighty-four years old with thinning gray hair and sunken cheeks, his eyes focused on me. A After examining his paperwork, I located a check bearing his name for 43,200 pesos (US $1,000). As I placed it in his hand and wrapped his fingers around it, tears flowed down his cheeks. An earlier stroke made his words indecipherable. His son, standing behind him, explained that his father was crying tears of joy for he had never thought he would receive compensation for the torture he suffered in one of Ferdinand Marcos’ detention centers in the Philippines.

Filipino Victims Sue Marcos in the U.S. executed, among whom 1,000 simply disappeared. Abiog was one of over 7,500 Filipinos eligible to receive Marcos died in 1989 in Hawaii three years after the People money in the Marcos Human Rights Litigation. Filed in Power revolution toppled his regime. The litigation, filed in 1986, the case consumed 25 years of arduous litigation to Hawaii under the Alien Tort Statute, was vigorously defended reach a point where the class members received their first by his widow, Imelda Marcos, and son, Ferdinand R. Marcos. compensation. It was the first class action human rights case The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation assigned the case in American and world jurisprudence. The class members to Judge Manuel L. Real, the then chief judge of the Central were torture victims or the heirs of those summarily executed District of California. He appointed me lead counsel. In 1991 or disappeared. These jus cogens human rights violations the case was certified as a class action. The liability phase occurred during the martial law years 1972 through 1986 of the jury trial began in 1992, followed by the exemplary when Marcos resorted to force to maintain himself as a virtual damage and compensatory damage phases in 1994 and 1995. dictator in the Philippines. Marcos’ modus operandi was to The same jury, after completion of all phases of trial, returned sign arrest orders of political detainees personally. Tens of an overall verdict for 9,539 class members for nearly $2 thousands of Filipinos, mostly dissidents and opponents of billion. The judgment was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit in the Marcos regime, were arrested and detained for lengthy 1996 and is now a landmark in American and international periods with no charges ever filed against them. A subset human rights jurisprudence. was tortured for information. Almost 5,000 were summarily

