Philadelphia Lawyers

It's 5:30 p.m., "face time" at law firms across Philadelphia. Partners spend time reviewing cases with associates, and associates stick around to tally more billable hours or cultivate future clients through drinks or dinners. For attorney Laura Mattiacci, 34, that hour provides an entirely different scenario. She's on her way out the door to start the infamous "second shift," the one that involves home and motherhood. That means rushing to pick up 21/2-year-old Jack from day care, relieving the babysitter who watches 4-month-old Mason, and preparing dinner.

A few years back, Philadelphia lawyers roundly deserved to be chided for their anemic participation in a program that helps provide legal services to the poor. Their counterparts in Allegheny County were flocking to the program, making Philadelphia barristers look - unfairly, perhaps - like skinflints. Moreover, it cost nothing to participate: Attorneys merely had to convert their short- term, non-interest holdings of clients' money into bank accounts that paid interest to the legal services fund.

Marvin Comisky, former head of the Philadelphia Bar Association and a founding partner of the Blank Rome law firm, died yesterday. He was 92. Along with Samuel Blank and Edward Rome, Comisky founded what had been known as Blank Rome Comisky & McCauley in 1959. Comisky headed the firm's litigation department and, in 1969, was elected by his partners as Blank Rome's first managing partner. Comisky, a 1941 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, served as chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1965 and president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association in 1970.

The best thing we can say about Nicholas Papadakos is that he's very likely not the worst justice sitting on the abomination known as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. But that shouldn't be mistaken for distinction. And we happen to think there ought to be some distinction - or at least some clear sense of purpose - apparent in someone asking the voters to keep him on the court. It's not that we haven't looked. We wondered in print a month ago why Mr. Papadakos seemed to be running a cynical campaign, relying on the tradition of low voter attention.

Richard Seidel would love to practice law in New Jersey. The Philadelphia lawyer passed the state's bar exam in 1989, is familiar with New Jersey law and procedures, and can zip over to Superior Court in Camden in a flash from Center City. But Seidel is not permitted to regularly practice law in New Jersey courts because he does not meet the state's requirement that he have a "bona fide" New Jersey law office where he can meet with clients, take phone calls and get mail. "I'm five minutes from Camden.

The search for a new U.S. attorney for the eastern region of Pennsylvania has now moved into high gear, with about 20 lawyers and judges interviewed last week in a marathon session in Harrisburg. President Obama will make the formal nomination, after the recommendation of Pennsylvania's two Democratic senators - Bob Casey and Arlen Specter. It was unclear how quickly a nominee would be announced. The 16-member panel that conducted the interviews was chaired by two Philadelphia lawyers: Tom Kline, a law partner of Specter's son, Shanin; and Robert Ross, a law partner of Casey's younger brother, Matt.

A supporting document written as part of last month's $3.75 billion tentative settlement of nationwide diet-drug litigation suggests that some lawyers on the plaintiffs' team, despite a legal strategy adopted by some of their colleagues, did not believe that their clients faced long-term health dangers from the drugs. The letter seems to put some plaintiffs in the position of benefitting from a $1 billion medical-monitoring program for a disease the lawyers say those patients will never contract.

Finally, the lawyers and staff at Community Legal Services have something to celebrate. After enduring layoffs, office closings and government budget cuts that threatened their survival, Philadelphia's law firm for the poor has received word that an infusion of cash is on its way, possibly as early as November. "We had our first happy hour in a long time," said Catherine C. Carr, executive director of the Center City agency. The rush of money will come from lawyers in private practice, who as of next week will be required by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to deposit money being held for clients in interest-bearing accounts.

WHY HAVE A NEW YORKER BUILD CENTER ON THE MALL? The vision of Mayor Rendell may be extremely short-sighted in planning the $170 million Constitution Center. The endorsement of the National Park Service's use of Ralph Appelbaum, a non-Philadelphian, as the proposed designer of the high-tech center at Independence Mall may be an unfortunate mistake by the mayor. This is not a claim that Mr. Appelbaum is not a suitable designer, for he is quite good. However, if the National Park Service had desired a Philadelphian, all it had to do was place a geographical restriction on the proposed procurement.

Philadelphia lawyers won't be "going public" if the local bar association chancellor has anything to say about it. Seymour Kurland, chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, says he'd oppose any attempt in Philadelphia to implement a controversial proposal in Washington, D.C., that could lead to law firms there selling stock in themselves. The Washington bar, the nation's fourth largest with 45,000 members, recently asked the District of Columbia's Court of Appeals to give lawyers the right to take non-lawyers as partners to offer more services.

