Unparalleled Growth

Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin, a professional corporation, was founded in 1960. A survey conducted by the Philadelphia Business Journal cited our firm as the fastest growing law firm in the Philadelphia region in the 1990's.  We are gratified that this client-driven growth continues to the present time.

Exclusively Defense

We are exclusively a regional defense litigation firm with our professional practices encompassing a broad spectrum of litigation matters.

Complex Litigation Experience

Members of our firm have considerable experience handling high-profile and complex litigation, including class actions and mass tort matters.

Regional Presence

The regional presence of our firm, consisting of 18 offices throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio, Florida, and New York, affords many advantages to our clients. One client detailed some of these advantages in the publication Of Counsel, where he expressed appreciation of our firm's strategic locations in areas where his company has stores. He praised our ability to handle a wide variety of claims, ranging from fall downs and car damage claims to complex product liability matters.

Regional Office Statistics

Nearly 60 percent of our timekeepers work in our 16 satellite offices. This statistic underscores the importance of our regional offices to our clients, as well as to our firm. Clients report to us that they are comfortable entering into regionwide arrangements for our representation knowing that we are well-staffed in these offices. All of our offices are linked via an Intranet. The attorneys at these locations are native to the area, have a good rapport with and knowledge of local judges and opposing attorneys, and are familiar with the population of potential jurors.

Attorneys Selected by Clients

With over 400 attorneys on staff, clients have a great deal of legal talent from which to choose. As one of the firm's clients said in Of Counsel, "Their attitude is tremendous. If I say I want a particular attorney on a matter, I have that attorney. If I say I want a conference with the attorney, a conference is arranged."

Minority Hiring

In surveys conducted by The National Law Journal and The Philadelphia Legal Intelligencer, our firm was identified, both on a national and regional level, as one of the leading large law firms in the categories of minority hiring and advancement.  Our deep and abiding commitment to building a diverse law firm can, once again, be seen in the results of a survey of Pennsylvania firms conducted by American Law Media in 2003.  It was reported that we were tied with another prestigious Pennsylvania firm for having the greatest number of minority partners of the firms surveyed.

Peer Ratings

The expertise of our firm has been recognized by our peers.  At the present time, we have over 129 Martindale-Hubbell AV rated attorneys and 86 BV rated attorneys.  We also have in our ranks lawyers who have been elected as Fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers.  In addition, many of our lawyers are listed in Best Lawyers in America, New Jersey Super Lawyers, Pennsylvania Super Lawyers, Delaware Super Lawyers, and Florida Super Lawyers.

Regional & National Coordinating Counsel

We are privileged to serve as Regional Coordinating Counsel and National Coordinating Counsel for a number of major corporations.

Alternative Risk Transfer

Through active membership in the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA), the National Risk Retention Association (NRRA), and similar organizations, our firm is very familiar with the unique needs of the members of the alternative risk transfer communities, including risk retention groups, captives, and specialized insurance programs.

Internal Stability

We are very proud of the remarkable level of our internal stability. Many of the attorneys among our shareholder have been with us for a considerable number of years. In numerous instances, this is the only law firm for which these men and women have chosen to work.

Recognized for Service and Leadership

The firm's commitment to leadership and client service has been recognized by the Delaware Valley Total Quality Consortium. Other recipients of this award include Ametek, Bell Atlantic, Boeing, Independence Blue Cross, Lockheed Martin and Subaru of America, Inc.

Internal Auditing

In 1985, the firm started an internal auditing program that draws upon the expertise of former claims managers and senior attorneys. This program received national attention in an article about innovative law firm management practices appearing in The National Law Journal.

