Family Law

• Divorce
  The members of the practice are leaders in state and national bar associations and community organizations. They frequently lecture throughout the state and the nation in areas related to family law. Chair Cheryl Young is a former President of the Montgomery County Bar Association and is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Board of Governors. Shareholder Helen Casale is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and is known as an expert on issues that same sex couples face. Shareholder Jerry Shoemaker has recently been named one of the Greater Philadelphia Region’s Ten Leaders in Divorce Law, 45 & Under, by the Ten Leaders Cooperative and is a frequent lecturer on family law topics. Our associates are also extremely experienced and have been recognized as Rising Stars, published on numerous occasions, and lectured in various capacities.
• Child Support
  Myths abound when it comes to child support, particularly regarding when parties do and do not have to pay child support. Here are eight myths debunked.
• Child Custody and Visitation
  Our team of attorneys represents clients in a wide range of matters and is particularly adept at handling the most complex divorce matters involving complicated custody and financial issues. Our experienced attorneys handle divorce, custody and visitation, spousal and child support, alimony, property division, prenuptial agreements, protection from abuse matters, alternative family issues, and adoption.
• Adoption
  Our adoption practice includes experience in finalizing uncontested stepparent adoptions, international adoptions, second-parent adoptions for same sex couples, and assisted reproductive technologies, such as surrogacy, egg donation, and sperm donation. Our attorneys are well versed in adoption law and procedures in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
• Premarital Agreement
  Clients who are considering a Prenuptial Agreement should ideally consult with an attorney well in advance of the wedding date to ensure ample time to negotiate, draft, and execute it. Although we have worked with clients in the days leading up to the wedding, it is usually preferable to finalize the Prenuptial Agreement several weeks in advance of the wedding date. Read more
• Spousal Support
  Ending a marriage is never easy. Our attorneys are experienced in helping clients resolve their divorce, property distribution, and alimony issues. Our attorneys routinely handle both routine and complex divorce cases. We have experience in working with experts in a wide range of fields including accounting, real estate, financial planning, and business valuation to obtain and analyze the information needed to resolve complex property disputes. We have been handling the dissolution of single sex couples for years, and have extensive experience in dissolving these marriages following the Whitewood v. Wolf decision, a case in which our firm represented the plaintiffs who successfully argued for marriage equality in Pennsylvania.
• Annulment

Criminal Law

• Wrongful Death
• Theft
• Juvenile Crimes
  Dan was co-counsel with the Juvenile Law Center in the Luzerne County “kids-for-cash” scandal. He is a past president of the JLC and is Vice President of Hillel of Greater Philadelphia.

Business and Corporate Law

• Corporate Law
  We counsel companies concerning matters of corporate governance and the legal relationships among stockholders, board of directors, management, and lenders. We also represent clients, ranging from entrepreneurs and family businesses to mature companies, in structuring, negotiating, and documenting the formation and governance of business relationships, partnerships, and joint ventures.
• Mergers and Acquisitions
  We have handled D&O insurance coverage claims involving the full spectrum of insured entities, industries, and underlying actions. These matters range from claims arising from high profile accounting scandal cases, securities class actions, shareholder derivative and direct actions, and mergers and acquisitions, to employment related disputes, governmental investigations and litigation, and False Claims Act litigation.
• Business Transactions
  Our lawyers work with individuals, private and public companies, nonprofit organizations, and governmental agencies to advantageously structure business transactions, giving consideration to local, state and federal tax rules. We work closely with attorneys in the Real Estate, Corporate and Transactions, and Bankruptcy practices as we are involved in many forms of taxable and tax-free transactions, including debt and equity financing, acquisitions, divestitures, mergers, sales, leasing, and bankruptcy reorganizations. Read more
• Limited Liability Companies
  We advise entrepreneurs on the type of business entity to form, taking into consideration tax treatment, desired ownership and management structure, and financing and exit strategies. This includes advice with respect to the relationship among stockholders and partners and the terms of stockholder and partnership agreements, including buy-sell arrangements. We draft, review and negotiate the documentation that creates or modifies for-profit and non-profit corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships.
• Trade Secrets
• Intellectual Property
  We have represented major universities in a wide variety of litigation, including matters involving intellectual property disputes, First Amendment challenges, antitrust allegations, civil rights actions, research misconduct investigations, as well as tort and contract actions. Our work has encompassed all areas of administration, faculty, student, and alumni matters. For example, our lawyers have successfully...
• Antitrust
  Our dedicated antitrust lawyers have considerable experience in complex commercial litigation. They are routinely involved in the development of complex factual and legal issues involving antitrust, intellectual property, and regulatory law. Our attorneys have cultivated a deep understanding of antitrust litigation. They have decades of experience in federal trial and appellate courts and have been involved in some of the leading antitrust cases in recent years. For instance, over 15 years ago, our attorneys filed the initial cases challenging reverse payment settlement agreements in the pharmaceutical industry, and we have been involved in the development of the governing law ever since, including drafting key appellate briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals.

