Personal Injury Law Conference 2026

The Hon. Stella M. Tsai was elected to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in 2025.She previously served as a judge of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas to which she was appointed in 2016 then elected in her own right in November 2017. Judge Tsai has served in the Family Court, Trial, and Orphans’ Court divisions of the First Judicial District. She also has served as an election court judge in primary and general elections. She was appointed to serve on the Pennsylvania Judicial Ethics Advisory Board by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the Education Committee of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges. Before joining the bench, Judge Tsai was a business litigation partner in the Philadelphia office of Archer & Greiner, PC concentrating in regulatory compliance, land use, and ethics. Judge Tsai also served as Chair of Administrative Law at the City of Philadelphia Law Department, where she managed the attorneys who represent the child welfare and social service agencies and those who handle labor and employment matters on the City’s behalf. Throughout her career, Judge Tsai has been actively involved in charitable activities and public service. Judge Tsai has also provided countless hours of pro bono representation and advocacy for low-income individuals in a wide range of matters including custody and support disputes and voting rights cases. Judge Tsai earned her B.A. in political science with honors and distinction from The Pennsylvania State University in 1985.She earned her J.D. in 1988 from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where she has served as an adjunct professor and a Board member of the Penn Law Inn of Court.

Mr. Mishkin is a partner with Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, LLP. A member and former Chair of the firm’s Litigation Department, his practice focuses on information technology, complex commercial claims and First Amendment/media law. Mr. Mishkin has represented media clients both old and new as well as software, hardware and consulting firms, in litigation and alternate dispute resolution proceedings involving privacy, defamation and obscenity issues. He has published articles concerning defamation, e-mail, cybersquatting, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and privacy online. Mr. Mishkin is an Adjunct Professor at Penn Law, was Co-Chair of the Internet Law Committee of the Media Law Resource Center from 2015 – 2018, has been Chair of the Editorial Board of the Legal Intelligencer and was the Litigation Section member of the ABA eCommerce and ADR Task Force. He has previously served as Co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Associations Bar/News Committee and a member of the editorial board of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

Sekou Campbell, Esq., a partner at Pierson Ferdinand, LLP, brings extensive experience in representing intellectual creatives – particularly those operating at the intersection of technology and traditional entertainment. In the area of First Amendment law, Sekou advises independent filmmakers and journalists at the various stages of production and distribution regarding the use of content in their work. He has been included in the 2024, 2025, and 2026 editions of The Best Lawyers in America® for Entertainment Law – Motion Pictures and Television; and Entertainment Law – Music. Previously a professional actor, Sekou combines his passion for the arts with deep corporate expertise and a unique understanding of the needs of creative enterprises. Sekou serves on the boards of Scribe Video Center, BlackStar Projects, host of the renowned BlackStar Film Festival; Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, which makes grants to artists and arts organizations; Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts; and his youngest son’s school, Independence Charter School.

Judge Lenihan served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania from April 2004 to October 2024. From January 2000 until her appointment to the bench she served as Assistant Counsel and Corporate Secretary for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Before going in-house, Judge Lenihan was in private practice handling primarily corporate litigation matters. Judge Lenihan is a 1983 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, serves as a member of its Board of Visitors and the Law School Alumni Association. She is active in a number of professional as well as community boards and organizations, including former Chair of the Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners, current Chair of the Board of Directors of the UPMC Health Plan and UPMC Passavant/St. Margaret’s. She served as Third Circuit representative to the Federal Magistrate Judges Association and was appointed by Chief Justice Roberts to the Federal Judicial Center Magistrate Judge Education Committee, where she served for 7 years as an instructor for new magistrate judges. In her role as a federal Magistrate Judge, Lenihan handled a wide variety of both criminal and civil cases. Criminal matters are handled on a pretrial basis. Civil cases are handled through jury trial with parties’ consent. She has also mediated hundreds of cases for her colleagues on the bench. Judge Lenihan currently has an active ADR practice with Judge Lenihan ADR, LLC. www.judgelenihanadr.com.

