This program is eligible for 2 hours of CLE credit in 60-minute states. In 50-minute states, this program is eligible for 2.4 hours of CLE credit. Credit hours are estimated and are subject to each state’s approval and credit rounding rules.
Overview
Join us for an engaging panel discussion featuring veteran appellate practitioners, including representatives from the public and private sectors, a Justice on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, a Judge on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, and a Judge on the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court. Moderated by an experienced appellate advocate, this program will offer practical guidance, strategic advice, and behind-the-scenes insights into effective practice before the appellate courts. Whether you're new to appellate litigation or a seasoned practitioner looking to sharpen your skills, this CLE is packed with valuable takeaways to elevate your advocacy.
Faculty
Jonathan D. Koltash, Esq.
Jonathan D. Koltash serves as deputy general counsel for healthcare in the Governor’s Office of General Counsel (OGC).In this position, Mr. Koltash provides counsel to the Governor’s Office regarding health-related matters, serves as a liaison to the health and human services-related agencies, and litigates cases on behalf of the agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction.He is also an adjunct professor at Widener University Commonwealth Law School and Central Penn College. Prior to serving as deputy general counsel, Mr. Koltash served as the inaugural chief counsel for the Pennsylvania Health Insurance Exchange Authority, known as Pennie®. He previously served as assistant chief counsel for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, deputy attorney general with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, and as assistant counsel for the Department of Labor and Industry. Mr. Koltash is an active member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA). He is currently vice-chair of the PBA’s bylaws and membership development committees.He previously served as chair of the PBA’s House of Delegates; is a past member of the Board of Governors, as well as its former parliamentarian, a past chair of the Young Lawyers’ Division, Government Lawyers’ Committee, Career Transitions Committee, and Administrative Law Section; and former co-chair of the Bar Leadership Institute. Mr. Koltash is the immediate past president of the Dauphin County Bar Association; chair of the Events Committee and Life Fellow of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation; treasurer of the New Birth of Freedom Scout Council; vice-president of the James S. Bowman American Inn of Court; a board member of the YMCA Youth and Government program; a member of the Commonwealth Court Historical Society Board of Directors; and chair of Widener Commonwealth Law School’s Dean’s Board of Advisors.He was the inaugural president of Widener Law Commonwealth’s Alumni Association. Mr. Koltash is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and the United States District Courts of the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Pennsylvania. He currently serves as a mediator for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, a hearing officer Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Disciplinary Board, and a site coordinator at Widener Commonwealth’s Volunteer Income Tax Association clinic. Mr. Koltash received a B.S. in Finance and a B.S. in Economics from the Pennsylvania State University and his J.D., cum laude, from Widener Commonwealth Law School.
Judge Michael H. Wojcik
Judge Wojcik was elected to Commonwealth Court on November 3, 2015 and was commissioned and took the oath of office on January 4, 2016. Prior to his election, Judge Wojcik was engaged in the private practice of law for over 26 years with several law firms, including Kirkpatrick & Lockhart; Weinberg & Stein; LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae; and Thorp Reed & Armstrong. He also served as Solicitor to the Allegheny County Controller, as Allegheny County Solicitor, and as Solicitor to the Allegheny County Airport Authority. In the course of his private and public practice, Judge Wojcik gained experience in myriad areas of the law, including municipal law, tax and assessment law, election law, civil rights, and personal injury, to name a few, and managed the second largest municipal law department in the Commonwealth. Judge Wojcik earned a B.A. at Juniata College and a J.D., cum laude, at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he was a member of the University of Pittsburgh Law Review, serving as Symposium Editor for volume 50. A native of the Borough of Central City, Somerset County, Judge Wojcik earned the rank of Eagle Scout and remains active in the Boy Scouts of America, serving as an Assistant Scoutmaster and Committee Chair of Troop 646, located at St. Bede Church in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He also is chair of the Lackawanna District of the Laurel Highlands Council, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Laurel Highlands Council. He has served as a youth basketball coach, as general manager of the East End Boys Lacrosse Club and as vice president of the parents’ committee of the Oakland Catholic Rowing Club. Judge Wojcik’s home chambers are in Pittsburgh.
