Civil Rights Symposium 2026 – Part One: Speech, Protest, and the First Amendment: Legal Limits in a Polarized Era – Erie

Susan Saba Roinick, Esq. is a Nurse Attorney with the law firm Seeger Weiss LLP. She joined Seeger Weiss in 2018. The firm has offices in Old City, Philadelphia, and its flagship office is in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey. Ms. Saba Roinick graduated with a Juris Doctor from Washington and Lee University School of Law in 2006. She also earned her Bachelor of Science in nursing from La Salle University, where she graduated magna cum laude. She practices pharmaceutical drug and medical device products liability. Before joining Seeger Weiss, she was an Assistant Public Defender in Lycoming County. Susan has served as law clerk to The Honorable Nancy L. Butts of the 29th Judicial District and The Honorable Robert C. Daniels of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Susan is an active community servant. She sits on the Advisory Committee of the Nurse-Family Partnership of the Guthrie Health System. Her past board experience includes serving as Secretary of Sullivan County Victim Services. She also enjoys doing “Read Alouds” with The Rendell Center. Read Alouds are an opportunity for volunteer attorneys to read and discuss stories via Zoom with elementary school students across the Commonwealth. Susan is an active member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. She is the immediate Past Chair of the Health Care Law Committee. She is also a member of the Women in the Profession Section, the Civil and Equal Rights Committee, and the Minority Bar Committee. In addition to her private practice, Susan provides pro bono services as a volunteer attorney for Philly VIP and North Penn Legal Services. Originally from Bucks County, PA, Susan now resides in Sullivan County, PA, with her husband, daughter, two cats and a dog. Her family is active in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Dushore, PA, where Susan has served as First Holy Communion teacher, choir member, and lector. Susan is a 1998 graduate of Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY.

Riley H. Ross III is a Partner at Mincey Fitzpatrick Ross, LLC. He has been practicing law since 2000 and has extensive experience in the areas of civil rights litigation, federal criminal law, white-collar criminal defense, Title IX litigation, employment discrimination and general civil litigation. Mr. Ross is the 2023 recipient of The Honorable William F. Hall Award, presented by The Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia, Inc. and the 2021 recipient of the Champion Award, presented by the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Civil and Equal Rights Committee to an individual who champions for civil rights for all Pennsylvanians. Mr. Ross has been named a “2009 Lawyer on The Fast Track,” a “2010 Pennsylvania Rising Star,” and a Pennsylvania SuperLawyer® each year since 2014. Mr. Ross serves as President of the Board of Directors of the ACLU – Pennsylvania. He is a Member of the Board of Governors for the Pennsylvania Bar Association and is an appointed member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Judicial Evaluation Commission. Mr. Ross also serves on the Board of Directors of No Longer Bound and Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers. Mr. Ross previously spent 10 years as a Board Member of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, from its inception until 2019, and served as Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Defenders Association of Philadelphia. Mr. Ross was appointed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to serve as Chair of the Third Circuit Lawyers Advisory Committee and on the Pennsylvania Criminal Rules Committee. Mr. Ross is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Mr. Ross received a B.S. in Psychology from Longwood College, a M.A. in Experimental Psychology from Western Kentucky University and a J.D. from the University of Virginia. After law school, Mr. Ross clerked for the Honorable James C. Cacheris, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia.

For more than 18 years, Ms. Thompson of the Law Office of Sandra Thompson, LLC has worked to better the lives of her clients. She has worked in various aspects of the law as a case manager in a children’s group home, a therapeutic support worker, a probation officer and as an attorney in private practice. Ms. Thompson served York County, PA as an assistant district attorney and an assistant public defender. She knows the ins and outs of the district attorney’s office, such as how they prepare for their cases and how they tackle cases in court. Ms. Thompson can represent your interests in the Pennsylvania and federal courts. Sandra is admitted to the PA Supreme Court, the Middle, and Eastern Districts of the United States District Courts, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

Currently in private practice, Ms. Shuster was Chief Counsel of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission from 1983-2005. She was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1974 and to the United States Supreme Court in 1978. She served as a Deputy Attorney General, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Office of Civil Litigation, from 1978-83, as an Assistant Attorney General, Pennsylvania Department of Health, 1977-78, and as an Assistant General Counsel, Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, 1974-77. Ms. Shuster has done nation-wide training on employment discrimination for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and for numerous legal and business organizations. She has been a course planner and faculty member for several Pennsylvania Bar Institute courses, including the three previous CERC CLEs on Election Law, the annual CERC Civil Rights Symposia, Practice Before the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, Whose Constitution Is It, Anyway?, Errant Judges and Lawyers: What to Do? and Civil Rights: To Preserve and Protect, and many discrimination law courses, covering the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, general discrimination law, sexual harassment, age discrimination and discrimination on the basis of disability. Her discrimination law publications include “The Commonwealth Court and the Interpretation of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act,” Widener Law Journal, 2011, and “Service/Support Animals,” Pennsylvania Bar Quarterly, 2006. Ms. Shuster served as the Civil and Equal Rights Committee’s ambassador to the PBA Diversity Team from 2010-2015. She served on the “Paths to Leadership” panel at the 2012 YLD Summer Meeting, as a member of the PBA Task Force on the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice, and as a member of the “Court as Employer Gender Bias Subcommittee Work Group” of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System. Ms. Shuster received her B.A. from Temple University in 1971 and her J.D. from Villanova School of Law in 1974. She is admitted to the bars of the United States Supreme Court, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the Middle and Eastern District Courts of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Ms. Shuster is a member of the American Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, where she is a member of the Civil and Equal Rights (Chair of the CLE Committee, past Chair & Co-Chair of CERC), Women in the Profession (Member of the Executive Committee, Co-Chair of the Book Club), Minority Bar, Statutory Law, and Immigration Law Committees. She is a Bencher in the James S. Bowman American Inn of Court and a past president of the Harrisburg Area Women Lawyers Association. In November 2023, Ms. Shuster was the first recipient of the PBA Women in the Profession’s Special Achievement Award which recognizes achievements by a female member of the legal profession whose actions and work have promoted the betterment of women in the law and have enhanced services to women in general. She was included in the 2021 Women in the Profession Report Card’s “Profiles of Women Advocating for Social Change.” In 2020, Ms. Shuster was awarded the PBA Civil & Equal Rights Champion Award, an annual award established by the Civil & Equal Rights Committee to honor an individual who champions civil rights for all Pennsylvanians.