J. Peter Veloski is a Partner at Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky, who represents individuals who have suffered serious accidents and catastrophic injuries. He fights passionately for the rights of people who have been seriously injured as a result of corporate negligence and careless actions, and has helped to achieve dozens of seven and eight figure recoveries, among other life-changing results for his clients. His practice focuses primarily on trucking accidents, workplace injuries and premises liability cases. He obtained his bachelor’s degree and his law degree from Temple University. Pete is also on the Board of Directors of the Spring Garden Soup Society, which has served the Philadelphia community since 1852. He practices routinely in Pennsylvania and New Jersey State and Federal Courts. He is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, Pennsylvania Association for Justice, the American Association for Justice and has been named as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer / Rising Star every year since 2022. He lives with his family in Haddonfield, New Jersey.

Sean is a personal injury attorney specializing in catastrophic injury cases throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Sean grew up in a blue-collar household which has shaped him into an aggressive trial lawyer dedicated to advocating for the rights of individuals who have suffered injuries. Sean is known for his unwavering dedication to his clients regardless of the circumstances. He believes in providing attention and support to each client, understanding that every case is unique and requires a personalized approach. Sean maintains a commitment to providing simple, clear, and honest communication that ensures his clients receive the highest level of representation during their toughest times. With over a decade of legal experience prior to joining Stampone O’Brien Dilsheimer Holloway, Sean has consistently demonstrated his commitment to achieving justice for his clients. His track record includes numerous successful multi-million-dollar verdicts and settlements, earning him recognition as a distinguished member of both the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. Membership in these prestigious organizations is limited to attorneys who have secured million and multi-million-dollar outcomes for their clients, a distinction attained by fewer than 1% of all attorneys nationwide. Sean is a graduate of Lafayette College where he played Division I Golf and obtained his law degree from Widener University School of Law. He enjoys travelling to play golf courses across the country, skiing, fishing and is a passionate 4 for 4 Philadelphia Sports Fan.