Employment Law

• Wrongful Termination
  We regularly advise employers and management-level employees on employment termination issues, including prohibitions against competition, protection of confidential information and trade secrets, wrongful discharge, tenure rights, employment discrimination, and harassment. Our litigators represent parties in disputes involving covenants not to compete in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, seeking either to enforce or to prohibit enforcement of such covenants. We also have an active ERISA practice, in which we represent plaintiffs and
• Employment Discrimination
  We regularly advise employers and management, as well as executives and professionals, such as physicians, dentists, and attorneys, on employment agreements, equity compensation, employment termination issues, non-competition and non-solicitation covenants, protection of confidential information and trade secrets, wrongful discharge, and employment discrimination and harassment.
• Employment Contract
  The success of any business depends on its ability to be productive operationally. Understanding this need, we represent owners and managers of businesses of all sizes in formulating standard contracts for general use, such as purchase orders, supplier/vendor contracts, equipment leases, employment agreements, independent contractor agreements, restrictive covenants, and confidentiality agreements.
• Employment Litigation
  We have extensive experience in working with entrepreneurs in different industries on their day-to-day legal and business challenges as well as planning for longer term growth and exit. Our start-up and emerging company clients appreciate our cost-effective, pragmatic, practical, and value-added legal services. Our lawyers advise entrepreneurs on every aspect of their business, including entity structuring, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, employment issues, equity compensation and stock options, licensing, distribution, securities law compliance, and dispute resolution.

Property Law

• Real Estate Litigation
  We have developed a specialized practice in acting as expert witnesses for other firms in real estate-based litigation.  We have acted as experts for plaintiffs and defendants in cases involving legal malpractice claims arising out of real estate transactions.  We have also served in cases in which trial counsel needs an expert to explain to a jury (or in some instances a judge) a complex aspect of real estate law or practice on which a case may hinge;  for example, we have testified about priorities of liens, subordination/non- disturbance agreements, rights of first refusal, lease remedies, title problems, and similar matters.  Our services include consultation with trial counsel; review of documents and deposition transcripts; preparation of written expert reports; giving depositions, and testifying in court. Our experience includes testifying in both state and federal courts.
• Construction Litigation
  Hangley Aronchick attorneys regularly represent insurers in cases arising from products liability and construction defect actions. Our practice is national in scope and covers all facets of representation, from advice and counseling to trial and appellate work.
• Real Estate Transactions
  Real estate attorneys generally understand the arcane details of centuries old laws governing rights in real property. Our lawyers also understand the practical realities of real estate transactions in the 21st century.
• Land Use and Zoning
  Our lawyers guide and counsel clients through all aspects and phases of their real estate transactions, from deal structuring to re-structuring, from acquisitions and sales to zoning and land use, from design and construction to leasing and management, and from financing to foreclosures. We are dedicated to learning our clients’ business and acting as an integrated part of their team, and we devote our deep legal knowledge and experience to providing our clients with creative, sensible and effective representation which is tailored to each client’s unique needs.  Our clients trust and rely on us to make their deals happen.
• Property Damage
  Our team routinely represents insurers in first party disputes arising from real and personal property damage and related business interruption claims in multiple jurisdictions. We have represented one of the nation’s leading boiler and equipment breakdown insurers, providing coverage advice and litigation support in several actions in state and federal court. We have represented insurers in property and income loss claims stemming from natural disasters such as hurricanes, addressing related bad faith issues, and defending against insureds’ attempts to invade “pattern and practice” claim procedures. We have also represented a leading insurer in connection with World Trade Center claims and related bad faith litigation.