Mr. Payne is a partner in the litigation department at White and Williams, LLP, in Philadelphia. He is also the immediate past chair of the firm’s Diversity Committee, chair of the Pro Bono Committee and co-chair of the Partners’ Compensation Committee. He primarily focuses his practice in the areas of insurance defense, bad faith, extra-contractual damages, disability and coverage matters. Mr. Payne is a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer, selected as one of the Best Lawyers in America by Best Lawyers, and an AV Preeminent peer-rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell. He has over 35 years of experience representing insurance carriers and insureds in first- and third-party litigation matters. Mr. Payne has successfully defended wrongful death, extra-contractual damages, product liability, asbestos, toxic tort, environmental, mass tort, commercial auto, construction, insurance coverage, disability, ERISA and general liability cases. Prior to joining White and Williams, LLP, he managed an inhouse litigation office for a major insurance carrier. Mr. Payne is licensed to practice before all state and federal courts in Pennsylvania and Maryland, as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He has written and lectured on bad faith, extra-contractual damages, civil litigation and uninsured and underinsured motorist issues. Mr. Payne is a past Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, a past Zone 1 Governor and Minority-At-Large Governor of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, past president of the Board of the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN), past president of the Conference of County Bar Leaders, past president of the Board of the Bethesda Project, a member of the Board of Directors of the Homeless Advocacy Project, a past co-president of the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group (PDLG) and a past president of the Philadelphia Association of Defense Counsel (PADC). He was recognized by the Legal Intelligencer as an “Unsung Hero” for his dedication and service to the pro bono community. Mr. Payne is the recipient of The Honorable William F. Hall Award, the Huey R. Burkett Service Award, the Multicultural Leadership Award, and most recently named Defense Attorney of the Year by the Pennsylvania Defense Institute. He was also named as one of the “Top 60 African American Attorneys in Philadelphia” by the Philadelphia Tribune. Mr. Payne has been selected to City & State Pennsylvania’s 2022 Law Power 100 (39) and City & States Philadelphia’s Power 100 (91) lists. He serves as a Judge Pro Tem for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Mr. Payne received his B.A., cum laude, from Washington and Lee University and his J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law, where he served as the president of the Student Bar Association.

Ms. Coatsworth is a partner at Margolis Edelstein. She has litigated hundreds of motor vehicle, dealer fraud and lemon law cases from both the plaintiff and defense sides. Additionally, she concentrates her practice in the defense of professionals such as realtors, home inspectors, accountants and physicians. She also has extensive experience with premises liability and product liability and has handled employment and construction work and several fraternity cases. Ms. Coatsworth has defended dozens of car dealerships and real estate sales people for claims of breach of contract and fraud and violations of various fraud-related statutes such as the Unfair Trade Practices Act, the Magnuson Moss Warranty Improvement Act, the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Lemon Laws, the New Vehicle Damage Disclosure Act, the Automotive Industry Trade Practices Act, the Real Estate Sellers Disclosure Law and the Real Estate Licensing and Registration Act. Additionally, Ms. Coatsworth specializes in representing Greek letter organizations in all manner of claims including dram shop, hazing, and personal injury. She was selected for inclusion in Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Stars from 2011 through 2018 and Super Lawyers in 2021-2025. Ms. Coatsworth currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Philadelphia Bar Association as Immediate Past Chancellor, having previously served as Chancellor, Chancellor-Elect, Vice Chancellor, Assistant Treasurer, Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Parliamentarian and Elected Member. Additionally, she is a past co-chair of the Women in the Profession Committee, and she is also very active with the State Civil Litigation Section, Women’s Rights Committee, LGBTQ Rights Committee and the Real Property Section. She previously served on the Executive Committee of the Young Lawyers Division of that organization for six years and held the positions of Secretary and Vice Chair of the Division. She also served as a Trustee of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation and a Board Member for Philadelphia VIP. She serves on the Leadership Council of Community Legal Services and the Advisory Board for Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts. In the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Ms. Coatsworth is the Immediate Past Zone One Governor and she co-chairs the Membership Development Committee. She also serves as Vice Chair of the Civil and Equal Rights Committee and Large Firm Management Committee, and she sits on the Executive Counsel of the Civil Litigation Section as a Past Chair and the Women in the Profession Commission’s Executive Council as Co-Chair of the 2026 Fall Retreat. She previously served as co-chair of the PBA Women in the Profession Commission and chaired several of its committees including Annual Meeting, Fall Retreat and Awards Committee. She is also a Past Chancellor of the Louis D. Brandeis Law Society, and she serves on several committees of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania including the Community Outreach Committee and the Jury Diversity Task Force.