38 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 Robert A. Swift was lead counsel in the class action human rights damages distribution for victims of the Marcos regime. Each eligible class member received $1,000. Collection Is Difficult since that was the only work an under-educated mother with Collection of the judgment proved exceedingly difficult. six children could perform after her husband was killed. Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos kept few assets in their own names, preferring alias names and shell corporations in tax Distribution to Victims havens such as Panama, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The distribution marked the first time that human rights Philippine courts have refused to this day to recognize the class victims in Asia had ever been compensated for the abuses they action judgment even though Philippine suffered. But distribution presented its procedure has a class action rule nearly own problems. The class had originally identical to Federal Rule 23. The new been constituted in 1993, some 18 Philippine government pursued Marcos years earlier. Addresses were old and assets worldwide and spent millions of Despite these most had not been updated. Worse, dollars on legal counsel to oppose the demanding as I learned during distribution, 15 to efforts of the human rights victims to 20 percent of the class members were recover the Marcos assets. Even a ruling conditions, deceased and necessitated replacement delivered by the United Nations Human checks to the next of kin. Even use of the Rights Committee that the Philippine distribution was mail had its limitations. The Philippine government had violated international postal system was unreliable at best and law by delaying enforcement of the highly effective. corrupt in some regions. If checks were class judgment did not provoke any Almost 85 percent mailed, they could be stolen and cashed change. Switzerland and the United by persons using false identification States also opposed collection efforts by of the checks were papers. So there was no effective the victims. alternative to distributing checks to each The recovery of $10 million of distributed in eligible claimant in person. Marcos money in the United States – In February 2011 letters were mailed after six years of protracted litigation – five weeks. to eligible claimants informing them was fortuitous and enabled the current of their eligibility and the date and distribution of $1,000 to all eligible place where they could go to receive class members. The amount was not their checks. As evidence of their adequate compensation for the abuses committed, but it was eligibility, they were asked to bring with them my letter and a meaningful start. The amount represented roughly two two forms of photo identification. I selected 16 distribution years’ earnings for a farmer and four years’ earnings for a points throughout the Philippines where the largest numbers housekeeper. Many of the female claimants were housekeepers of claimants resided. Human rights groups, the Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) fact the next of kin. Those not on the was remarkable. A second phase of and the media all publicized the list went to a third table where they distribution improved distribution to 97 locations and dates. completed forms explaining why they percent. A press conference on Feb. 28 believed they had an eligible claim. launched the distribution. It was held Local members of human rights Instilling Fear and at Club Filipino in Metro Manila groups were employed to assist with Discontent where Cory Aquino was inaugurated the processing. A colleague or I again In a letter handed to me while I was as president 25 years earlier. Philippine scrutinized the list for the claimant’s in Mindanao, a cloistered nun described and international media attended the name and reviewed identification the torture and murder of her brother, press conference and spread the news papers before handing out a check. Emmanuel. The story reminded me across Asia, the Middle East and the For those who had to wait, there were of many other accounts presented in United States. chairs and water since the weather in court during the trial. Sister Scholastica this pre-summer period was predictably Rosales explained how Emmanuel, Security Issues hot and humid. a teenage leftist, was seized by the Distribution posed security issues. military, tortured over several days, Criminal groups might try to steal The Poorest of the Poor then shot and thrown into a remote the checks and negotiate them before The claimants were truly the poorest mass grave while still breathing. To the stop payments could be issued. Six of the poor. The death of a loved one anger of the local military commander, of the distribution locations were had taken an emotional and financial her family later found the grave with in Mindanao where 30 percent of toll on their lives. Many were older and the help of a witness to the killing and the claimants resided. A sporadic hardship was evident on their wrinkled, reburied her brother’s decomposed armed insurgency was alive and wizened faces. The oldest to appear remains. She wrote, “it is ironic that well in Muslim provinces there, and was 89 years old though quite a few people who are supposed to protect kidnappings were commonplace. At were in their 70s and early 80s. Most and secure peace and order are the ones the urging of the CHR, the Philippine traveled by bus, sometimes with money who cause and instilled fear, discontent, National Police and the armed forces loaned from relatives. Depending on injustice and death.” She stated she of the Philippines provided security where they lived, some traveled for as cried four times while writing the letter in the form of plainclothesmen and much as 10 hours, often at night. I was and blessed those attorneys who had armed soldiers. They accompanied my surprised to see as many as 100 people persevered to obtain justice for the colleagues and me from airport to hotel waiting for me when a distribution victims. In a refrain born of her faith, to distribution center. Fortunately, there center opened at 8 a.m. she added, “I forgive those who caused was no violence. Most smiled at meeting me and so much pain and suffering to us.” The claimants had a different expressed their gratitude. A few told security issue. Once they received me they believed justice had been • • • a check they needed to convert it to done. Some showed me their gunshot Too often victims of human rights currency and find their way home. wounds, amputation or photos of their abuses are forgotten. Governments, Few had bank accounts. The bank the deceased loved ones. Others embraced especially our own, treat victims like checks were drawn on had 500 branch me; several cried in my arms. A firm pawns while they castigate other offices throughout the country and at handshake needed no translation. governments for committing human least one branch in each distribution Curiosity compelled me to inquire rights abuses. When repressive dictators city. Claimants usually arrived with how individual claimants planned to are overthrown, new governments one or two family members and went spend the money. Many farmers said ignore the victims. Human rights to the bank immediately after receiving they would buy a carabao (water ox) groups shine a spotlight on abuses a check. There was but one reported or acquire more land. Others planned and abusive regimes but have more robbery of a claimant. to place an engraved stone at the site important priorities than the welfare of Distribution at each location was of their loved one’s grave or repair victims. It is ironic that it is far easier designed to be as quick and efficient their house. Some wanted to educate to recover for property damage from as possible. A triage system was their children or grandchildren or buy a right-angle auto collision than for employed to speedily process those medicine. In Mindanao, where men torture in a third-world country. The claimants whose names were on a often have more than one wife, one Marcos case did not change this but list and who brought my letter and man told me that now he could afford did show an enlightened approach the photo identification. Those on the list a third wife. judiciary can take to achieve justice but lacking my letter were processed Despite these demanding conditions, and compensate victims of heinous separately and asked questions about distribution was highly effective. abuses. their claims to verify that they were Almost 85 percent of the checks were the correct claimant. Family members distributed in five weeks. Considering Robert A. Swift of deceased claimants were asked that eligible claimants had to appear ([email protected]) is a partner to produce death certificates and with their papers at a place and on a date with Kohn, Swift & Graf, P.C. questioned as to whether they were in with their papers in hand, the turnout

the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 41 TTeecchhnnololooggyy Social Media Opens a New Can of Legal Worms Understand the Ethical and Practical Issues of What Clients Post Online Sooner Rather Than Later