Health Law

• Personal Injury
  Matt handles various pro bono cases, representing indigent clients in a range of matters, including death penalty defense, prisoners’ civil rights, bankruptcy, and uninsured personal injury defense. He is currently president of the the Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project, a nonprofit that helps families get a financial fresh start.
• Medical Malpractice
  Our appellate practice is broad and varied. We have handled, for example, appeals involving administrative law, antitrust law, appeals from administrative agency decisions, bankruptcy, business torts, civil rights, commercial law, constitutional law, environmental law, family law, insurance coverage and bad faith, legal malpractice, medical malpractice, personal injuries, and trusts and estates. Our appellate clients include governmental agencies, large corporations, and insurance companies, as well as individuals and small and medium-sized businesses.
• Disability Discrimination
  We are defending a private preschool against charges of unlawful disability discrimination in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, stemming from a complaint by parents that the school discriminated against a student based on the student’s disability when the school disenrolled the student. Read more

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  We have represented individuals and business owners (including extensive experience with legal and medical professionals) in all aspects of their businesses and estate planning.
• Wills
  Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, living wills, family limited partnerships, Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, and private foundations
• Trusts
  Charitable giving can be accomplished in many ways: direct donations, charitable trusts and other forms of restricted giving, gift programs, and private foundations. Our attorneys have worked with individuals, families, and companies to structure the most advantageous methods given the tax implications, as well as the client’s situation and goals.
• Power of Attorney
  Traditional estate planning attempts to preserve and increase a client’s wealth while effecting the most tax efficient transfer of assets to family members and other significant individuals, as well as charitable organizations. Estate planning plays a critical role both during and after one’s life. Individuals must consider use of wills, trusts, powers of attorney, living wills, and organ donation forms, as well as other vehicles, such as family limited partnerships, Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, and private foundations. Our lawyers understand the recent changes in the law and have counseled numerous clients in making decisions to preserve and increase their wealth during their lifetime to both ensure their health care decisions are respected and transfer their wealth to future generations.
• Probate

Finance Law

• Bankruptcy
  In addition to these relatively straightforward bankruptcy litigation matters, our lawyers have often represented clients in other adversary proceedings, both in bankruptcy court and in connection with appeals of bankruptcy decisions. Our lawyers have regularly been engaged as special counsel or co-counsel to other law firms in bankruptcy matters. In these matters, our role varies from lead bankruptcy counsel to special consultant or advisor. We have often been retained by bankruptcy trustees and committees as special counsel to pursue complicated bankruptcy litigation for the benefit of the creditors of the estate. It is in these more complex matters that we have been able to blend the expertise, skills, and depth of the firm’s financial restructuring and litigation practices. Read more
• Foreclosure
  Bo is an active pro bono attorney, serving as a volunteer for the Philadelphia Foreclosure Prevention Program, the Support Center for Child Advocates, and Philadelphia VIP.
• Tax Law
  The range of routine and complex legal issues handled by our attorneys is broad. Our representations span many jurisdictions. We also tap into our firm’s considerable resources in litigation, bankruptcy, environmental, corporate and tax law to develop innovative strategies.