Judge Paul P. Panepinto, PHILADELPHIA COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
Judge Paul P. Panepinto currently serves as Judge on the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, Civil Division. Judge Panepinto served Philadelphia Family Court from 1971 to 1990 in varying capacities, advancing from a probation officer to juvenile master. He worked his way through law school and was elected to the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas in 1991. Judge Panepinto serves as a Judge on the Court of Judicial Discipline, hearing cases where formal charges have been filed against judicial officers. The Court of Judicial Discipline "has the authority to impose sanctions, ranging from a reprimand to removal from office." He was also appointed by Governor Tom Ridge to the Juvenile Court Judges' Commission on Pennsylvania.
Website: JUDGE PAUL P. PANEPINTO.
Robert A. Sloan, Esq., BADEY SLOAN & DIGENOVA
Mr. Sloan concentrates his practice in the fields of workers' compensation and personal injury litigation, including products liability, motor vehicle accidents, premises liability, and medical malpractice.
He has extensive experience, having handled hundreds of cases over a career spanning more than a quarter century. In addition, Mr. Sloan also represents clients at the appellate level, and has participated in many cases in which the decision has become part of the published precedent. A sampling of published decisions iin cases in which he has been involved is listed below.
Website: BADEY, SLOAN & DIGENOVA, Philadelphia, PA & Marlton, NJ.
Phone: 215-790-1000.
Email: info@lawbsd.com.
Albert G. Bixler, Esq., ECKERT SEAMANS
Albert G. Bixler is a Member in the firm's Litigation Division. He also serves as the Member-in-Charge of the Philadelphia office and is a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. Mr. Bixler represents clients in matters ranging from environmental claims to professional negligence and bankruptcy litigation. He has extensive experience in personal injury, insurance coverage, product liability, toxic tort, class action and “mass tort” matters. Mr. Bixler represents pharmaceutical manufacturers in product liability litigation and has served as defense liaison counsel in mass tort litigation in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. He has defended a manufacturer of an over-the-counter medication and a manufacturer of a prescription drug in several thousand suits pending in both federal and state courts.
Website: ECKERT SEAMANS, 9 offices nationwide.
Phone: 215-851-8412.
Email: abixler@eckertseamans.com
George J. Badey, III, Esq., BADEY SLOAN & DIGENOVA
Mr. Badey is known for his passionate representation of worker-employees in worker compensation matters for nearly twenty years. In addition, George focuses his practice on plaintiff's personal injury litigation, including products liability, medical malpractice and general personal injury. Mr. Badey has achieved, through both jury verdicts and settlements, over fifty (50) six-figure recoveries, and five (5) seven figure recoveries (all in present value). He has successfully argued in numerous appellate forums, including the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Federal Circuit, and the Pennsylvania Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth Courts.
Website: BADEY SLOAN & DIGENOVA, Philadelphia, PA & Marlton, NJ.
Phone: 215-790-1000.
Email: gjbadey@lawbsd.com
Stephen A. Sheller, Esq., SHELLER, P.C.
Stephen A. Sheller has been in practice since 1963. The hallmark of his practice-- then and now-- has been to empower wronged individuals who have been in an uphill battle against a stronger opponent. He is nationally known for tackling difficult cases on behalf of individuals facing major conglomerates. Mr. Sheller maintains a national practice concentrating in areas of medical malpractice, toxic tort, medical device, drug product and complex catastrophic personal injury litigation. He represents clients in litigation throughout the United States involving medical malpractice, breast implants, L-tryptophan, tobacco, floxin, DES, bone screws, penile implants and numerous other products. He has appeared on national and regional programs including ABC-TV's "Good Morning America" and on "CNN Live." In December 2000, his firm made national headlines when it was chosen to participate in the National Presidential Election 2000 voting debacle in Palm County, Florida.
Website: SHELLER, P.C., Philadelphia, PA & Marlton, NJ.
Phone 800-883-2299.
