Family Law

• Child Custody and Visitation
• Child Abuse
  Prior to joining the firm, Mark worked in the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office as deputy district attorney assigned to the Special Victims Division. While there, he gained extensive courtroom experience and specialized in the investigation and prosecution of child abuse and computer crimes cases. Through that experience, Mark has gained unique insight into computer and mobile phone forensics, social networking, and the pitfalls of modern technologies.

Criminal Law

• Criminal Defense
  Christine Cattani joined Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams in 2021 after operating her own solo practice for over a decade. Her work for clients encompassed a number of practice areas, including tax law, contract law, real property law, equine law, criminal defense and civil litigation. At Sweet Stevens, she will assist clients with tax assessment appeals, zoning hearings, Right-to-Know responses and general litigation.
• Sex Crimes
  Upon her admission to the bar, she worked for the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office as an assistant district attorney in the Child Abuse, Sex Crimes and Domestic Violence Division. She also served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable John Backenstoe.
• Assault

Business and Corporate Law

• Business Disputes
  Jason Sam joined the firm in 2021. He will put his background in trial practice to work to obtain successful outcomes for clients in civil rights, special education, contract disputes, employment law, and tax assessment matters.

Employment Law

• Employment Discrimination
  Our Civil Rights Defense practice overlaps with many of our other practice areas, where we have handled issues involving the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Children’s Internet Protection Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Constitutional Law. As school leaders are frequently required to balance competing rights, the services and advice we offer go a long way to successfully navigating the byzantine maze of constitutional and civil rights.
• Employment Contract
  From employment contracts to federal and state regulations and school code requirements, legal issues are an integral part of managing a school district. Yet, school board directors, administrators, faculty and staff are not legal experts; nor are they supposed to be. That’s why the role of a school solicitor is so important. An experienced professional fluent in these matters can provide the legal guidance and support needed to keep a district running smoothly and out of jeopardy.
• Employment Litigation
  Accordingly, on a daily occasion, we proactively strive to inform our clients on a wide variety of employment issues. For instance, we very commonly advise our clients on the following...
• Sexual Harassment
  He regularly conducts in-house training sessions on sexual harassment, employment discrimination, special education and numerous other employment and education law topics, and speaks at conferences around the region for such entities as the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and the Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education.

Property Law

• Land Use and Zoning

Health Law

• Disability Discrimination
  Jason Fortenberry advises clients on special education issues, Section 504 matters, Americans with Disability Act violations, and other disability discrimination claims. While in his current role he advocates solely for school entities, he has also represented students and their families in such matters, bringing a valuable dual perspective to his work in education law. He frequently presents educational programs on a variety of topics in special education.

Finance Law

• Tax Law
  GM Berkshire Hills, LLC, and GM Oberlin Berkshire Hills, LLC v. Berks Cty. Bd. of Assessment and Wilson School District recently issued a ruling affirming the commonwealth court allowing taxing authorities to pursue tax appeals. Here, the Wilson School District created a two-prong, quantitative uniformity test to determine whether it should pursue an assessment appeal against a property. First, the property is designated by the State Tax Equalization Board (STEB) as recently sold. Second, a monetary threshold where, after applying valuation calculations utilizing the common level ratio (CLR), the property is determined to be underassessed by at least $150,000. The first prong, which relied on public records, ensured an arm’s length transfer and an ascertainable market value of the property. The second prong promoted the responsible use of public funds by ensuring that the presumed increase in revenue would outweigh the “real-world” cost of the appeal, as well as pull in different types of properties (i.e.: commercial, industrial, residential). Taxpayer argued that the district’s draw of recently purchased properties from the monthly STEB reports creates a sub-class of properties (those properties that are under new ownership) and further limited that sub-class by market value.