Meghan Wynkoop joined Margolis Edelstein’s Philadelphia office in 2018 as an Associate and became a Partner within five years. She concentrates her practice on Labor and Employment, Civil Rights, Institutional Sex Abuse, and Sex and Labor Trafficking in state and federal courts. She is licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Meghan represents both public and private employers in all aspects of employment law, including discrimination, harassment, wrongful discharge, retaliation, hostile work environment, and breach of contract claims. She also handles workplace investigations and assists employers in drafting policies, handbooks, and employment-related agreements to ensure compliance with state and federal laws while also serving employers’ individual business needs. In addition to employment law, Meghan’s expertise includes defending governmental entities, such as cities, townships, and law enforcement agencies, in civil rights lawsuits. She also represents religious, educational, and youth organizations, as well as private business entities, in institutional abuse and trafficking matters. Meghan routinely presents at various insurance industry groups and organizations, such as ExecuSummit and the Defense Research Institute (DRI). In March 2024, her article “Take Up Space” was featured in The Voice, a DRI publication, and her piece “Civil War” was featured in Insights, a Best Lawyers publication. She currently serves on DRI’s Young Lawyers Steering Committee and was also appointed as the Vice-Chair of DRI’s Women in the Law Subcommittee. Meghan earned her law degree from the Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Drexel University, where she won the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Appellate Advocacy. While in law school, Meghan served as President of the Civil Litigation Society, Vice President of Finance for the Student Bar Association, and as a member of the Moot Court Board. She also competed in two national moot court competitions, including the New York City Bar Association Competition sponsored by the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Judge Rau founded Resonate Mediation and Arbitration in 2019 where she uses her expertise as a former trial judge to provide civil case mediation, neutral case analysis, and discovery resolution to civil litigators. Judge Rau serves as a court-appointed special discovery officer and a neutral for mass tort cases. Judge Rau serves as a neutral on AAA, CPR and NADN panels. For nearly 19 years, Judge Rau served on the highest state trial court in Philadelphia County, the Court of Common Pleas, where she presided over major civil and criminal trials. Judge Rau was appointed and then elected to the bench in 2001 with bipartisan endorsements and retained for an additional ten-year term in November 2011. During her time on the bench, Judge Rau presided in over 1000 trials, mostly civil trials. She served as judicial Team Leader for major civil jury trials for 5 years managing thousands of cases and mediating hundreds of cases to resolution. While on the bench, Judge Rau helped establish the Court’s Landlord Tenant Appellate Mediation Program, co-founded Philadelphia’s MENTOR Re-entry Criminal Court, and created the Judicial Fellowship Program that enabled over 300 law graduates to get mentorship and experience working for trial judges. She also co-chaired the Court’s Judicial Education Committee. After leaving the bench, she was invited to serve as a mediator for the Court and stakeholders to modernize and enhance accessibility of the Debt Collection Court of Municipal Court. Judge Rau received her master’s degree in judicial studies in 2019 with her thesis focusing on how Philadelphia overcame its massive backlog by modernizing its civil court and implementing intensive case management. Judge Rau served on the National Judicial College’s faculty teaching advanced evidence to judges from 2007-2019. She received Certificates in Dispute Resolution Skills and in Judicial Development and General Jurisdiction Trial Skills from the National Judicial College. Judge Rau has taught as an adjunct instructor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Villanova Law School, and Temple Law School and is a frequent continuing education instructor for attorneys. Prior to becoming a member of the judiciary, Judge Rau was a partner at Kairys, Rudovsky, Epstein, Messing & Rau and was an attorney at the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia (PILCOP). As a lawyer, she specialized in complex, employment, and class action litigation mostly in federal court. After serving in the Peace Corps in Thailand, Judge Rau received her J.D. from Stanford Law School, where she was an associate editor of the Stanford Law Review. She received her B.A. from Colgate University, graduating magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and with high honors in psychology.

Patrick McDonnell is owner and partner of McDonnell & Associates. His practice encompasses all aspects of litigation and trial work including: real estate litigation, premises liability, employment law, professional liability, product liability, commercial litigation, defamation and premises security. He has tried more than 150 civil cases to verdict, most of them resulting in outright defense verdicts. His experience includes the successful defense of commercial property owners, premises owners, manufacturers and retailers in courtrooms throughout the country. He has served as a national coordinating counsel for a large retailer’s specialty trial group. He has participated in numerous mass torts involving pharmaceutical and health care products. In that capacity, he has conducted multiple “mock trials” and focus groups to develop comprehensive trial themes and defense strategies. For over 30 years, Patrick has represented one of the nation’s largest companies in complex commercial tort and employment litigation. He has defended catastrophic high exposure injury cases to favorable verdicts. He has participated in numerous commercial real estate matters. He has represented employers against claims alleging discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion, and disability. As a member of a large retailer’s rapid response team, he has investigated numerous large exposure incidents in order to preserve evidence, prepare internal reports, and make remedial recommendations. He has served in similar capacity to investigate incidents of premises and workplace violence, including fatal shootings and sexual assaults. In addition to traditional discrimination actions, Patrick has defended claims alleging violations of wage and hour, family medical leave, use of criminal records, and medical record disclosure violations. He has also defended defamation claims arising from these types of suits; and brought cost recovery and defamation claims on behalf of clients who were wrongfully sued. Patrick is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates; included in Thomson Reuters’s Pennsylvania Super Lawyers® List; and identified by Martindale-Hubbell as “Preeminent” or “AV rated.” Patrick frequently lectures to retailers, transportation companies, and health care professionals on employer liability, risk management, expert witnesses, and workplace/premises security. He is a graduate of Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law, J.D, magna cum laude, and Villanova University, B.A. He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and before the U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Pennsylvania.