Email: sasheller@sheller.com
Robert Heim , Esq., DECHERT LLP
Robert C. Heim is chair of the litigation department and a member of the commercial litigation group. He has also served on Dechert's Policy Committee. Mr. Heim's practice involves a broad range of class action and other complex litigation and includes antitrust/competition, securities, mass torts and product liability, international disputes, and media law litigation. He has represented defendants in class actions in judicial circuits throughout the country.
Website: DECHERT LLP, 11 offices nationwide.
Phone: 215-994-2570.
Email: robert.heim@dechert.com
Lawrence R. Cohan, Esq., ANAPOL SCHWARTZ WEISS COHAN FELDMEN & SMALLEY P.C.
Lawrence R. Cohan, a Shareholder of Anapol Schwartz, chairs the firm's Toxic Tort Litigation Department, and is the Managing Partner and Senior Trial Counsel for our New Jersey office. Mr. Cohan concentrates his practice in toxic torts (asbestos, chemicals and other dangerous products), pharmaceutical liability, medical malpractice, products liability, FELA, and complex personal injury matters. He received his bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, from Boston University in 1976, and his law degree in 1979 from the University of Pennsylvania. He is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, and before the U.S. Court of Claims.
Website: ANAPOL SCHWARTZ WEISS COHAN FELDMEN & SMALLEY P.C., 3 offices in PA & NJ.
Phone: 215-790-4567.
PRODUCT
LIABILITY
Fred Magaziner, Esq., DECHERT LLP
Fred T. Magaziner is a partner who litigates complex product liability cases, including MDL and class action mass tort cases. Mr. Magaziner also tries major commercial and patent cases.
Mr. Magaziner was one of the principal defense lawyers in the federal and state class actions in the Factor Concentrate (HIV-tainted blood products) litigation, as well as in the federal MDL and the several state mini-MDLs in that litigation. Mr. Magaziner was a lead defense lawyer in the negotiation of the Factor Concentrate litigation global settlement. Mr. Magaziner currently is lead counsel for GlaxoSmithKline in the Baycol litigation and is one of the lead Dechert partners in the Vioxx litigation.
Website: DECHERT LLP, 11 offices nationwide.
Phone: 215-994-2587.
Email: fred.magaziner@dechert.com
Jamie L. Sheller, Esq., SHELLER, P.C.
Ms. Sheller handles and supervises medical malpractice, medical device, drug product liability, complex product liability, multi-district, and class action litigation for breast implant, tobacco, fen-phen, and Rezulin, as well as general personal injury cases. She works on all aspects of the litigation from initial client intake through trial and appeal.
Ms. Sheller has extensive experience in organizing mass tort document production and use of databases. She is fully familiar with state-of-the-art computer technology and how to effectively use it for litigation. She has participated in national discovery efforts as well as serving on committees for drafting discovery and pleadings for both class action and multi-district litigation. She has been actively involved in interfacing with attorneys from all parts of the country on various steering committees, as well as the coordinating courts in order to organize and make decisions relating to complex litigation.
Website: SHELLER, P.C., Philadelphia, PA & Marlton, NJ.
Phone 800-883-2299.
Email: jlsheller@sheller.com
Alan Feldman, Esq., FELDMAN SHEPHERD WOHLGELERNTER TANNER & WEINSTOCK
Alan Feldman has devoted his professional career to complex personal injury and other civil litigation, achieving a record of success in a wide variety of cases. Mr. Feldman has prosecuted claims against HMOs and health insurance companies for fraudulent medical care (profiled on Dateline NBC), represented the families of Philadelphia firemen killed at the One Meridian Plaza and Rising Sun Baptist Church fires, won a million dollar verdict for a client denied a "jackpot" by an Atlantic City casino, and represented many ordinary citizens injured by defective products or negligent medical care. In 2006, Mr. Feldman served as Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association and its 13,000 members.
Website: FELDMAN SHEPHERD WOHLGELERNTER TANNER & WEINSTOCK, Philadelphia, PA.
