Project Litigate: The Value to Your Firm and Associates 2025

Justice Christine Donohue serves on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Her term of office commenced in January 2016. Prior to her service as a Supreme Court Justice, Justice Donohue served on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania for eight years. As a lawyer, Justice Donohue was a civil trial lawyer and litigator for 27 years. She was a shareholder in the law firm, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, P.C. and was the practice manager of the commercial litigation department in its predecessor firm, Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling, P.C. She earned her Juris Doctor degree at the Duquesne University School of Law where she served on the Duquesne Law Review. While in practice, she held the AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, she was listed in Best Lawyers in America, Pennsylvania Super Lawyers and the Top 50 Attorneys in Pittsburgh. She is an elected Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, International Academy of Trial Lawyers, Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County and the American Board of Trial Advocates. She is a past president of the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association. Justice Donohue is a former judge on the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline, a former chair and member of the Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners and the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board, and a former member of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Justice Donohue is a member of the American, Pennsylvania and Allegheny County Bar Associations. She served on the Board of Governors of the Allegheny County Bar Association and was also the Chair of its Young Lawyers Division. She is a member of the American Bar Foundation and a charter member of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation. She served as a member of the House of Delegates of the Pennsylvania Bar Association for two decades. She was twice recognized in Pennsylvania Law Weekly as one of Pennsylvania’s “Women Leaders in the Legal Profession.” Justice Donohue received the Distinguished Alumni Award from East Stroudsburg University in 2016. Justice Donohue received the Woman of the Year Award 2023, Duquesne Kline Women’s Law Association. She also received the Amen Corner’s 2023 Judge Robert E. Dauer Award For Judicial Leadership & Excellence. Justice Donohue spearheaded an effort by trial judges and lawyers to afford young lawyers opportunities to gain courtroom experience, especially presenting cases to civil juries. Bar groups developed a program known as Project LITIGATE encouraging law firms to take a pledge to give young lawyers opportunities to develop litigation skills while the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges endorsed Project LITIGATE and adopted a set of best practices for involving less experienced lawyers in civil jury cases. Justice Donohue taught ethics for attorneys at the Duquesne University School of Law. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Hill House Association, Make-A-Wish Foundation of Western Pennsylvania, Turtle Creek Valley Mental Health/Mental Retardation, Inc. and the National Aviary of Pittsburgh. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Duquesne University School of Law and is a frequent lecturer at seminars on the topics of appellate practice and judicial ethics. Justice Donohue’s chambers are in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She resides in the city of Pittsburgh.

Lydia’s hard work and pursuit of perfection at every turn has earned her the respect and trust of her peers and clients.  She has represented both public and private clients in matters involving Pennsylvania municipal law. Lydia has worked with municipalities, school districts, and municipal authorities to provide a broad range of legal guidance in all aspects of municipal law, including zoning and land use regulation, ordinance preparation and enforcement, Right-to Know and Sunshine Law compliance, municipal liens and claims, public bidding and contracting, litigation, real estate, and eminent domain.  She regularly attends public meetings and quasi-judicial proceedings on behalf of her public clients. She has also represented private clients at all levels of the land use process, including permit and plan applications before municipal administrators and zoning officers, quasi-judicial proceedings before municipal governing bodies and zoning and planning boards, and litigation before state trial courts. Overall, Lydia concentrates her practice in the areas of municipal law, commercial litigation, and insurance defense.  She is licensed to practice in all Pennsylvania state courts and the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Lydia is the former chair of the Young Lawyers Division of the Erie County Bar Association and is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Council and the Pennsylvania Bar Association House of Delegates.  She is also active in the Erie community through her involvement on the Board of the Mercy Center for Women.  Lydia’s passion for law developed at an early age.   She is known by colleagues and clients alike for her integrity, ethics, and pleasant personality, as well as for her pragmatic approach to cultivating client relationships. Lydia is a member of the Government Services Practice Group and the Commercial/General Litigation Practice Group.