Joan Orsini Ford is a Shareholder and Co-Chair of the Catastrophic Medical Injury Practice at Marshall Dennehey. She focuses her practice exclusively on medical malpractice litigation involving the defense of hospitals, doctors, nurses, physicians’ assistants, nursing homes, long-term care facilities and behavioral health treatment facilities. She also handles other healthcare-related issues. Throughout her career, Joan has handled in excess of 1,000 medical malpractice cases, including numerous high-exposure cases involving catastrophic injuries and death in infants and adults. She has taken more than 50 major jury cases to verdict in state and federal courts with overwhelmingly favorable results. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from LaSalle University in 1984, Joan attended Widener University where she earned her juris doctor in 1986. At Widener, she participated in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Her legal education also included courses at Notre Dame School of Law in London, England, and The Dickenson Law School in Florence, Italy. Prior to joining Marshall Dennehey in 1997, Joan worked for a defense firm for nine years where she also concentrated on medical malpractice defense, primarily representing physicians. Joan has lectured for various organizations over the course of her career, and has given presentations to nursing and medical staff at multiple hospitals on litigation related issues. In addition, she has served as an instructor in the firm’s annual Advanced Trial Advocacy Mock Trial Program. In 2021, Joan received the James P. Fox Trial Lawyer of the Year Award from the Montgomery Bar Association Trial Lawyers Section. The award recognizes not only exceptional skill as a civil litigation and trial lawyer, but also a dedication to promoting a positive image for attorneys through one’s professional demeanor, service and integrity. She is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Jeffrey L. Schmehl is a judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He joined the court in 2013 after a nomination from President Barack Obama. At the time of nomination, he was a judge for the Berks County Court of Common Pleas. Judge Schmehl attended Dickinson College, earning his B.A. and went on to attend the University of Toledo School of Law, earning his J.D. He was in private practice prior to serving on the Berks County Court of Common Pleas and before then, he served as an Assistant District Attorney for Berks County.

The Hon. Nina N. Wright Padilla is a judge for the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania. Judge Wright Padilla was elected to the bench in 2003. She was subsequently retained in 2013. Over the course of her judicial career, she has held assignments in the Motions & Statutory Appeals Program of the Civil Trial Division as well as the Criminal Trial Division and the Domestic Relations Branch of the Family Court. Prior to her election, she maintained a private law practice with her husband, Edward C. Wright. They specialized in consumer bankruptcy, general litigation, and criminal law matters. Judge Wright Padilla earned a B.S. from the University of Maryland in 1988. She then completed a J.D. at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law in 1992. Her memberships have included the Board of View and Board of Revision of Taxes Committee for the Court of Common Pleas.

