Law Degree

AS LAYOFFS loom in the school district, Naomi Wyatt, a lawyer who was a cabinet member in former Gov. Ed Rendell's administration, has been named its new chief human resources officer, district sources told the Daily News yesterday. Wyatt, 40, is expected to begin her new job June 24. She's leaving the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, where she has been the director of legal and governmental affairs since June 2011, according to her LinkedIn page. District spokesman Fernando Gallard declined to confirm Wyatt's status with the district, saying officials "were not ready" to discuss it. School officials are expected to announce a second round of layoffs today at district headquarters in an effort to help close a $304 million budget shortfall.

Richard Turkington, 63, of Collegeville, a Villanova University law professor for 27 years who was a leading expert on the First Amendment and privacy laws, died of cancer May 20 at home. "He was a pioneer in the area," said John Decker, a professor at DePaul University Law School in Chicago and a friend. "Nobody dealt as deeply or comprehensively with the issue of privacy as he did. " Professor Turkington wrote Teacher's Manual for Privacy and was contributing editor to AIDS, A Medical-Legal Handbook and AIDS, Law and Society.

Is a two-year law degree the answer to soaring tuition costs and an anemic job market for many law school graduates? The idea is gaining traction among some academics and law firm leaders who say it has potential to reduce tuition-debt burdens while enabling law firms to hire first-year lawyers at lower salaries and reduce charges to clients. "I think you can learn more [by spending] a third year in a law firm than you can in the third year of law school," said Sheldon Bonovitz, the former chairman of Center City's Duane Morris L.L.P.

Finish college and get your law degree - in just six years! That is the promise held out to students at Pennsylvania's 14 state-run universities, under a new partnership between the public State System of Higher Education and Widener University, a private institution. The 3+3 Early Admission Program, announced yesterday, gives qualified students the option to leave undergraduate studies after three years to enter the Widener School of Law in Harrisburg. The first year of law school would also satisfy credit requirements for a bachelor's degree.

Every evening for 12 years, Emily Ryan neatly arranged her children around the dining-room table and served dinner precisely at 5, just as her husband arrived from the office. She shepherded her five sons and daughters to and from school and afternoon sports. She volunteered as a home-room mother, participated in scouting, and sewed doll clothes. Then one Saturday, she woke up and found a lump in her breast. "I just assumed I was going to die," recalled Ryan, whose sister had succumbed to breast cancer just months earlier.

For the last 13 years, Joan Mazzotti has made a public career of helping low-income, first-generation students from Philadelphia's public high schools get into and through college. Quietly, she and her husband, Michael Kelly, also have made it a personal mission in the case of two Haitian-born orphans, who received their degrees Sunday at Haverford College, a selective, liberal arts school on the Main Line. In true fashion as the stand-in parents they have become to Ralph and Ruben Alexis, Mazzotti and Kelly got to the ceremony early and staked out seats in the fourth row. They took video as Ralph Alexis, 21, a French major, stepped on stage at the Alumni Field House to receive his diploma along with nearly 300 graduates.

Benjamin Strauss, 71, the dashingly handsome scion and chairman of the Philadelphia-based Pep Boys auto-parts firm, known coast to coast for its timeless caricatures of Manny, Moe and Jack, died of prostate cancer Sunday at home in Haverford. The son of Maurice "Moe" Strauss, the ringleader of the original trio, Mr. Strauss joined Pep Boys in 1964 after practicing law in California. He was named president in 1975 and was chairman from 1978 until retiring in 1992. Mr. Strauss was not only successful in business, but he also was passionate about his family, the outdoors, philanthropy, the arts, and sports, particularly the Philadelphia Eagles.

Mark Willcox Jr., 99, of Glen Mills, a lawyer whose ancestors made currency for the Second Continental Congress at the family's Ivy Mills in Delaware County, died Monday, Feb. 18, of a heart attack in the Neighborhood Hospice in West Chester. Born in Wawa, Delaware County, to Margaret Keating and Mark Willcox Sr., Mr. Willcox was a seventh-generation descendant of Thomas Willcox, owner of one of the oldest paper mills in the United States. In 1775, as the congress prepared for the war against Britain, Benjamin Franklin was asked to provide financing, so he called on his friend Willcox.

Arthur Henshey Moss, 82, of Wayne, who practiced law in Philadelphia for 40 years, died Thursday, May 9, of complications from pneumonia at his home. Before retiring in 2000, Mr. Moss spent four decades with the firm of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads. He started as an associate and became a partner. Mr. Moss was a corporate and securities lawyer whose specialty was municipal finance. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Association of Bond Lawyers. The firm's chairman, Richard L. Scheff, said Mr. Moss would be remembered as a quiet man who knew how to "brighten your day" as well as for his legal acumen.

Irving Steven Levy, 54, of Roxborough, a lawyer with White & Williams L.L.P., died of pancreatic cancer Saturday, Jan. 7, at Penn Hospice at Rittenhouse. Mr. Levy joined White & Williams in 1984 and had been a partner since 1990. A litigator, his clients included product and chemical manufacturers, construction companies, pharmaceutical firms, hospitals, and health-care providers. "Steve was an extremely intelligent and gifted trial lawyer who loved to tackle complex issues, particularly complex issues of science, and devise creative ways to explain them to judges and juries," said John Balaguer, managing partner in the White & Williams office in Wilmington.

