Bar Association Committees for 2019 are now being organized for implementation in mid-January. Please indicate your interest(s) for committee appointment and fax the form to 610-770-9826.
Please note: Committee Lists from previous years will not be carried over to 2019. Members must select the interested committees for the new year or they will not be notified of meetings.
NOTICE 2018-J-99 Order
Now, this 15th day of November 2018 the within
Petition for Increased Fee Schedule presented by
Lehigh County Clerk of Judicial Records, Andrea E Naugle,
and in accordance with Act 164 of 1998,the Prothonotary Fee law.
It is Ordered that the Petition is approved and adopted to be effective 1/1/19.
By the Court: /s/ Edward D Reibman, President Judge
Bar Association of Lehigh County Holiday Assistance Drive 2019
Dear Bar Association Member,
The Bar Association of Lehigh County has started the Annual Ask for the Lehigh County Lawyer’s Charitable Fund Grant. This year’s theme is “Summer School Programs & Camps”.
We are proud to remind all lawyers that the Bar Association of Lehigh County has conducted an Assistance Program to benefit area 501c3 organizations to provide much needed assistance to our surrounding communities for many years. This program has raised over $230,000 throughout that time and distributed these funds to many deserving area organizations.
This year to assist these organizations, we are asking each lawyer to give generously to help support those in our local community. Remember, these contributions stay in the Greater Lehigh Valley area.
The Program is administered through the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation and all gifts are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. The Foundation will automatically acknowledge all gifts for tax purposes over $250.
We will recognize all those nonprofit organizations receiving funds as part of our Law Day celebration in May.
Past years’ contributions went to the Crime Victims Council of the Lehigh Valley, Dream Come True, The Lehigh Valley Zoo, Community Bike Works, The Victory House, Angel 34 , Miracle League of the Lehigh Valley and many more.
Please help by sending your check today, payable to the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation and mail to:
Lehigh County Lawyer’s Charitable Fund Grant
Lehigh Valley Community Foundation
840 West Hamilton Street, Suite 310
Allentown, PA 18101
Thank you for your generous donation!
Kristin Noonan Hutchins, Esquire, Community Service Committee, Chair Ray Bridgeman, Executive Director, BALC
Advertisements for the December 28, 2018 Issue of the Lehigh Law Journal must be received NO LATER THAN 4:00 P.M. on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2018.
Advertisements for the JANUARY 4, 2019 Issue of the Lehigh Law Journal must be received NO LATER THAN 4:00 P.M. on Thursday, December 27, 2018.
Notices may be faxed to the Lehigh Law Journal at 610.770.9826 or e-mailed to: ehudson@lehighbar.org.
Job Description: Trial Judge
By: The Honorable Robert K. Young (Retried)
“The Trial Judge book is not a biography. It is a memoir of the eleven and a half year period of the life spent as a Common Pleas Court Judge. I endeavored to describe the job of a county trial judge to my great grandchildren. I also hope that others, especially students interested in becoming lawyers, will find it interesting and informative.”
The Honorable Robert K. Young’s book is on sale now at the BALC. All proceeds will go to benefit the Lehigh County Lawyers’ Charitable Fund. Each year, grants from the Fund are made to charitable programs and organizations throughout the Lehigh Valley as recommended by the Bar Association.
$18.00 per book plus shipping and handling.
Contact Ray at rbridgeman@lehighbar.org to request your copy by mail.
Please feel free to stop by the BALC Building to purchase your copy and save on shipping and handling cost. 1114 W. Walnut St, Allentown, PA, 18102.
Instructions for Admission, June 10, 2019
A completed application consist of a typed first and second page of the application, a Certificate of Good Standing from the Supreme Court of the State where the attorney has been practicing for the past three years (only one is needed) and the $200.00 application fee.
Some items to keep in mind when submitting your application.
• Make checks payable to the Supreme Court of the United States and date them for June 10, 2019.
• All signatures on the second page of the application; applicant and sponsors, must be original and must be on the same sheet.
• Only the “Certification, Statement of Sponsors, Oath of Admission” sections need to be signed for group admissions.