Justice P. Kevin Brobson
Justice Brobson was elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in November 2021 and was sworn in to his current judicial office on January 3, 2022. Prior to his elevation to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Justice Brobson served for 12 years as a judge on the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. In December of 2020 he was elected by his colleagues to serve as president judge of the court, succeeding President Judge Emerita Mary Hannah Leavitt and serving in that position until he assumed his current office. Justice Brobson’s commitment to the law extends beyond the courtroom. During his time on Commonwealth Court, then-Judge Brobson was appointed in August 2015 by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to a four-year term on the Judicial Conduct Board of Pennsylvania, a tenure that included service on the Executive Committee as Secretary and Chair. From 2016 to 2018, Justice Brobson was the Jurist‑in‑Residence at the Widener University Commonwealth Law School. Prior to taking judicial office, Justice Brobson was a litigation shareholder in the Harrisburg office of the law firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, leading the firm’s Insurance & Reinsurance Practice Group. While in private practice, he focused on representing clients in state and federal trial and appellate courts and administrative agencies. Justice Brobson also served his local community as a member of the Middle Paxton Township Planning Commission, a youth baseball and soccer coach, and a supporter of charitable endeavors committed to conquering pediatric cancer. Justice Brobson received his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from Lycoming College. He graduated from the Widener Commonwealth Law School, summa cum laude, and served as a managing editor of the school’s law review. Following law school, Justice Brobson clerked for the late Honorable James McGirr Kelly of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Judge Alice Beck Dubow
Judge Dubow was sworn in as a judge on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania on January 4, 2016. Prior to her election to Superior Court, she served as a judge on the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County for eight years. Before becoming a judge, Judge Dubow practiced law for 23 years in a variety of areas. She served as Deputy General Counsel of Drexel University as well as Divisional Deputy City Solicitor. She also worked at Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen and Fineman and Bach. When she first graduated from law school, she clerked for the Honorable Edward G. Biester. Judge Dubow graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law in 1984 and the University of Pennsylvania, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, cum laude, in 1981. The Brandeis Society awarded her the “Justice, Justice, You Shall Pursue Award,” the University of Pennsylvania Law School awarded her the Howard Lesnick Pro Bono Award, and the Lawyers’ Club of Philadelphia has recognized her dedicated service. Judge Dubow is a member of the American Law Institute and serves on the Judicial Conduct Board. She is former Chair of the Juvenile Court Procedural Rules Committee and former Vice Chair of the Continuing Judical Education Committee. Judge Dubow is serving or has served on numerous non-profit Boards of Trustees, including the Stoneleigh Foundation, Carson Valley Children’s Aid, the Beck Institute, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, and Congregation Or Ami.
Casey A. Coyle, Esq.
Casey Alan Coyle is the Managing Shareholder of Babst Calland’s Harrisburg Office and past Co-Chair of the firm’s Appellate and Litigation Practice groups. He concentrates his practice on complex commercial litigation and appellate law. Mr. Coyle has significant first-chair trial experience and regularly represents businesses in high-stakes or bet-the-company litigation in state and federal trial courts throughout the country. He has worked on a variety of cases, including cases involving breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, civil conspiracy, constitutional challenges, emergency injunctions, environmental litigation, non-competition/non-solicitation agreements, shareholder litigation, and theft of trade secrets. He also represents clients in matters brought before the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court as part of its original jurisdiction. Beyond his extensive trial work, Mr. Coyle frequently represents businesses and trade associations in state and federal appellate courts. Over his career, he has represented either a party or an amicus curiae in over 15 appeals before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Mr. Coyle has successfully petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to grant review of an appeal—commonly known as “allocatur”—on six different occasions. In addition, he has presented oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, and Pennsylvania Superior Court. Mr. Coyle frequently serves as a commentator for The Legal Intelligencer and Law360 on appeals pending before the Pennsylvania appellate courts. Prior to joining Babst Calland, Mr. Coyle was a partner at a national law firm with offices throughout the eastern United States. While there, he served as Chair of the firm’s Appellate Practice Working Group. Before entering private practice, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Thomas G. Saylor, Chief Justice Emeritus of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, for nearly two and a half years. Mr. Coyle graduated from the Temple University Beasley School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Temple Journal of Science, Technology & Environmental Law. He earned his B.A. in Journalism, with distinction, from the Pennsylvania State University. During his time at Penn State, Mr. Coyle was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and spent a semester in Washington, D.C., interning for CNN’s Capital Gang.
Corrie A. Woods, Esq.
Corrie Woods focuses his practice on post-trial and appellate litigation and provides support for Kline & Specter’s attorneys on a full range of legal issues. Woods joined the firm in 2025 after founding and practicing for seven years at a small appellate boutique firm in Allegheny County. Prior to that, Woods served as a judicial staff attorney to then Justice, now Chief Justice Debra Todd of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and to Justice Arthur M. Recht of the First Judicial Circuit of West Virginia. Woods has frequently represented clients before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the Pennsylvania Superior Court, the Commonwealth Court and trial courts throughout Pennsylvania. He has appeared before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He has litigated complex legal issues ranging from constitutional restrictions on redistricting, impeachments of public officials, and punitive damage awards to the proper interpretation of consumer protection, mental health, and various criminal and regulatory statutes. He has developed expertise in procedural and evidentiary issues in civil and criminal cases alike. Woods is an active member of the Allegheny County Bar Association, where he has served as the Chair of its Appellate Practice Committee since 2020, and he has also served on its Amicus Curiae Brief Committee, Judiciary Committee, Nominating Committee, and its Publications Committee. He routinely organizes and speaks at continuing legal education and continuing judicial education seminars on appellate practice issues. He regularly covers the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s docket on his personal blog, SCOPABlog, and his personal podcast, The Standard of Review. Woods earned his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from West Liberty University in West Liberty, West Virginia. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he served as a Research Editor for the University of Pittsburgh Law Review and received awards for excellence in the areas of constitutional law and appellate practice.
Stefanie Pitcavage Mekilo, Esq.
Stefanie Pitcavage Mekilo is a civil litigator who draws on more than a decade of trial-court experience in the federal judiciary to guide clients through all aspects of the litigation process. Ms. Mekilo focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation, environmental litigation, and energy litigation, regularly representing businesses in high-stakes disputes in state and federal courts throughout the country. She also represents clients before state and federal agencies and in proceedings seeking judicial review of agency action in state and federal courts. In addition, Ms. Mekilo has extensive experience with disputes involving breach of restrictive covenants; breach of fiduciary duties, tortious interference, and related business tort claims; employment discrimination; civil and constitutional rights; and emergency injunction litigation, as well as in the areas of antitrust, securities, trademark infringement, product liability, class action, and multidistrict litigation.

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