Robert is a staff attorney at Disability Right Pennsylvania where he focuses on Guardianship reform and education on less restrictive alternatives to guardianship for people with disabilities. Robert earned his LL.M in Trial Advocacy from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law and his J.D. from Widener University School of Law in Delaware. Prior to working with DRP, Robert worked as an Assistant Public Defender for a local county where he became Chief of Diversionary and Re-Entry Programs, which included Mental Health Treatment Court and other specialty courts. His focus during his career has been to represent people with mental health and other disabilities in the legal system.

Mr. Dempsey is a Partner with the firm of Jones, Gregg, Creehan & Gerace, LLP in Pittsburgh. He graduated from the Duquesne University School of Law in 1987 and is a member of the Allegheny County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations. Mr. Dempsey’s practice is focused on litigation and appellate practice in the Orphans’ Court Division of Allegheny County and surrounding counties in the fields including guardianship, fiduciary defense and prosecution, and probate litigation. He is one of the founding members of the Allegheny County Bar Association Elder Law Committee. He is also a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association Probate and Trust Section Council. Mr. Dempsey regularly presents educational seminars on behalf of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute.

Since 1990, Mr. Ruggiero has been helping families and business owners create estate plans aimed at transferring their legacy successfully to the next generation. He is owner of Ruggiero Law Offices LLC with offices in Paoli, and Center Valley, where he practices in the area of estate planning, estate administration, elder law, business law and real estate. His planning experience includes the use of wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, IRA trusts, and life insurance trusts. From an administration perspective, he has overseen the administration of estate of varying degree of complexity including insolvent estates to those values exceeded 20 million and ten year estate accountings. Mr. Ruggiero has developed a niche in dealing with closely held small business owners in advising on formation, growth and succession of the business. He has advised clients on contract negotiations, employee contracts and disputes, patents, copyright, real estate lease and purchase. Mr. Ruggiero has achieved board certification as an Estate Planning Law Specialist, one of only a few to attain this in the country, awarded by The Estate Law Specialist Board, Inc., an attorney-run subsidiary of the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils in Cleveland, Ohio. Additionally, he has attained designation as an Accredited Estate Planner, awarded by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. Mr. Ruggiero has been recognized in Main Line Today and Philadelphia Magazine as a Top Attorney in Trusts & Estates & Elder Law and a Five Star Wealth Manager for numerous years. He is a board member of the Estate Planning Council of the Lehigh Valley, member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and former council relation committee member for the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. Additionally, Mr. Ruggiero is the Pennsylvania partner for Elder Care Matters, a national directory of elder care resources, and member of the Chester County, Pennsylvania and American Bar Associations where he is active in the Elder Law, Probate and Trust Real Property Sections. Active in the community, he serves as the president of the board of the Planned Lifetime Assistance Foundation, past chairman of the Business Department Advisory Board of Immaculata University and past president of the Chester County Estate Planning Council. Throughout his career, Mr. Ruggiero has given countless presentations for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, WealthCounsel LLC and the Trial Lawyers Association. He is often asked to serve as a course planner. His seminar topics have included PA Inheritance Taxes, Advanced Estate Planning Issues, Special Needs Trusts, Estate Planning for Retirement Assets and Retirement Asset Disclaimers, Business Succession Planning, and Planning for Persons with Diminished Capacity and Distribution of Assets Upon Death. He received his B.A. from Ursinus College and his J.D. from Widener University School of Law.

Judge Murphy has been serving the Court of Common Pleas in Montgomery County since January 2010 and succeeded the Honorable Stanley R. Ott as Administrative Judge of the Orphans’ Court Division in January 2015. The Orphans’ Court Division approves adoptions and hears a wide variety of matters including terminations of parental rights, guardianships, will contests, trust and estate matters, and matters related to minor’s estates and non-profits. Judge Murphy is a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Advisory Council on Elder Justice in the Courts and serves as the chair of the Orphans’ Court Section of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges. Judge Murphy graduated from Harvard College in 1984, magna cum laude and Harvard Law School in 1987, cum laude. Judge Murphy served as a law clerk to the Honorable George C. Pratt of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, then served as a trial and appellate litigator in the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice, and then as in-house counsel to a national non-profit organization advocating for women’s rights. Judge Murphy practiced law at Morgan Lewis in Philadelphia and at Heckscher, Teillon, Terrill & Sager, in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. She is a frequent lecturer on topics including guardianships, access of justice for older adults, end of life decisions, Orphans’ Court practice and procedure, and the Pennsylvania Uniform Trusts Act.