BY Daniel J. Siegel

lients can have big mouths So if the issue of social media/social • A client who boasted on Facebook and can do some really dumb networking – and how to advise clients about going to Canada to see a rock things. No matter how much with posting on these websites – has not concert and smoke dope. The client C you warn them, there are arisen yet in your practice, rest assured then wondered why he was facing times when they say and do things that it will. And when the issue rears its head, a probation revocation and how the can hurt their cases. Similarly, attorneys you need to understand the ethical and probation officer learned about this can have big mouths, and can do things practical issues, and how to respond. international travel and narcotics that not only jeopardize their clients’ The reality is that clients love to use. cases, but also their own licenses. post information – including photos, • A recent murder case that resulted This isn’t earth-shattering videos and other information – on social in an acquittal after the state’s information. Yet, with the advent of “eyewitness” posted on Facebook social media – networking websites like that she was not really at the crime Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube Even if your clients scene but was just trying to help out and others, it seems that we are now her dead boyfriend by fingering his dealing with a new level of stupidity. restrict who can worst enemy. Consider the plight of Matthew There is nothing illegal about you, me, Murray, former president of the Virginia see their postings, the government, or opposing counsel Trial Lawyers Association, who gave up that does not going to a publicly accessible web page his law license after it was revealed that on Facebook, or any other website, he had instructed his client to remove mean that the and reviewing the information posted photos of himself partying, à la Casey there. Those pages are the equivalent of Anthony, from Facebook and then information will leaving open the doors and windows to withheld them from a defense discovery remain private. a home, and then wondering why all of request. Even worse, Murray ordered a the neighbors knew what was happening paralegal to withhold the “stink-bomb” inside. Even if your clients restrict who email that instructed his client to get media websites, and some or all of the can see their postings, that does not rid of the pictures; when the paralegal information may be inconsistent with mean that the information will remain refused to comply with the request, the injuries they claim to have suffered private. Consequently, attorneys must Murray withheld the email himself and in an accident, or their testimony during provide appropriate advice and comply later blamed the omission on another a divorce case, or the testimony in their with the Rules of Professional Conduct. paralegal. criminal case. First, remember that social networking With the advent of social media, a Still don’t believe me? Consider websites are not “private.” Just read part panoply of issues has arisen, particularly these tales from the Tennessee Bar 6 of the Facebook Privacy Policy, “How in personal injury, family and criminal Association: We Share Information,” and how the cases. Yet at its heart, the issue remains • A Facebook page on which an site responds to legal requests: a classic one: the preservation of individual explained to friends how information of relevance to a legal she had an accident that “totaled” Facebook is about sharing matter. her car on the way home from a bar. information with others – friends

42 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 Tech briefs App Tracks Criminal Records