A native of Uniontown, PA, Mr. Gismondi graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with highest honors in 1975 and from its School of Law in 1978 where he was a member of the Law Review. After serving as a law clerk in federal district court, Mr. Gismondi entered private practice in 1981 and has limited his practice to one area of the law —- helping victims and their families in personal injury litigation related to medical mistakes, car/truck or airplane accidents, unsafe work conditions, and a variety of other circumstances. A frequent interview guest on local television, Mr. Gismondi’s cases have been featured nationally on the ABC Evening News, Good Morning America, 20/20, The O’Reilly Factor, CNN, and in People Magazine. The nation’s most-recognized reference source on lawyers, Martindale-Hubbell, gives Mr. Gismondi an A/V rating, which is their highest rating for both legal ability and personal qualities such as reliability, diligence and honesty. He has been named a Pennsylvania “Super Lawyer” and is listed in “Best Lawyers in America.” In 2013, “The Legal Intelligencer,” the nation’s oldest legal journal, honored him as the only Pittsburgh area attorney to receive its “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his impact on the legal profession in Pennsylvania. Attorney Gismondi has been chosen by his peers for many leadership positions, including President of the 7,000-member Allegheny County Bar Association, President of the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County, and President of the Pa. Trial Lawyers Association, Western Pa. Chapter. Mr. Gismondi is the past Chairman of the Medical Malpractice Section of the Pa. Association for Justice, and he is also an invited member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the nation’s most prestigious group of courtroom attorneys. Mr. Gismondi is one of the state’s best-known speakers at conferences designed to teach lawyers or judges about personal injury law and courtroom practice. He has been invited to speak at well over 200 such events throughout Pennsylvania. In addition to his practice of law, Mr. Gismondi is actively involved at the University of Pittsburgh. Since 1985 he has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law teaching a course entitled Trial Advocacy. In 2003, the Law School established the “John P. Gismondi Civil Litigation Certificate Program,” a unique curriculum designed to provide special training to law students who wish to become courtroom attorneys. In 2008, the Law School named Mr. Gismondi as the recipient of its “Distinguished Alumnus” award. In 2012, The University at large named him a “Legacy Laureate,” a select honor reserved for only its most prominent graduates. He currently serves on the University’s Board of Trustees. In recent years Mr. Gismondi and his wife Lisa created “The Gismondi Foundation” (www.gismondifoundation.org) which has given grants to a variety of organizations which support Pittsburgh families and children in need.

Judge Perez earned her Bachelor’s degree from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts before enrolling at Temple University’s James E. Beasley School of Law. Upon graduating, Judge Perez accepted a position at the Defender Association of Philadelphia. It was there that she honed her skills as a trial attorney, dedicating thousands of hours to her cases, which culminated in the representation of indigent defendants in the Court of Common Pleas, Major Trial Division. Ready for a different challenge, Judge Perez was tapped to serve as an associate at Friedman Schuman Applebaum, PC, where she represented municipalities in counties throughout Southeast Pennsylvania and members of Laborers Union Local 135. In 2011, Judge Perez established her own practice, Perez Law LLC, specializing in criminal defense and family law. While maintaining an office in Philadelphia, Judge Perez represented clients in federal court and across various counties throughout Pennsylvania. During that time, Judge Perez argued a range of complex cases, including those involving sex trafficking and capital homicide. For over a decade, Judge Perez has shared her passion for training young lawyers by serving as an adjunct professor at her alma mater, teaching trial advocacy to second- and third-year law students. In 2016, Judge Perez became one of the youngest judges to serve on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas bench, where she presided over thousands of cases in the Criminal Division. Judge Perez has served as the Supervising Judge of the City’s Investigating Grand Jury Program, on the State Council for Interstate Adult Offender Supervision, and on the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s House of Delegates. In 2022, Governor Tom Wolf appointed Judge Perez to serve on the Judicial Conduct Board of Pennsylvania. On July 12, 2022, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. nominated Judge Perez to serve as a United States District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The United States Senate confirmed Judge Perez’s nomination on December 7, 2022, and she received her judicial commission on December 16, 2022.

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.