Successful Business Model

In an article appearing in The Philadelphia Legal Intelligencer in 2005 dealing with the challenges and opportunities for insurance defense firms, it was stated that our firm has clearly dominated the Philadelphia marketplace.  In support of that statement, it was noted that the firm has grown from 172 to well over 300 lawyers in the past decade and has maintained a healthy partner-associate ratio.  It was further discussed that major insurance carriers are attracted to our firm through its extensive use of technology as well as the numerous offices we have established throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and Florida.  Charles Maddock, a noted legal consultant with Altman Weil, recommended in this article some other defense litigation law firms "need to adopt the Marshall Dennehey model" in response to the changing needs and expectations of the insurance industry.

Central Diary System

All of the litigation files entrusted to us are on an electronic diary system that is designed to ensure that action has been taken by the handling attorney on all of his or her files within the past 90 days. Our monthly monitoring of this program discloses a 97 percent compliance rate, and any need for updated attorney reporting or action is immediately addressed.  We have further refined this system to provide alerts to our attorneys when a certain percentage of the agreed-to litigation budget has been reached, affording the client and the handling attorney the opportunity to consider the options open to them at that juncture.

Legal Research Supervision

We have a very focused and cost-efficient approach to legal research.  Our Manager of Legal Research and Legal Information Services is a practicing attorney well-versed in cutting-edge law firm technology and efficient research techniques.

Measured Performance

It is significant to note that our firm's Case Disposition Program enables us to develop statistics reflecting levels of performance in such areas as case cycle times, indemnity payments made, litigation expenses, and case outcomes, which can be broken down by law type and jurisdiction.

Breaking Legal Developments

Since 1992 we have provided our clients with our firm's comprehensive newsletter, Defense Digest. During that time, we have never missed a deadline, making certain that our clients can consistently rely upon us for advice about legal developments, as well as giving them the benefit of our analysis and practical recommendations.  We also advise our clients of breaking legal developments through our monthly electronic newsletter, Law Alerts.  We provide our workers' compensation clients with a monthly update, What's Hot in Workers' Comp.  The attorneys in our Florida Professional Liability Group offer their clients a quarterly newsletter, Florida Professional Liability and Ethics Law Letter.  All of our newsletters are available on our web site at http://www.marshalldennehey.com/ .

ADR Commitment

We are strongly committed to alternative dispute resolution vehicles. We are an original signatory to the Law Firm Policy Statement of the Center for Public Resources, Inc.'s Initiatives on Alternatives to Litigation.

Published Works

The expertise and professional commitment of our attorneys is evidenced by the fact that they have had over 100 articles published in such publications as For The Defense, Federation of Insurance & Corporate Counsel Quarterly, Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly, Counterpoint (the official newsletter of the Pennsylvania Defense Institute), The Compleat Lawyer, The Philadelphia Legal Intelligencer, Lawyers Journal, Pennsylvania Law Weekly, and The Widener Law Symposium Journal, Journal of Healthcare Risk Management, The Philadelphia Lawyer, the Specialist: Excess/Surplus/Specialty Lines Quarterly, The PLUS Journal, Pennsylvania CPA Journal, The Pennsylvania Pharmacist, The Florida Bar News, New Jersey Law Journal, Hospital & Healthcare News, and Global Reinsurance.  Several of our attorneys were presented with the Andrew C. Hecker Award for Best FDCC Quarterly Article.

Community Dedication

We are very deeply involved in and dedicated to the civic and charitable aspects of the communities where our offices are located. Our firm is very supportive of such organizations as Big Brothers, the Police Athletic League, the Philadelphia Homeless Advocacy Project, and the Philadelphia Bar Foundation - which supports numerous charitable causes including the AIDS Project and the VIP Program - and the United Way. Members of our firm serve on the Boards of such non-profit organizations as the Committee of 70 and the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania.  One of our members serves on the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry.

Alternative Fee Arrangements

Significantly, the several large annual contract fee and global contract fee arrangements into which we have entered with some of our larger clients have been renewed on an annual basis, clearly evidencing that these arrangements are beneficial to our clients and sufficiently profitable for our firm. Other forms of alternative pricing are also available.