Matt Haindfield was thinking about his two young daughters when he developed the Docket in Your Pocket (DYP) app. “I wanted to ensure that when they’re living away from home or are out on Living Pictures the dating scene, they’ll be better able to make informed decisions about the Lets Users Explore Scenes people they’ll encounter,” the Iowan says. Lytro’s new light field camera is not your basic point-and-shoot model. Initially, however, Haindfield’s motive was strictly professional. He needed Lytro cameras feature a light field sensor quick, reliable information about a that collects the color, intensity and witness’s criminal history. So, he direction of every light ray flowing into reached for his smartphone, accessed the camera, capturing a scene in four the Iowa Supreme Court’s website, dimensions. To process this additional and people in your communities – and was frustrated to discover that the information, Lytro cameras contain a database was prohibitively difficult while providing you with privacy light field engine that allows camera to navigate in a mobile environment. owners to refocus pictures directly on settings that you can use to restrict After researching the availability the camera. When the Lytro’s living other users from accessing some of of other mobile-based options, and pictures are shared online, the light your information. We share your finding none, he opted to create his field engine travels with each picture information with third parties when own. DYP is available via the Android so anyone can interact with them on we believe the sharing is permitted Market and the Apple App Store. nearly any device, including web by you, reasonably necessary to offer browsers, mobile phones and tablets Why would an Iowa lawyer develop an our services, or when legally required – without having to download special app for Pennsylvanians? “We wanted software. to do so. For example: … to launch our app in a state with a large To respond to legal requests percentage of smartphone users and The Lytro light field camera is and prevent harm. We may where there was an existing database accompanied by Lytro’s desktop disclose information pursuant to of criminal records,” Haindfield says. application, a free software download subpoenas, court orders, or other “Pennsylvania fit the bill.” that easily imports pictures from requests (including criminal and camera to computer. Currently With a database of Pennsylvania’s 32.5 civil matters) if we have a good faith available for Mac OS X, the desktop million criminal records going back to application lets people view, interact belief that the response is required 2000, DYP can provide background with, organize and share their light by law. This may include respecting information in a matter of seconds. It field pictures. Lytro pictures can then requests from jurisdictions outside covers everything from parking tickets be uploaded to Lytro.com to be shared of the United States where we have and speeding tickets to robberies, drug via Facebook, Twitter, blogs or as links a good faith belief that the response charges, assaults, rapes and murders. in email messages. A Windows version is required by law under the local of the software will be available in early 2012. laws in that jurisdiction, apply to users from that jurisdiction, and are Once shared, Lytro’s living pictures consistent with generally accepted allow viewers to live the moment international standards. We may also with the photographer and explore a share information when we have a scene like never before. Viewers can good faith belief it is necessary to continually interact with Lytro pictures prevent fraud or other illegal activity, – focusing them over and over – expanding the creative possibilities of to prevent imminent bodily harm, or each and every shot. to protect ourselves and you from people violating our Statement of The pocket-sized camera, which offers Rights and Responsibilities. This a powerful 8x optical zoom and f/2 may include sharing information lens in an iconic design, is available in with other companies, lawyers, two models and three colors, starting at courts or other government entities. $399.

