Find Lawyers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for Commercial Litigation
Practice Area Overview
Litigation increasingly occurs in various venues, from state and federal courts to private arbitrations and administrative hearings. Proceedings can involve business-to-business disputes or any number of government agencies. Understanding the motivations and outlook of each of the litigation participants is important for determining weak points to exploit and strong points that will persuade the audience in question. During the past decade, commercial litigators have seen a dramatic uptick in multidistrict and inter-disciplinary litigation, making the stakes higher, the cases more complex, the parties more numerous and the discovery more complicated and unwieldy. Firms that are able to develop and implement a creative legal approach to each individual problem, efficiently focus on the key legal and factual issues, and master and manage the various aspects of these complex matters will be the busiest in the years to come.
In the current challenging economic climate, commercial litigators are under increasing client pressure to keep costs in check, which has both sides testing the efficacy of alternative fee arrangements and the scope of reasonable discovery. Whether the “death of the billable hour” is ultimately realized, the keys to a commercial litigator’s success will continue to be strong client relationships, thought leadership, practical management skills, deep experience, and personal commitment.
Mr. Baum is a Founding Member and President of Baum O’Connor Cullen Chmiel. For more than 40 years, Mr. Baum has focused his practice on the representation of physicians, nursing homes, and other healthcare providers, particularly in the defense of medical malpractice lawsuits, and in related contract and employment litigation. Mr. Baum has extensive trial experience, having tried over 100 cases in his career. Mr. Baum also represents healthcare professionals in administrative matters i...
David has tried numerous cases in both state and federal courts and has argued in the U.S. Courts of Appeals on multiple occasions. From 2000 to July 2005, David left private practice to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. There he handled a variety of criminal prosecutions and investigations and worked closely with representatives of financial institutions, including internal auditors, compliance offi...
Frederick W. Bode, III Frederick W. Bode, III is a shareholder of Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote, P.C. He concentrates his practice in the areas of Commercial Litigation, Products Liability, Health Care Litigation, and Technology matters. Mr. Bode is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He is admitted to practice before all of the Courts in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the United States District Courts for the Western, Middle, and Eastern Districts of Pennsylvania, United States...
Area of Emphasis Kathy Condo is a shareholder in the Litigation and Energy and Natural Resources groups of Babst Calland. Before joining the firm, Ms. Condo spent more than 25 years in the Pittsburgh office of a large national law firm, during which time she handled numerous jury and non-jury trials. She has extensive experience in handling toxic tort and products liability litigation in various federal and state courts, which has included trial work, as well as the multi-state coordination o...
Area of Emphasis Jim Corbelli is a shareholder in the Litigation and Energy and Natural Resources groups of Babst Calland. Mr. Corbelli is past co-chair of the Firm’s Litigation Group. He has acted as lead trial counsel in a wide variety of complex commercial, intellectual property, toxic tort, environmental and natural resource, and energy litigation cases. Mr. Corbelli has extensive environmental litigation experience representing clients before the Environmental Hearing Board in Penn...
Maria Greco Danaher regularly represents and counsels companies in employment related matters. She specializes in representing management in labor relations and employment litigation, and in training, counseling, and advising human resource departments and corporate management on these topics. Her prior experience includes having acted as in-house litigation counsel for a Fortune 100 company based in Pittsburgh , where she assisted in oversight and management of litigation done by outside cou...
Area of Emphasis Mark Dausch is a shareholder and past co-chair of Babst Calland’s Litigation Group. He focuses his practice on environmental, energy and complex commercial litigation. As lead trial counsel, he has tried several environmental, energy and commercial cases in front of judges and juries. Mr. Dausch’s environmental litigation experience includes representing businesses in environmental cost recovery cases, citizens’ suits and environmental class action cases. In...
Litigation Walter’s litigation work has been primarily in the civil area -- commercial disputes of all types, including trade secrets, real estate agreements, products liability, defamation claims, First Amendment access actions, business and employment contracts, non-competition provisions, wrongful termination suits, and discrimination and harassment cases. He has litigated numerous cases in the state and federal courts throughout the United States, including cases in Pennsylvania, Ne...