• The deadline to submit your application and supporting documents back to Ray Bridgeman at the BALC is April 24, 2019. Please submit your packet only once fully completed. You can drop packet off at the BALC Building, 1114 W Walnut St, Allentown, PA 18102 or you can mail it (Attn: Ray Bridgeman) but must be received by the close of business, April 24. This is limited to the first 50 Applicants.
Please submit this with your packet as your cover:
Attorney Name:
Name of your 1 allowed guest for the ceremony:
APPLICATION: https://www.supremecourt.gov/bar/barapplication_new.pdf
Save the Date: Bench Bar Conference 2019
Washington, DC
June 7th- 10th
The Historic Willard Hotel
The Bench Bar Committee is hard at work planning next year’s Conference that will include receptions, group activities, outstanding CLEs and a special event, the United States Supreme Court Admissions Ceremony.
Highlights:
6/7
430 PM BALC Board Meeting-Board Members Only
6:00PM-8PM Cocktail Reception at the Historic Willard Hotel
6/8
9AM-11:30AM CLE Seminars-Willard Hotel
Afternoon-Tour DC at your Leisure
Optional Afternoon Group Tour
6/9
9AM-10AM CLE Seminar-Willard Hotel
10:30AM-12PM Champagne Brunch-Willard Hotel
6PM-8PM Hospitality Reception (Admission Applicants Only)
6/10
US Supreme Court Admission including Group Breakfast (This is limited to the first 50 Applicants). Please see BALC Website for Admission Packet and Instructions.
Hotel Information-Book your rooms now! First come basis.
The Willard Washington D.C.
1401 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20004
Call: 1-800-424-6835 and use Group Code BBC
*BUS Transportation being arranged to DC for entire Conference and for those just coming in for Admissions Ceremony.*
*Activities and Schedules subject to change, see lehighbar.org for updates.
LEHIGH COUNTY LAWYER’S CHARITABLE FUND GRANT
The Bar Association of Lehigh County (“BALC”) has established a fund with the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation known as the Lehigh County Lawyer’s Charitable Fund. The Fund is made possible by the generosity of our members. On an annual basis, BALC awards grants of up to $5,000.00 each to selected Lehigh Valley 501(c)(3) organizations. Interested Lehigh Valley 501(c)(3) organizations are invited to submit a grant Application to BALC in accordance with the below Application Guidelines.
2018-2019 Theme is “Summer School Programs & Camps”. The committee will make a concerted effort to review applications from area nonprofits that benefit this year’s theme. Please keep this in mind when preparing your application.
Application Guidelines
To apply for a Lehigh County Lawyer’s Charitable Fund Grant, Applicants must comply with each of the following:
Please note that:
Process for Making Awards
The BALC Community Services Committee will evaluate the Applications and make recommendations to the BALC Board of Directors on grant recipients. Final Approval will be decided by the BALC Board of Directors. All applications will be considered confidential. Grants will be awarded in the first quarter of the year following the Application deadline.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – Chief Judge Lawrence F. Stengel has announced his retirement from the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania effective August 31, 2018. Chief Judge Stengel has served as a federal judge for over fourteen years. He will enter private practice in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in September, 2018.
Chief Judge D. Brooks Smith of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals stated, I am looking for a ‘bright side’ to Chief Judge Larry Stengel’s decision to retire from the federal bench. The only bright side that comes to mind is that the federal judiciary, and especially those of us in the courts of the Third Circuit, have benefited for so many years from the excellence of his judging and from his outstanding leadership skills. He is a great friend and a valued colleague — and I’m very sorry to see him go. Chief Judge Stengel has been a leader, not only on his court, but nationally. His stewardship to the Third Branch has included his steady hand as chair of the Committee on Judicial Resources of the U.S. Judicial Conference, and his service as a member of the Third Circuit Judicial Council. He has accomplished much, and he leaves with the deep gratitude and the sincere best wishes of the entire Third Circuit family.
James Duff, Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts added, Chief Judge Larry Stengel has been an exemplary leader in the Judicial Branch and will be greatly missed. He possesses so many of the attributes we value and look for in our judges – fair, even-tempered, level-headed, insightful, careful, considerate, and wise – and he has utilized these traits not only on the bench locally but also on a national scale in the administration of the entire branch. It has been a joy to work with him in his role as Chair of the Judicial Conference of the United States’ Committee on Judicial Resources and I am grateful for his friendship.