It is also becoming common for defense

the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 43 counsel to inquire about a plaintiff’s use of social media – and • Likewise, MySpace is a “social networking service that plaintiff’s counsel can and should do the same for defendants. allows members to create unique personal profiles online How counsel obtains that information, however, raises ethical in order to find and communicate with old and new friends” issues. and is self-described as an “online community” where “you The Philadelphia Bar Association Professional can share photos, journals and interests with your growing Guidance Committee addressed one aspect of the problem in network of mutual friends,” and as a “global lifestyle portal Opinion 2009-2. In that inquiry, a witness revealed during a that reaches millions of people around the world.” deposition that she has Facebook and MySpace accounts. The • Both sites allow users to set privacy levels to control with inquirer further learned that access to the pages was limited to whom they share their information. persons who obtained the user’s permission, but believed that • The information sought was both material and necessary to the pages might contain information relevant to impeach the the defense of this action and/or could lead to admissible witness’s trial testimony. As a result, counsel wanted to ask a evidence. third person, i.e., “someone whose name the witness will not recognize,” to go to Facebook and MySpace and try to “friend” Numerous other cases have now reached similar conclusions. the witness in order to gain access to the information. The So, as an attorney, what should you do once you ask and Committee ruled that such pretextual “friending” violated the learn that your client is on Facebook? First, your obligation Rules of Professional Conduct: to be candid to the tribunal is critical. Pa.R.P.C. 8.3 (“Candor Toward the … the Committee believes that Tribunal”) provides that an attorney shall the proposed course of conduct The Rules of not knowingly make a false statement of contemplated by the inquirer would Professional material fact or law to a tribunal or fail to violate Rule 8.4(c) because the planned correct a false statement of material fact communication by the third party with conduct make it or law previously made to the tribunal the witness is deceptive. It omits a by the lawyer. The Rule further prohibits highly material fact, namely, that the clear that a lawyer attorneys from offering evidence that the third party who asks to be allowed lawyer knows to be false. Thus, if a lawyer access to the witness’s pages is doing may not advise, knows about a social networking posting, so only because he or she is intent on or allow, a client he or she must be guided accordingly. obtaining information and sharing it The Rules of Professional Conduct with a lawyer for use in a lawsuit to to delete or alter make it clear that a lawyer may not impeach the testimony of the witness. advise, or allow, a client to delete or The omission would purposefully truthful information alter truthful information posted on a conceal that fact from the witness for posted on a social social networking site. On the other the purpose of inducing the witness hand, a lawyer should advise clients to, to allow access, when she may not do networking site. at a minimum, refrain from posting any so if she knew the third person was information relevant to a case on any associated with the inquirer and the website, and to refrain, unless absolutely true purpose of the access was to obtain information for essential, from using these websites until the case is concluded. the purpose of impeaching her testimony. … Such advice may prevent a client from making disclosures that not only damage his or her case, but also may preclude Although the Committee ruled that pretextual “friending” opposing counsel from using any such postings to distract the violates the Rules, the trend is similarly clear that this judge or jury and damage the case permanently. information is discoverable through subpoena and other Clients talk too much, and clients do dumb things. As lawyers, traditional discovery requests. Thus, in Romano v Steelcase we may not be able to prevent them from doing so, but at a Inc., the court outlined why such information is discoverable: minimum, we have an ethical obligation to explain the issues • Both Facebook and MySpace are social networking to them and to attempt to protect them from themselves. sites where people can share information about their personal lives, including posting photographs and sharing Daniel J. Siegel ([email protected]), editor-in-chief of The information about what they are doing or thinking. Philadelphia Lawyer, is a local attorney who operates the Law Offices • Facebook’s policy states that “it helps you share of Daniel J. Siegel, LLC and is the president of Integrated Technology information with your friends and people around you,” and Services, LLC. that “Facebook is about sharing information with others.”

44 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 Tech UPDATE Amazon Kindle Fire Nook Color

Both Amazon and Barnes and Noble have upgraded their presence in the tablet/e-reader market with their Android-powered offerings. Both feature 7-inch color touchscreens and Wi-Fi Internet access (no 3G connectivity is available). Both hope to undercut Apple’s wildly popular iPad by coming in at less than $300. You can check email, play games, watch movies, check the web and yes, read books.

Features Amazon Kindle Fire Nook Color

7” multi-touch display with IPS (in-plane switching) 7” touchscreen technology and anti- 1024 x 600 pixel resolution at 169 Display reflective treatment, 1024 x 600 ppi, 16 million colors pixel resolution at 169 ppi, 16 million colors.

Operating system Customized Android 2.3 Android 2.2

Dimensions 7.5” x 4.7” x 0.45” 8.1” x 5” x 0.48”

Weight 14.6 ounces 14.1 ounces

8GB internal (approximately On-Device Storage 6GB available for user 16 GB content).

Battery life 8 hours 8 hours

Wi-Fi Connectivity 802.11b/g/n 802.11b/g/n

USB port USB 2.0 USB 2.0 high speed

PRICE $199 $249

the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 45 Book Review By Mary-Kate Breslin Get Your Corner Office Avoid These Common Mistakes to Help Your Climb Up the Ladder at Work