Gene Giotto is a trial attorney with three decades of experience. He has tried cases to verdict in dozens of jurisdictions across the country. Gene regularly represents corporate clients in consequential disputes involving seven or eight-digit damage claims and the potential for devastating reputational harm. Today, Gene’s trial practice encompasses several substantive legal areas: Health Law: Gene handles litigation involving health care entities and health regulations, with a particul...
I am a civil trial lawyer who helps businesses, individuals and candidates resolve their disputes, both in and out of court, whether they arise in Pennsylvania or elsewhere. I actively appear in state and Federal courts throughout the Atlantic coast and the Midwest, and I have pursued and defended claims brought before the American Arbitration Association in locales both in and outside of Pittsburgh. Also, I serve as an arbitrator, an early neutral evaluator and a special master for e-discove...
Gary’s practice consists primarily of federal and state court litigation , arbitrations, and other alternative dispute resolution proceedings. Much of his practice involves multi-party claims, including class action litigation. Gary has represented both individual and corporate clients in many different types of litigation and has an active mediation and arbitration practice. Gary has been lead counsel in complex litigation involving: Officers and directors liability Corporate disputes ...
Bob is a senior Shareholder with Dentons Cohen & Grigsby in Pittsburgh, where he previously served as the Chair of the Firm’s 45+ lawyer Litigation Group for five years. Bob is a graduate of Brown University and Columbia University’s School of Law and focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, banking and lender liability litigation, non-compete/trade secret issues, intellectual property and employment law. He is licensed in both Pennsylvania and California and has...
Area of Emphasis Christina McKinley is a shareholder in Babst Calland’s Litigation, Energy and Natural Resources, and Environmental groups. Ms. McKinley continually strives to provide business-oriented solutions to her clients and routinely serves as a general advisor, counseling clients on day-to-day legal and business matters on any number of issues. Her business-focused, proactive approach to problem-solving allows her to provide solutions to clients in a variety of industries. Her e...
A business litigator and environmental lawyer, Anthony has represented business clients in significant cases presenting issues involving unfair competition, corporate governance, Sherman and Clayton Act violations, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent conveyance, securities fraud, trademark protection, insurance coverage, construction litigation, legal malpractice, commercial real estate, and contract matters. He also has acted as outside general counsel to a publicly-held real estate develop...
Area of Emphasis Mark Shepard is a shareholder in the Litigation Group of Babst Calland and currently serves on the firm’s Board of Directors. He also serves as general counsel to the Firm. Prior to joining the firm, he served as chair of the litigation group for one of Pittsburgh’s largest law firms. Background as a Litigator Mr. Shepard focuses his practice in the areas of commercial, toxic tort, products liability and environmental litigation. He has represented clients as lead...
Area of Emphasis Steve Silverman is a shareholder in the Litigation and Energy and Natural Resources groups of Babst Calland. His practice focuses on commercial litigation, with an emphasis on natural gas title and lease disputes and other energy-related cases. He also devotes a significant amount of his practice to the defense and prosecution of theft of trade secret and non-compete suits. Another significant part of Mr. Silverman’s practice involves Information Technology Law, includi...
Henry Sneath specializes in complex business litigation, intellectual property , employment , DTSALaw® trade secrets and restrictive covenant litigation, cybersecurity, data breach and Artificial Intelligence (AI) law, products liability , catastrophic injury, probate, estates and trusts litigation , and insurance coverage and bad faith litigation. He is also a complex case certified mediator and Federal Court Special Master with Houston Harbaugh, P.C. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He and ...
Mr. Torrance is a shareholder of Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote, P.C. He concentrates his practice in the areas of business torts and commercial litigation with a particular emphasis in construction and surety law. His experience includes representation of owners, contractors, design professionals, suppliers, and sureties in private and publicly-funded projects. He has prosecuted mechanic's lien claims in ten states and Canada and regularly prosecutes and defends claims for contract funds, ch...
Corey Bauer practices in the firm’s litigation practice group in the substantive areas of Business Litigation, Intellectual Property Litigation, Cybersecurity and Data Breach Response and Litigation, Trade Secret and Employee Defection (DTSALaw®), and UAS/Drone Litigation and Investigations. He manages litigation teams handling complex disputes for the firm’s clients in state and federal courts. He has first and second-chair trial experience, first chair arbitration experience...