Judge Stengel graduated from St. Joseph’s University and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Stengel began his practice at Dickie, McCamey and Chilcote in Pittsburgh and then opened a litigation practice in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, his hometown. Judge Stengel served for fourteen years as a judge on the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas before his appointment to the federal bench by President George W. Bush in 2004. In 2015, Chief Justice Roberts appointed Judge Stengel to be Chair of the Judicial Resources Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. The Judicial Resources Committee is a national committee that guides human resources policy for the federal judiciary. Chief Judge Stengel has served on the committee for 9 years. On June 21, 2018, Chief Judge Stengel represented the Judicial Conference as a witness before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property in a hearing on the need for more federal judges.
Judge Roslynn R. Mauskopf, a federal judge sitting in the Eastern District of New York, will succeed Chief Judge Stengel as Chair of the Judicial Resources Committee. She stated,
Chief Judge Stengel has consistently demonstrated exemplary leadership in guiding the Judicial Resources Committee to take principled positions on the complex issues underlying the fair and equitable distribution of resources to our courts nationwide. He approaches each issue with genuine care and a willingness to understand all aspects of a problem, and with an unfailing commitment to integrity in both the path taken and the results achieved. In doing so, Chief Judge Stengel has done much to ensure that our courts have the resources they need to serve our communities, while earning the respect and admiration of all who have had the privilege of working with him.
While a Lancaster County judge, he was elected to the Executive Committee of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges and appointed to serve on the Education Committee of the Conference in 2001. In that capacity, he was the planner for courses on racial disparity in sentencing, evidence law and criminal law procedure. In 2002 he received the President’s Award from the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges. Judge Stengel has served as president of the Lancaster Bar Association and has been Adjunct Professor in the Government Department at Franklin and Marshall College since 1997.
Judge Stengel has been Chief Judge of the Eastern District since August 1, 2017. Since that time, the Court has undergone an extensive evolution of and implemented changes in its Information Technology, Human Resources and Pro Se Law Clerk functions. The Court has secured new space for its staff, chambers and courtrooms in the Reading, PA divisional office.
The Eastern District of Pennsylvania is headquartered at the James A. Byrne Courthouse in Philadelphia and has three divisional courthouses in Allentown, Reading and Easton with a courthouse staff of over two-hundred employees. The Chief Judge oversees the administration of the district which includes the offices of the Clerk of Court, Probation, Pre-Trial Services and Bankruptcy. The district has twenty-two active judgeships, twelve senior judges, as well as six bankruptcy, ten magistrate judges and three inactive senior judges, and is the third largest federal district court in the nation. One of thirteen original federal judicial districts created by the federal judiciary act of 1789, the Eastern District encompasses Philadelphia, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Lehigh, Montgomery and Northampton counties.
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Please be on the look-out for information regarding the 2019 Bench Bar Conference in Washington D.C.
Instructions for Admission, June 10, 2019
A completed application consist of a typed first and second page of the application, a Certificate of Good Standing from the Supreme Court of the State where the attorney has been practicing for the past three years (only one is needed) and the $200.00 application fee.
Some items to keep in mind when submitting your application.
• Make checks payable to the Supreme Court of the United States and date them for June 10, 2019.
• All signatures on the second page of the application; applicant and sponsors, must be original and must be on the same sheet.
• Only the “Certification, Statement of Sponsors, Oath of Admission” sections need to be signed for group admissions.
• The deadline to submit your application and supporting documents back to Ray Bridgeman at the BALC is April 24, 2019. Please submit your packet only once fully completed. You can drop packet off at the BALC Building, 1114 W Walnut St, Allentown, PA 18102 or you can mail it (Attn: Ray Bridgeman) but must be received by the close of business, April 24. This is limited to the first 50 Applicants.
Please submit this with your packet as your cover:
Attorney Name:
Name of your 1 allowed guest for the ceremony:
APPLICATION: https://www.supremecourt.gov/bar/barapplication_new.pdf