THE HILLS OF western Pennsylvania were home for Richard P. Minteer, and when they faded away in the rearview mirror four decades ago, he might have thought he'd never find a place so wonderful again. But he did. When he opened a South Jersey law firm after getting a law degree from Rutgers-Camden, he did so on a little street in Riverside, Burlington County - a bit bigger, a bit more bustling than his native Claysville south of Pittsburgh, but blue-collar to the bone just like home.

AS LAYOFFS loom in the school district, Naomi Wyatt, a lawyer who was a cabinet member in former Gov. Ed Rendell's administration, has been named its new chief human resources officer, district sources told the Daily News yesterday. Wyatt, 40, is expected to begin her new job June 24. She's leaving the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, where she has been the director of legal and governmental affairs since June 2011, according to her LinkedIn page. District spokesman Fernando Gallard declined to confirm Wyatt's status with the district, saying officials "were not ready" to discuss it. School officials are expected to announce a second round of layoffs today at district headquarters in an effort to help close a $304 million budget shortfall.

Age: 47 Residence: Branchburg, N.J. Political party: Republican. Latest appointment: He was appointed by Gov. Christie as a U.S. senator, effective Monday, filling seat of the late U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg until the winner of an Oct. 16 special election takes office. He will not run for election. Role in Christie administration: He has been state attorney general since Jan. 10, 2012. Before that he was the governor's chief counsel, 2010-11, and executive director of the governor's transition team following Christie's 2009 election.

Don Balman Blenko, 83, a corporate lawyer and longtime resident of Haverford, died Monday, May 20, of cardiovascular disease at Arden Courts in King of Prussia. Born in Pittsburgh, he was the son of Walter John Blenko, a lawyer, and Ardis Jones Blenko. His grandfather William J. Blenko founded Blenko Glass Co., a Milton, W. Va., firm known for its artistic handblown glass. For many years, Mr. Blenko specialized in corporate and antitrust law. At various times, he practiced at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Philco-Ford Corp., and Arco Chemical Co. He retired in 1991.

For the last 13 years, Joan Mazzotti has made a public career of helping low-income, first-generation students from Philadelphia's public high schools get into and through college. Quietly, she and her husband, Michael Kelly, also have made it a personal mission in the case of two Haitian-born orphans, who received their degrees Sunday at Haverford College, a selective, liberal arts school on the Main Line. In true fashion as the stand-in parents they have become to Ralph and Ruben Alexis, Mazzotti and Kelly got to the ceremony early and staked out seats in the fourth row. They took video as Ralph Alexis, 21, a French major, stepped on stage at the Alumni Field House to receive his diploma along with nearly 300 graduates.

Arthur Henshey Moss, 82, of Wayne, who practiced law in Philadelphia for 40 years, died Thursday, May 9, of complications from pneumonia at his home. Before retiring in 2000, Mr. Moss spent four decades with the firm of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads. He started as an associate and became a partner. Mr. Moss was a corporate and securities lawyer whose specialty was municipal finance. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Association of Bond Lawyers. The firm's chairman, Richard L. Scheff, said Mr. Moss would be remembered as a quiet man who knew how to "brighten your day" as well as for his legal acumen.

JUDGE KENNETH Powell, a judge who has never been elected a judge, wants to be elected May 21, but he has some handicaps. He likes to wear bow ties, and he's a Republican with a bad ballot position. He can ditch the bow ties during the campaign for a seat on the Court of Common Pleas (political insiders warn him voters don't like them), but he can't change his party or ballot position. He's No. 3 on the GOP line, but that hardly matters in Philly, where Dems enjoy a 6 ½-to-1 registration edge.

Fred Blume, 72, chairman emeritus of the prestigious Blank Rome law firm in Philadelphia, died Monday, April 8, at his Penn Valley home after a long illness. For several decades, Mr. Blume battled a rare pancreatic tumor, said his wife, Sylvia "Sivy" Blume. Despite his illness, he served as Blank Rome's managing partner and chief executive officer from 2003 to 2006. "He was totally and completely dedicated to Blank Rome," his wife said. Morey Rosenbloom, a longtime friend and partner at the firm, said: "He was a lawyer's lawyer.

Law students at Drexel University will soon have the option of fast-tracking their degrees with a program that allows them to enter the workforce after two years of study instead of three. The "Fast Forward" program, to be announced by Drexel today, was created in an effort to address rising concerns over student debt, school officials said. The program costs the same as the traditional three-year degree program at Drexel's Earle Mack School of Law, but condenses three years of coursework into two. "You get into the workforce a year quicker, and it adds greater value," Drexel Law School Dean Roger Dennis said.

Daniel Mungall Jr., 97, of Radnor, a lawyer whose singing, and the friendships he formed through music weaved a sustaining thread throughout his life, died Monday, March 18, at the Quadrangle in Haverford, where he had lived for the last few years. Well into his 90s, Mr. Mungall continued to sing with the Orpheus Club of Philadelphia, whose goal is "the attainment of the greatest possible excellence in the performance of part songs for male voice. " Mr. Mungall joined the club in 1942 and was president from 1974 to 1976.