Right to Know Law 2026

Mr. Schnee is the principal of Schnee Legal Services, LLC. His practice extends throughout the Commonwealth, and he regularly litigates complicated Right-to-Know Law and Sunshine Act matters on behalf of government agencies, members of the public, and others. Prior to founding Schnee Legal Services, LLC, Mr. Schnee served as the First Assistant County Solicitor for the Berks County and represented the county in labor and employment law, election law, data security matters, elder law, and bail forfeiture matters, among other practice areas. Formerly, Mr. Schnee served as the Assistant Chief Counsel of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records. As the OOR’s Assistant Chief Counsel, he argued and briefed numerous matters concerning open records and government transparency in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the Commonwealth Court, and courts of common pleas, and testified before the General Assembly. In addition to providing training and guidance regarding open records laws, Mr. Schnee tracked and analyzed pending legislation affecting open government. He regularly writes regarding open-records matters, most recently in an article titled “What Every Lawyer Needs To Know About The Right-To-Know Law” appearing in Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly in July 2012. Prior to joining the OOR, he served as an associate with Campbell Durrant Beatty Palombo & Miller, P.C., and represented public sector clients in matters involving open-records law, employment law, and municipal law. Mr. Schnee previously served as a judicial extern for the Hon. Chief Judge Donetta Ambrose of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He is a cum laude graduate of the University of Rochester and received his JD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Judge Roberts was elected as a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia on November 5, 2019, and his term commenced in January 2020. Judge Roberts currently serves in the Civil Trial Division as one of the two Motions/Statutory Appeals judges. Prior to this role, Judge Roberts was a trial judge in the court’s Complex Litigation program. Judge Roberts began his legal career as a law clerk for Judge Joseph D. O’Keefe of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia, serving with Judge O’Keefe from 2000-2002. In 2002, Judge Roberts became a law clerk for Judge Timothy J. Savage of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Judge Roberts served in that role for four years. In 2006, Judge Roberts joined the litigation practice at McCarter & English LLP in Philadelphia, focusing on complex commercial litigation, products liability, financial services and electronic discovery. In 2015, Judge Roberts left McCarter & English to form Datz & Roberts LLC Datz & Roberts was a community-based, full-service law firm. In this role, Judge Roberts appeared in a wide range of courts, from civil to Orphans’ to criminal to landlord/tenant. Judge Roberts graduated from Temple University Beasley School of Law in 2000, and he graduated from the University of Michigan in 1997 with a B.A. in Political Science.

Ms. Bevan Melewsky is Media Law Counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. She provides legal advice and advocacy to news media organizations across the Commonwealth on a wide range of legal topics impacting the media industry. She also advocates as an amicus curiae in the Pennsylvania judicial system in cases impacting the media industry, including access to government records and meetings, First Amendment rights, and defamation. Ms. Bevan Melewsky also monitors and provides feedback on proposed legislation and court rules impacting the media industry and public access generally. Ms. Bevan Melewsky has been a guest lecturer throughout the Commonwealth for media and civic organizations, government agencies and the court system on the Right to Know Law, the Sunshine Act, the First Amendment, and government transparency. She is a current member and a past Co-Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Bar Press Committee. Ms. Bevan Melewsky holds a B.A. in Telecommunications from the Pennsylvania State University and a J.D. from Widener University Commonwealth Law School.

Joshua Bonn is a trial attorney at Cohen Seglias representing clients in the railroad, media, insurance and financial services industries. His practice spans complex civil litigation, including business and contract disputes, real property and eminent domain matters, public records litigation and appellate advocacy in Pennsylvania’s state and federal courts. Bonn has significant experience handling Right-to-Know Law matters, regularly briefing and arguing open records appeals before the Office of Open Records and appellate courts, and he frequently lectures on public records issues. He also advises municipalities on governance, zoning, land use, and public records compliance and serves as solicitor to several local government entities. As managing partner of the firm’s Harrisburg office, Bonn counsels Class I, regional and shortline railroads on litigation, regulatory proceedings and condemnation matters, including FELA claims and administrative proceedings before state and federal agencies.

Kyle Applegate is the Chief Counsel for the Office of Open Records. Among other duties, he is responsible for supervising the work of the Office’s seventeen attorneys. He joined the Office as an Appeals Officer in 2011 and has served as the Chief Counsel since 2021. Kyle is a graduate of Shippensburg University and Widener University School of Law.

Paula Knudsen Burke is the Reporters Committee’s senior supervising attorney in Pennsylvania, leading the organization’s legal work in the state as part of the Local Legal Initiative. She joined the Reporters Committee in 2020 from LNP Media Group, Inc. in Lancaster. A licensed Pennsylvania attorney for two decades, Paula has worked in both the legal and media fields. In 2017, she helped launch The Caucus, a watchdog publication covering state government and politics. She also led the investigations and enterprise team as an editor at LNP Media Group, Inc., the publisher of The Caucus. Before joining The Caucus, Paula was the director of government affairs at the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, where she worked on legislative issues impacting print and digital news outlets in the state, including advocating for improvements to the state’s Right to Know Law and Sunshine Act. Paula has also worked in private practice and nonprofit law, starting her career as an Equal Justice Works Fellow. Paula is a graduate of the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University. She also received her undergraduate degrees from the Pennsylvania State University, in both journalism and Spanish. Paula is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Bar/Press Committee and the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition.

Ms. London is a Shareholder with the firm of Kozloff Stoudt, Professional Corporation in Berks County, PA, practicing in the areas of municipal law, land use, employment law, and appellate practice. Born in Philadelphia, she is a graduate of Villanova University, with a BA and MA in Political Science, and a J.D. from The Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle. Ms. London is a member of the Berks County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations (PBA). She is past Chair of the Municipal Law Section of the PBA and served as a member of the PBA House of Delegates. Ms. London served as President of the Berks County Bar Association in 2018, served as its Treasurer from 2003 to 2006, and now serves as Co-Chair of its Municipal/Education/Environmental/Real Estate Section. Ms. London has planned and taught seminars and appeared in programs offered by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, the Albright College Center for Excellence in Local Government, the Berks County Bar Association, the Society for Human Resources Management, the PA Association of Sewage Enforcement Officers, the Pennsylvania Planning Association, and the Pennsylvania Housing Alliance. These programs have addressed topics including validity challenges to land use ordinances, zoning for agricultural preservation, the Sunshine Act, the Right to Know Law, wage and hour law, employment discrimination, ethics for professional land use planners, administrative search warrants, and blighted property remediation. Ms. London authored the chapter titled “Meetings and Records” for the Solicitor’s Handbook published by the Governor’s Center for Local Government Services of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, and co-authored a cover article for the May-June 2013 issue of The Pennsylvania Lawyer magazine titled “Emerging from the Red: What to do About Municipalities In Financial Trouble.”  She is a regular contributor to the Berks County Bar Association quarterly magazine, The Berks Barrister.