Phone: 215-567-8300.
Email: afeldman@feldmanshepherd.com
Stephen McConnell, Esq., DECHERT LLP
Stephen J. McConnell is a partner in the mass torts and product liability group. He has also handled securities litigation, complex commercial litigation, and white-collar criminal litigation. Mr. McConnell has first-chair experience in both government and private practice cases, and has successfully argued significant matters before federal and state trial and appellate courts. Clients he has represented include Philip Morris and Wyeth, for whom he served as first-chair trial counsel in the diet drug litigation. Additionally, his practice has focused on potential liability for sales and advertising activity.
Website: DECHERT LLP, 11 offices nationwide.
Phone: 215-994-2281.
Email: stephen.mcconnell@dechert.com
John Snyder, Esq., RAWLE & HENDERSON LLP
John J. Snyder focuses his trial practice in the area of the defense of catastrophic injury, with particular emphasis on construction, industrial, pharmaceutical and medical malpractice matters. He is a very experienced litigator having tried an extremely large number of trials to verdict in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties. He and his practice group specialize in receiving high exposure cases (demands commonly in $30M-$80M range) weeks to several months before trial, and trying the case to verdict. He is an active member of the bar in the states of Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. He is also admitted to practice in the federal courts of Pennsylvania, as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Website: RAWLE & HENDERSON LLP, 8 offices throughout PA, NJ, DE, NY, WV.
Phone: 215-575-4220.
Email: jsnyder@rawle.com
Hope Freiwald, Esq., DECHERT LLP
Hope S. Freiwald is a partner in Dechert's mass tort and products liability group. She regularly counsels in mass tort/product liability risk reduction, particularly focusing on issues created by labeling and marketing practices, co-promotion and in-licensing agreements and emerging injury and liability theories. Ms. Freiwald has served as the court-selected defense liaison counsel, representing large groups of pharmaceutical defendants as well as blood banks, hospitals, and doctors before trial and appellate courts. Hope also has worked extensively on pre-litigation dispute resolution including resolution of putative mass tort claims in Europe. She has advised clients appearing before government review panels with regard to their prescription medications and advised them in lobbying efforts concerning compensation fund legislation.
Website:
DECHERT LLP, with 11 offices nationwide.
Phone: 215-994-2514.
Email: hope.freiwald@dechert.com.
Daniel Weinstock, Esq., FELDMAN SHEPHERD WOHLGELERNTER TANNER & WEINSTOCK
Formerly a partner in the law firm of Shrager, Spivey, Sachs & Weinstock, Mr. Weinstock has always represented plaintiffs in medical negligence, product liability and other major personal injury cases. During his years at the Shrager firm, he represented several dozen members of the American hemophilia population who were infected with HIV by contaminated blood products, which resulted in numerous multi-million dollar recoveries. Mr. Weinstock now focuses his practice on representing families of children with cerebral palsy and other brain injuries caused by medical malpractice. He regularly handles medical negligence, product liability and other cases in state and federal courts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and is often called upon to serve as lead trial counsel in significant cases across the nation.
Website: FELDMAN SHEPHERD WOHLGELERNTER TANNER & WEINSTOCK, Philadelphia, PA.
Phone: 215-567-8300.
Email: dweinstock@feldmanshepherd.com.
Jeffrey L. Lenow, MD, JD, CARDINAL HEALTH
Jeffrey L. Lenow, MD, JD, is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA. He has also served as the Medical Director of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's Physician-Hospital Organization, JeffCARE, Inc., where his responsibilities included clinical and quality management oversight for Jefferson's managed care relationships, provider network development support, and project development and research for Population Disease State Management. As a Jefferson Medical College faculty, Dr. Lenow maintains ambulatory patient care office hours, teaching responsibilities for medical students and residents in primary care medicine, and the development of an innovative "interactive" curriculum in managed care/health policy for fourth year students and residents.
Website: CARDINAL HEALTH.
Phone: 614-757-7450.