Two Philadelphia-area lawyers said Tuesday they have been hired by the Clinton County teenager whose allegations launched the wider criminal investigation into child sex-abuse by former football coach Jerry Sandusky. Lawyers Michael J. Boni and Slade H. McLaughlin said the young man and his mother retained them to investigate a possible civil suit and deflect what has been an avalanche of attention on the family since Sandusky's arrest on Nov. 5. "Their lives have been thrown into turmoil," said Boni.

In a new series of fraud allegations against Philadelphia lawyer Michael Kwasnik, a bankruptcy trustee in Wilmington contends that he participated in transactions that improperly drained more than $1 million from a failed investment company where he served as general counsel. The lawsuit, brought by trustee Richard W. Barry, asserts that Kwasnik helped orchestrate insider transactions that transferred assets out of Liberty State Benefits of Pennsylvania for the benefit of himself and other insiders.

One in an occasional series. Fred Demeo was on edge, worried about the dark clouds hovering over Wall Street and his plummeting retirement account. It was March 12, 2009, a bad day in a brutal recession, and financial markets had slipped to nearly half the value of 16 months earlier. Demeo opened the door of his tiny gray ranch house in Toms River on the Jersey Shore and ushered in three well-dressed men who said they were there to help him manage his money. Michael Kwasnik, a lawyer based in Philadelphia, handed Demeo a card that said he was "founding chairman" of Liberty Bell Bank in Evesham Township.

It's 5:30 p.m., "face time" at law firms across Philadelphia. Partners spend time reviewing cases with associates, and associates stick around to tally more billable hours or cultivate future clients through drinks or dinners. For attorney Laura Mattiacci, 34, that hour provides an entirely different scenario. She's on her way out the door to start the infamous "second shift," the one that involves home and motherhood. That means rushing to pick up 21/2-year-old Jack from day care, relieving the babysitter who watches 4-month-old Mason, and preparing dinner.

A lawyer with some prominent political friends borrowed $150,000 from a city program five years ago with the goal of expanding his new Philadelphia law practice. Mikel D. Jones, who grew up with U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah and who works as a staffer for another congressman in South Florida, repaid only $20,000. He has now been charged with fraud by federal prosecutors who say much of the money went to pay personal expenses and for Eagles and 76ers tickets. Jones also is charged with defrauding a hedge fund that lent him millions to pursue cases.

With all she's gone through, Susan Wallack could write a book and name it Joy and Pain: A Midlife Woman's Renaissance. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if that's her next project. But right now, Wallack, a lawyer turned interior designer turned poet turned lawyer (again), is painting. She's good at it, too. Her exhibition, "One-Part Paradise," showing at the Muse Gallery in Old City through Sunday, is a delightful array of vivid collage, assemblage, and mixed-media pieces, all with stories to tell.

Morris H. Wolff was back at his alma mater, Germantown Friends School, Friday to teach anyone who would listen about a Swedish diplomat and humanitarian hero named Raoul Wallenberg. Wolff, 74, gave two lessons at once. The overt one was about Wallenberg, a Christian who helped save as many as 100,000 Hungarian Jews from Nazi execution during World War II. The other was about Wolff himself and how passion can fuel a life. Wolff has spent much of the last 28 years, since Wallenberg's brother phoned to ask for his help, trying to hold the Soviet Union and the current Russian government accountable for Wallenberg - and seeking the truth about what happened to him. "I think he's still alive," Wolff says.

IN 2008, CITI was among the banking walruses whose incompetence and avarice plunged them into a mine shaft from which it took billions of taxpayer dollars to rescue them. Once saved, you might think the financial geniuses would show a little gratitude to their rescuers and help those having trouble meeting their mortgages. Think again. Along with you and me, one of the taxpayers who helped save Citi's sorry carcass was William Whiting, 60, who was scheduled to sit down this afternoon for a conciliation conference, known in Philadelphia as the Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program.

Edward J. Marcantonio, 90, a Philadelphia lawyer for 40 years, died Nov. 30 of bladder cancer at Rydal Park, a continuing-care facility in Montgomery County. Until retiring in 1990, Mr. Marcantonio tried civil cases as a defense lawyer. He worked for several law firms, most recently Swartz, Campbell & Detweiler, where he spent 25 years. Mr. Marcantonio was the son of immigrants from Chieti and Naples, Italy. He was born and raised in the family home on Jackson Street in South Philadelphia.

Marvin Comisky, former head of the Philadelphia Bar Association and a founding partner of the Blank Rome law firm, died yesterday. He was 92. Along with Samuel Blank and Edward Rome, Comisky founded what had been known as Blank Rome Comisky & McCauley in 1959. Comisky headed the firm's litigation department and, in 1969, was elected by his partners as Blank Rome's first managing partner. Comisky, a 1941 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, served as chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1965 and president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association in 1970.