Area of Emphasis Carla Castello is a shareholder in the Litigation, Emerging Technologies, and Employment and Labor Groups at Babst Calland. She concentrates her practice on complex commercial and class action litigation. Ms. Castello has a broad range of litigation experience in several practice areas including commercial, employment, consumer protection, antitrust, environmental, energy, and toxic tort. She regularly represents corporate clients in defending environmental and toxic tort cla...
Area of Emphasis Andy DeGory is an associate in the Litigation Group of Babst Calland. Mr. DeGory has represented clients in a variety of litigation practice areas, including commercial, employment and labor, and energy and natural resources. Background Mr. DeGory graduated from Colgate University in 2012, earning a B.A. in Political Science and minoring in Geology. He graduated cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2019. He was a recipient of the Dean’s Scholarsh...
Area of Emphasis Alexandra Farone is an associate in the Employment and Labor, Litigation, and Emerging Technologies groups of Babst Calland. Ms. Farone has a broad range of experience representing corporate, technology, municipal, and energy clients in all facets of employment law, public and private labor, and complex commercial litigation. Employment and Labor Ms. Farone provides counseling and litigation services in employment and labor matters to a wide variety of employers including For...
Area of Emphasis Marc Felezzola is a shareholder in Babst Calland’s Litigation and Environmental groups. Mr. Felezzola’s practice focuses on complex construction-related and environmental matters. On the construction side of his practice, Mr. Felezzola serves as outside general counsel for owners, developers, design professionals, and construction companies, and frequently represents them in a variety of commercial and construction-related disputes including construction bid prote...
Area of Emphasis Sean Keegan is senior counsel in the Litigation and Employment and Labor groups of Babst Calland. Mr. Keegan has a broad range of litigation experience in several practice areas including commercial, labor and employment, energy, and maritime. He has experience defending shareholder dispute claims, oil and gas lease disputes, insurance claims, and premises liability claims. Mr. Keegan has represented clients in both state and federal courts throughout the United States. Backg...
Brian concentrates in ERISA withdrawal liability litigation for the firm’s multiemployer pension fund clients, including the Boilermaker-Blacksmith National Pension Trust, the International Painters and Allied Trades Industry Pension Fund, the Steelworkers Pension Trust, and the Alaska Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry Pension Fund. Before joining Tucker Arensberg, Brian was a judicial law clerk to two federal judges in Pittsburgh: the Honorable Nora Barry Fisher, U.S. District Judge (S...
Weston is a member of the firm’s Estates & Trusts , Fiduciary Services & Risk Management , and Municipal & School Practice Groups. As part of his estates and trusts practice, Weston represents individual and corporate fiduciaries in an array of trust and guardianship matters. He also works closely with his individual clients to formulate estate plans tailored to their specific needs, from asset protection and wealth succession to special needs and long-term care planning, an...
Area of Emphasis Joseph Schaeffer is a shareholder in the Litigation Group of Babst Calland. He focuses his practice on environmental, energy, and complex commercial litigation and has tried these cases before environmental hearings boards, courts, and juries. Mr. Schaeffer also has an active appellate practice and has served as co-counsel or lead counsel in appellate matters before in Pennsylvania and West Virginia State Courts, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third and Fourth Ci...
Area of Emphasis Joshua Snyder is a shareholder in the Litigation and Energy and Natural Resources groups of Babst Calland. Mr. Snyder has extensive experience representing oil and gas producers in a range of disputes. His energy litigation experience includes defending oil and gas producers and contractors from personal injury, toxic tort, nuisance, and lease dispute claims. Additionally, Mr. Snyder has significant experience representing clients in product liability, toxic tort, and solvent...
Area of Emphasis Mr. Spada is a senior counsel in the Litigation Group of Babst Calland. Mr. Spada’s practice focuses primarily on commercial litigation. He has represented a diverse array of clients in a variety of cases in state and federal courts in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Florida, and also in commercial and construction arbitrations. He has also practiced in front of real estate tax assessment and appeal boards and state and federal ALJs. His litigation experience inc...
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