Ms. Greenspan, a Founding Partner at Greenspan Patel, focuses her practice on independent investigations, including harassment, discrimination, retaliation, Title IX, student and faculty misconduct, theft, fraud, and other infractions or policy violations. Prior to founding Greenspan Patel with long-time friend and government investigator Twinckle Patel, Ms. Greenspan was a trial lawyer and litigator in private practice, first at Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young and most recently with the Tucker Law Group. With a strong background in litigation involving higher education and corporate clients, Ms. Greenspan brings a uniquely qualified perspective to investigative work. As a Partner at the Tucker Law Group, Ms. Greenspan’s work focused primarily on employment discrimination cases, civil rights litigation, and complex commercial disputes. Ms. Greenspan led trial teams in both state and federal courts and handled all aspects of litigation from the filing of the complaint through expert reports, dispositive motions, motions in limine, jury verdicts, and appeals. In 2017, Ms. Greenspan led her team to make new law in the Third Circuit by successfully arguing that an employer’s “honest belief” that an employee is abusing FMLA leave is sufficient to defeat an FMLA claim. The case also involved the interplay between the FMLA and the ADA. Ms. Greenspan briefed and argued the case before the District Court and won summary judgment. On appeal, and even despite the EEOC’s involvement and filing of an amicus brief, the Third Circuit – in a precedential decision – affirmed the entry of summary judgment and ruled in favor of the employer based on the “honest belief” defense. As of September 2025, this case, Capps v. Mondelez Global LLC, 847 F.3d 144 (3d Cir. 2017), has been cited nearly 400 times. As a trial lawyer and litigator throughout her career, Ms. Greenspan handled high-stakes litigation for corporate and educational clients. She routinely and successfully represented clients in connection with preliminary injunction hearings, both in the corporate and university settings. By way of example, Ms. Greenspan successfully obtained an injunction in favor of a global chemical company when a former employee with specialized and technical knowledge of the company’s proprietary information left to work for a competitor. In the university and Title IX context, Ms. Greenspan twice defeated a plaintiff’s attempt to obtain a temporary restraining order that would reinstate him as a student after being found responsible for violations of the university’s sexual misconduct policy. Ms. Greenspan also successfully served as the Advocate for Misconduct Charges, acting on behalf of a university to revoke a professor’s tenure for neglect of duties and violation of university policy. Ms. Greenspan’s experience also includes serving as an Assistant District Attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office’s Associate Prosecutor Program, where she prosecuted cases involving domestic violence and child abuse, and clerking for the Honorable Gary R. Jones, a federal magistrate judge in the Middle District of Florida. Ms. Greenspan was selected as a “Rising Star” from 2006 to 2018 and as a “Super Lawyer” since 2020. She served on the Board for Women Against Abuse and held the role of Board Chair for four years, while also contributing in several other key leadership capacities. She is active with her local synagogue, as well as the Philadelphia Bar Association (Chair, Federal Courts Committee) and the Forum of Executive Women. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s House of Delegates. Ms. Greenspan also teaches on the faculty of NITA, sharing her insights on and her enjoyment of trials with students from across the country. She regularly speaks on topics such as Title IX, the FMLA, religious accommodations, pregnancy discrimination, deposition skills, and trials. Ms. Greenspan graduated from Johns Hopkins University and Emory Law School and is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, and the District of Columbia.

Mr. Lyon is a partner at the firm of Walsh Pancio LLC in Colmar, PA. Prior to his current position, he was an associate attorney at Kane Pugh Knoell Troy & Kramer and at Duane Morris LLP. He graduated from Villanova University School of Law in 2009. In addition to being a member of PBA’s 2017-2018 Bar Leadership Institute class, he serves as the Vice Chair of the Gaming Law Committee, and a member of the Civil Litigation Section, Law Related Education Committee, and Quality of Life Committees.

Brenda Harkavy, Esq. is a senior trial attorney with Laffey, Bucci, D’Andrea, Reich & Ryan in Philadelphia. She has devoted her career to pursuing justice on behalf of survivors of physical and sexual abuse, sex trafficking, gender-based discrimination and harassment, and human rights violations. She has represented countless survivors in nationally publicized cases against major institutions, corporations, and predators. A recognized authority in this field, Ms. Harkavy serves as a faculty member and advisor at national and statewide conferences on sex trafficking, trauma-informed lawyering, trial litigation, and representing survivors in sexual abuse and assault cases. She has authored numerous published articles on navigating legal issues in sexual abuse and assault litigation, gender equality and DEI, and trauma-informed lawyering. Ms. Harkavy began supporting survivors of abuse prior to the start of her legal career, serving as an advocate for survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and child sexual abuse at the nation’s first Family Justice Center. After law school, she began her legal career as a Special Victims Unit prosecutor in Baltimore City, where she litigated countless sexual assault, child abuse, pornography, intimate partner violence, stalking, human trafficking, and homicide cases. Beyond her trial work, Ms. Harkavy was equally dedicated to systemic change, spearheading law enforcement and institutional trainings on intimate partner violence, strangulation lethality, and survivor psychology, and drafting and testifying in support of legislation to enhance survivor rights and protections. For these efforts, she became only the second prosecutor in Maryland history to receive the Victoria F. Gelfman Legal Excellence Award, a statewide honor recognizing a prosecutor whose “integrity, ability, community involvement, and commitment to justice exemplify the best of the legal profession.” Ms. Harkavy is the Board President and a volunteer attorney for the Support Center for Child Advocates, an organization providing legal and social services to abused and neglected youth. She also serves on the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Board of Governors, as Co-Chair of its Women’s Rights Committee, and as Co-Editor in Chief of The Philadelphia Lawyer magazine. She is additionally Co-Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Women in the Profession Legislative Sub-Committee and Co-Chair of the American Association for Justice’s Sexual Assault Litigation Group. Ms. Harkavy was named an ALM Lawyer on the Fast Track and was selected by Pennsylvania and Delaware Super Lawyers Magazine as the subject of a feature article on her lifelong commitment to advancing the rights of abused women and children.

