Ms. DiChello is a
Shareholder of Cozen O’Connor in Philadelphia. She focuses her practice
exclusively in estates and trusts. She represents high-net-worth
individuals, business owners, families and family offices, fiduciaries
(individual and corporate), and nonprofits in a wide array of matters
involving estate and tax planning, business succession planning and estate
and trust administration. Ms. DiChello handles both sophisticated estate and
trust planning and administration matters as well as trust, estate, and
fiduciary litigation. She represents clients in estate and trust
litigation matters and disputes, including breach of fiduciary duty and
surcharge actions, will and trust interpretation and modification matters,
will and trust contests, guardianship proceedings, and related matters
involving nonprofits and charitable trusts. Ms. DiChello ‘s knowledge of the
law is recognized by her peers and various state legal organizations and
associations that regularly invite her to speak and publish as well as
instruct other attorneys on topics that include estate, wealth, and tax
planning, will and trust disputes, fiduciary litigation, trust and estate
litigation, and charitable trust and nonprofit issues. She also is the
creator, editor, and author of atyourbequest.com, a blog that addresses a
diverse range of current trust and estate issues, from Prince’s death
intestate to Pennsylvania-specific rules on spousal inheritance. She has
published in Trusts & Estates, Private Wealth Magazine, and The Legal
Intelligencer, and she is frequently cited on a wide range of wealth
management, estate, trust, and taxation issues in media outlets such as The
New York Times, New York Post, The Washington Post, New Jersey Business Journal,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Financial Advisor, Fox Business, and The Legal
Intelligencer. In addition, Ms. DiChello has appeared as a guest on FOX 29’s
morning news and Good Day Philadelphia to discuss will and estate matters,
including the purported intestate death of Aretha Franklin. She was also an
adjunct professor at Villanova University School of Law, where she taught a
course on wealth and transfer of taxation. She has served as an expert
witness in estate and trust litigation in Pennsylvania courts. Ms. DiChello
is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). She
is one of only 13 lawyers in Pennsylvania recognized for excellence and as a
leading practitioner in private wealth law by Chambers and Partners in its
2017, 2018, and 2019 High Net Worth Guides. She has also been included in the
Best Lawyers in America list for 2021 for her work in Trusts and Estates. The
Legal Intelligencer named Ms. DiChello as a 2017 Lawyer on the Fast Track and
the Philadelphia Business Journal named her a 2019 Women of Distinction. She
is currently the Vice Chair of the Probate Division of the Real Property,
Probate and Trust Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Ms.
DiChello earned her undergraduate degree from The Pennsylvania State
University and law degree from the Roger Williams School of Law in Rhode
Island, where she graduated with honors. Ms. DiChello also holds an LL.M. in
tax from the Villanova University School of Law Graduate Tax Program, as well
as an LL.M. in trial advocacy from Temple University Beasley School of
Law.

For more than four decades, Sam has tried highly complex cases in state and federal courts throughout the United States. Sam has represented a wide variety of commercial and financial institutions, including insurance companies, in state and federal courts throughout the United States regarding complex lending issues, complex litigation matters including insurance coverage issues, intellectual property issues, as well as sophisticated probate and trust litigation. He is also very active in corporate governance and healthcare litigation. This experience includes extensive jury and non-jury trials. His insurance coverage work has included defending insurance carriers in litigation involving class actions asserting claims made under policies providing for environmental coverage, business loss, business interruption coverage and title insurance coverage issues. Additionally, he has also advised insurance carriers and defended insurance carriers in connection with policies which provided coverage to municipal governments and institutions of higher learning. In addition, Sam has long experience representing manufacturers in products liability litigation and various clients in intellectual property/patent litigation, including the counseling of clients through product recall issues and other compliance problems involving the Consumer Product Safety Commission.As a highly successful trial lawyer, Sam is well respected by bench and bar, and has been honored as a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, for which he recently served as Pennsylvania State Chair. Since 2012, Sam has been named to The Best Lawyers in America® in commercial litigation, product liability, and estates and trusts litigation. He was selected as the Best Lawyers Pittsburgh “Lawyer of the Year” for Litigation – Banking and Finance Law in the 2019 and 2021 editions, for Litigation – Trusts and Estates in the 2020 edition, and for Product Liability Litigation – Defendants in the 2022 edition. He has been selected for the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers® list by his peers since 2004. He has also been selected to the Corporate Counsel Super Lawyers® list for a number of years. He has been appointed by the local Federal Bench to serve as both a Discovery Master, and also as a mediator. He served for eight years as a Chair of a federal and state appellate program with Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Judges from all Pennsylvania Appellate Courts and currently Chairs a Federal Practice Committee for the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Zurflieh is a staff attorney with the Community Justice Project, a statewide program within the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network that focuses on impact advocacy on behalf of low-income families and individuals on civil legal matters. Mr. Zurflieh began his legal work in 1982 as a staff attorney with Central Pennsylvania Legal Services and joined the Community Justice Project in 1996 when that organization was formed. Mr. Zurflieh received a B.A. degree from Columbia University in 1975 and a J.D. from Dickinson School of Law in 1981.