Nice Girls Don’t Get the you could use some improvement, and two adjustments will go a long way, Corner Office: 101 Unconscious areas where you are already doing well. and will likely result in unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Mistakes are organized by broader improvements in other areas, too. Sabotage Their Careers categories including: Each mistake by itself may seem Written By Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D. • How you play the game inconsequential and trivial. However, 288 pages • How you act Dr. Frankel warns that most women $14.99, Hachette Book Group, Inc. • How you think are guilty of more than one of the 101 • How you brand and market yourself mistakes and collectively these mistakes ttention ladies! Dr. Frankel is • How you sound can stymie a woman’s career and negate coaching women across the • How you look, and her years of hard work. Here are some A globe to “quit bein’ girls.” • How you respond. examples of the mistakes Dr. Frankel Once I picked this book up I could says women typically make in the not put it down. I found myself work place. repeatedly exclaiming, “Oh my Mistake #21: Sharing gosh I do that! And I do that, too!” Too Much Personal The book is targeted to women of all Information ages and at any stage of their careers. Revealing complicated personal Dr. Frankel points out that many of situations can later come back to hurt these mistakes serve women well you professionally, and women tend early on in their careers, but hinder to share much more about themselves advancement after a certain plateau. than men. A coaching tip is to be This is a great read for young female honest but brief. It is enough to tell lawyers to stop their bad habits your boss that you are going through and develop good ones, and for a rough time at home and leave it at seasoned female attorneys who are that without further personal details. dedicated to self improvement and Mistake #48: Waiting to professionalism. If you believe that Be Noticed you are never too successful to work Women are often overlooked on personal habits, then this book is because of modesty or because they for you. assume their accomplishments will The premise of this book is that eventually be noticed. Dr. Frankel women receive messages from suggests developing a personal society beginning at an early age marketing plan in which you write about how a girl should and should down specific steps you will take to not behave. These messages are get yourself to where you want to be. internalized and deeply ingrained Mistake #60: in the female psyche, often times Apologizing without notice. Women take these I love the Tiger Woods example messages and learned behavior with given to demonstrate this mistake! He them through their careers, behaving had just lost the British Open where and communicating the way that he missed some easy shots and had society has always expected them. Dr. Dr. Frankel limits the description not played as well as he normally does. Frankel identifies these behaviors, turns of each mistake to one short page on He responded by pointing out the poor them on their head, and specifically average. Alongside the description she wind conditions that worked against points out how many of them really hurt provides a bulleted list of “Coaching him. The lesson is women tend to, and women professionally. Tips” to help you reach your maximum should try to refrain from apologizing The book gets you started with a potential. She advises not to take on for unintentional, low-profile, non- self assessment to identify areas where too many changes at once. Just one or egregious errors.

46 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 Try turning “Is it alright if I go to lunch now?” into “I’m taking my lunch, you can call my cell if you need me.”

Mistake #15: Polling Before Making a Decision now?” into “I’m taking my lunch, you “No problem.” While modesty is a To have management potential you can call my cell if you need me.” virtue, it is a time and place virtue. You must be able to act independently. There Mistake #74: Taking Up should never feel or act modestly with are circumstances in which soliciting Too Little Space regard to your success. And if your external feedback is appropriate, Confidence and entitlement … these accomplishments are not being noticed however if you need others to weigh are the words Dr. Frankel emphasizes then you must highlight them. For in before you can make a decision you when she states that the more space a instance, display awards and plaques will cripple your ability to advance. person takes up, the more confident conspicuously in your work space. Pick a low-profile decision, take the that person appears. For instance on The book ends with a comprehensive risk of owning it entirely, and progress airplanes, men typically spread out in appendix on personal development from there. their seats and put both arms on the planning and resources. Not only is it Mistake #59: Asking armrests, whereas women tend to keep a fun read, “Nice Girls” is a revealing Permission their elbows tucked in at their sides. self-improvement tool. Enjoy! Children ask for permission, not Mistake #50: Being adults. Asking for permission assumes Modest Mary-Kate Breslin a level of inequality. If your intention When someone compliments you, ([email protected]) is is to show respect then try to merely just say “thank you.” Don’t downplay judicial law clerk to Judge Albert J. inform others of your objectives. Try your achievements by using minimizing Snite Jr. of the Philadelphia Court of turning “Is it alright if I go to lunch statements like “It was nothing” or Common Pleas - Civil Division.

the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012 47 1992 That Was Then

Chancellor’s Reception - January 9, 1992

Nearly 800 members of the legal community attended the annual Chancellor’s Reception held at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel to honor Deborah R. Willig, the first woman Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Members passing through the receiving line were greeted by Willig, Chancellor-Elect André L. Dennis, Vice Chancellor Lawrence J. Beaser and Immediate-Past Chancellor Robert C. Heim. At left, Willig (left) welcomes city Chief Defender Ellen T. Greenlee. Below, City Councilwoman Augusta A. Clark congratulates the new Chancellor.

48 the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2012