Mr. Dilsheimer is a partner and trial attorney at Stampone O’Brien Dilsheimer Law in Cheltenham. Before that, he practiced most recently with Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett & Bendesky.  Mr. Dilsheimer has vast experience handling complex, catastrophic injury cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the District of Columbia, as well as other locations around the country. He concentrates his practice on major, catastrophic injury litigation. He has worked on the settlement and trial of several multi-million dollar cases and has a wide range of experience in cases involving traumatic brain injury, defective products, construction accidents, FELA, premises liability, medical malpractice, motor vehicle accidents, subrogation matters, and commercial litigation.  Mr. Dilsheimer’s successful verdict in a Monroe County, PA jury trial was reported by The National Law Journal as one of the “Top PA Verdicts of 2010” in the January 2010 edition of Verdict Search National. The trial involved a head-on automobile accident. He graduated magna cum laude from the Temple University Beasley School of Law in 1992.  Mr. Dilsheimer was Managing Editor of the Temple Law Review.  He graduated magna cum laude from Bowdoin College in 1988. Mr. Dilsheimer does pro-bono work for the Gift of Life, which coordinates organ donation and transplantation in the tri-state area.

Tim’s practice includes all aspects of civil litigation, including personal injury and commercial/business lawsuits. Tim has experience litigating cases in Pennsylvania state and federal courts. As a result of his successes, Tim has been named to the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Star list. This distinction is given to lawyers under 40 and to no more than 2.5% of lawyers in the state. Tim is active in the Montgomery and Pennsylvania Bar Associations. He has been a member of the Montgomery Bar Association’s Leadership Academy and the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Bar Leadership Institute. He is Co-Chair of the Montgomery Bar Association’s Pro Bono, Access to Justice, and Community Service Committee. He also serves as Education Liaison to the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Civil Litigation Section. In recognition of his public service, Tim was awarded the Montgomery Bar Association’s 2022 Henry Stuckert Miller Public Service Award. Tim graduated from Temple University Law School in 2010, where he was in the top twenty-five percent of his class and served as a staff editor on the Temple Journal of Science, Technology, and Environmental Law. While in law school, Tim interned for Judges Abramson and Carrafiello in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, volunteered at the Defender Association of Philadelphia, and spent a semester as an intern with the Claims Unit of the Philadelphia Law Department. As an undergraduate, Tim studied double bass performance at Temple University, where he graduated summa cum laude. When Tim is not practicing law, he likes to listen to music, spend time with his family, and study the Korean language. He serves on the board of directors for the Cheltenham Center for the Arts and on the Whitpain Township Shade Tree Commission.

Ms. McConnell is an Partner at Summers, McDonnell, Hudock, Guthrie & Rauch, PC. She specializes in complex litigation, with a focus on UM/UIM coverage, transportation defense, premises liability, construction and products liability. Ms. McConnell has tried multiple jury cases to verdict throughout Central Pennsylvania. She has also appeared before the Pennsylvania appellate courts. Ms. McConnell earned her law degree from the Penn State Dickinson School of Law in 2011 and her B.A. from Drexel University in 2008.

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.