Ms. Smith is chief counsel in the legal department at PNC Bank, N.A., in its Pittsburgh office. Ms. Smith provides support to the bank’s asset management group on legal matters relating to the administration of estates and trusts, including charitable trusts and endowments, and other fiduciary liability matters. Prior to joining PNC Bank, Ms. Smith served as chair of the estate administration department in the Pittsburgh law firm of FGSM, P.C., representing clients in the areas of estate and trust administration, estate planning, and business succession planning, and in Orphans’ Court litigation, where she frequently represented fiduciaries and other interested parties in matters involving alleged breaches of fiduciary duty. In private practice, Ms. Smith also represented business clients in the areas of business formation and planning, mergers and acquisitions, and nonprofit clients in obtaining tax-exempt status and various governance matters. Ms. Smith is a former Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section, current chair of the section’s Pro Bono Committee,and is an assistant editor of the Section’s newsletter. Ms. Smith is also a frequent lecturer on the topics of estate and trust administration, estate planning and business planning. Ms. Smith is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and the Duquesne University School of Law. 

Ms. Gayle is a partner at Mannion Prior, LLP. She earned her B.A. in History from Ursinus College in 2004, graduating magna cum laude, with Distinguished Honors in History. In 2007, she received her J.D., cum laude, from Villanova University School of Law, where she served as managing editor of outside articles for the Villanova Law Review. Ms. Gayle’s practice focuses on litigation involving trusts, estates, guardianships and powers of attorney, including will contests, surcharge and removal actions, interpretation issues, and other fiduciary matters before the Orphans’ Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas and the Register of Wills. Ms. Gayle has served as an author and panelist on various Pennsylvania Bar Institute seminars on the utilization of experts in Orphans’ Court litigation, litigating in the Orphans’ Court, the fiduciary exception to the attorney client privilege and collection of Orphans’ Court judgments, among others. In addition, she has written about the authority granted to plenary guardians of the person. She is a member of the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Montgomery Bar Associations, she is the Vice Chair of the Probate and Trust Law Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association, and she is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC). Ms. Gayle has been named a Super Lawyers Rising Star® in estate and trust litigation since 2018 by Philadelphia Magazine, she has been included in the The Best Lawyers in America for her work in litigation – trusts and estates since 2018, and she was named a 2015 Lawyer on the Fast Track by The Legal Intelligencer.

Mr. Gusdorff is a partner with Heckscher, Teillon, Terrill & Sager, P.C. in West Conshohocken. His practice focuses on litigation involving trusts, estates, guardianships, and other fiduciary matters. He represents individual and corporate clients in a variety of Orphans’ Court and Register of Wills matters, including Will and trust interpretation cases, trust modifications, probate disputes, Will contests, guardianship proceedings, fiduciary surcharge actions and compensation disputes, and matters involving charitable organizations. Although Mr. Gusdorff focuses his practice on litigation, he also has extensive experience in estate planning, estate and trust administration, and the formation of charitable organizations. He continues to advise individual and corporate fiduciaries regarding estate and trust administration issues. Mr. Gusdorff frequently speaks and writes on matters concerning Orphans’ Court practice, including general practice and procedure, the use of expert witnesses, Will contests and other probate disputes, prosecuting and defending claims against an estate, practice under the Uniform Trust Act, and the Dead Man’s Rule. Mr. Gusdorff is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and is a member of ACTEC’s Fiduciary Litigation and Fiduciary Administration committees. He is a member of the Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Montgomery Bar Associations. Mr. Gusdorff is a past chair and co-chair of the Orphans’ Court Litigation Committee of the Probate and Trust Law Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association and serves on the Rules and Practice Committee of the Section. He was a member of the Section’s executive committee from 2010-2012 and 2022-2023. Mr. Gusdorff has been named a Super Lawyer in Estate and Trust Litigation from 2015 to the present and a Super Lawyer Rising Star in Estate and Trust Litigation in 2008, 2010 and 2011. He also has been listed in Best Lawyers in America for Trust and Estate Litigation from 2016 to the present, and for 2022 was named Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year” for Trust and Estate Litigation in Philadelphia. He graduated from The Pennsylvania State University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in history in 1990. In 2001, Mr. Gusdorff graduated magna cum laude from the Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law, where he served as a note and comment editor of the Political and Civil Rights Law Review. He was an adjunct professor for 13 years in Temple’s graduate tax program, where he taught a class with Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge Anne E. Lazarus on Orphans’ Court pleading and trial practice. Before attending law school, Mr. Gusdorff worked for eight years as a sports writer in suburban Philadelphia and won a Keystone Press Award for outstanding sports writing in 1998.