Thought Leadership

Beginning in April 2021 and extending through the end of this April, Marshall Dennehey added 14 lateral shareholders. While public pronouncements were issued at the time each joined our firm, I want to introduce them again as a group, to show how the addition of these shareholders reaffirms our continuing commitment to be the go-to civil defense firm in every jurisdiction where we practice. 

This influx of new, experienced attorneys took place in nine out of our 19 offices, in six states, and in all four of our practice departments. These shareholders augment our already deep roster of talented and experienced litigation specialists. They have an average of over 28 years of legal experience, representing clients in federal and state court. Together, they have handled over 375 jury trials and countless non-jury trials, arbitrations, mediations, and administrative hearings. Collectively, they have handled every imaginable type of civil litigation, and each of their practices and experiences add depth to our existing practices. Many of them are active in national, state, and local bar associations and industry groups, are frequent lecturers to attorneys and claims professionals, and are contributors to several legal publications. 

Seven of the shareholders who joined Marshall Dennehey over this period are in our Casualty Department. The most high-profile of these occurred this past October, when Jack Delany, a prominent, international, catastrophic damage trial attorney, decided to join our firm. Joining Jack as shareholders from his previous firm are Kristen Worley and Andrew Campbell. Jack and his team have been counsel in some of the most significant national and international civil litigation in recent memory, including lawsuits stemming from the Grenfell Tower fire in London, the Surfside condominium collapse in Florida, a recent factory explosion in Pennsylvania, and many other high-profile catastrophic events. Within weeks of joining Marshall Dennehey, Jack, Kristen, and Andrew began a large construction defect case in which the plaintiffs sought over $24 million in damages. After a three-week trial in federal court, the jury returned with a unanimous defense verdict. 

In February 2021, Melissa Devich Cochran was the first of the 14 shareholders to join Marshall Dennehey. Melissa was already familiar with Marshall Dennehey, having previously been a 12-year Marshall Dennehey attorney, who decided to return after several years at another firm. She rejoined our Pittsburgh office in our Asbestos and Mass Tort Litigation Practice Group. Melissa quickly settled back into familiar surroundings, bringing with her deep client relations and extensive knowledge and experience in defending national equipment manufacturers, outside contractors, and suppliers in asbestos litigation throughout Western Pennsylvania. 

Later in 2021, Vince Cononico joined our Cleveland office from a major insurance company’s staff counsel office where, for over 25 years, he handled a variety of significant automobile, premises liability, uninsured/underinsured motorist, and other personal injury matters throughout Ohio. Vince has first-chaired over 50 jury trials and several times was acknowledged by the insurance company as having the highest winning percentage of the staff counsel in his region. 

In 2022, John Yaninek, a 33-year trial attorney, joined our Harrisburg office. John, who is admitted in both Pennsylvania and Maryland, handles a variety of complex casualty matters in both states. John’s experience extends beyond his injury cases, as he has also defended clients in white-collar criminal cases and clients in real estate E&O matters. John is a decorated U.S. Army veteran of the Gulf War, where he managed legal issues for the Army in occupied Iraqi territory during the ground conflict. John retired from the Army Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Just a few months ago, Keith McCabe joined our New Haven office, which we opened in February of 2022. Keith brings to this rapidly-growing office over 30 years of litigation experience, defending personal and commercial clients in the Connecticut federal and state courts. Keith has tried over 75 jury cases to verdict in a broad range of cases, including those that involve catastrophic injuries and deaths. 

Four of the 14 lateral shareholders joined our Health Care Department. The first is Bill Gianaris, who joined our Westchester office where he represents hospitals and medical providers in the five boroughs of New York City and upstate New York. A 34-year attorney, Bill spent the first 14 years of his career as an Assistant District Attorney in Queens County where he tried numerous criminal cases. Since leaving the District Attorney’s office, Bill has been primarily defending medical liability and general liability matters. He has tried numerous high-exposure cases involving medical professional liability across New York.

Near the end of 2022, Suzanne Utke joined our Health Care Department in Philadelphia. Suzanne, who was a critical care nurse before going to law school, has over 20 years of experience defending physicians, nurses, and health care providers against medical and psychiatric malpractice claims. She also represents professionals in peer and credential reviews before various State Boards. 

This year, two additional shareholders joined our Health Care Department. In March, David G. Tomeo, a litigation leader with more than 30 years of experience across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York, joined our Roseland office. In addition to his medical professional liability practice, Dave handles commercial and business litigation and insurance coverage matters. Dave is also frequently called upon to defend urgent care center franchisors in medical malpractice suits and handles other matters at the intersection of franchise and medical malpractice law. 

A few weeks later, experienced medical malpractice litigator Tracey S. McGurk joined Marshall Dennehey as a shareholder in the firm’s Cleveland office. A member of the Health Care Department, she focuses on the defense of medical professionals and providers, including physicians, hospitals, and nursing home/extended care facilities. In addition to her medical liability experience, Tracey also represents non-medical professionals, primarily real estate agents and agencies, in a variety of E&O and commercial matters. 

Two of the 14 shareholders who joined Marshall Dennehey over the last 24 months are in our Workers’ Compensation Department. The first is Michael Sebastian, who joined our Scranton office and has represented employers in workers’ compensation matters for over 30 years. Mike came to us with a loyal client following and vast experience at all levels of the workers’ compensation system. 

Next, Kristopher Starr joined our Wilmington office. Kris started his legal career as a Deputy Attorney General, prosecuting criminal cases. The Delaware Secretary of Labor appointed Kris as a Workers’ Compensation Hearing Officer, where he spent three years issuing opinions and orders, before leaving the bench to represent public and private employers, which he continues to do. 

Finally, Josh J.T. Byrne joined our Professional Liability Department in 2021 as a shareholder in the Philadelphia office. A well-known attorney in the Pennsylvania legal community, Josh has over 24 years of experience representing and defending clients in a variety of professional liability matters, as well as assisting those clients with professional disciplinary and licensing matters. Josh is a frequent commentator on legal malpractice, disciplinary matters, and attorney ethics. He also serves as chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Professional Liability Committee, co-chair of the Pennsylvania Bar’s Amicus Curiae Brief Committee, and co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Professional Responsibility Committee.

The successful integration of these 14 attorneys is the result of a disciplined process we employ at Marshall Dennehey. More than ten years ago, we created the role of Lateral Integration Coordinator to assist new shareholders in their transition to the firm. Since that time, Sandy Caiazzo, who is also Director of Administrative Services, has held this position. Sandy is the key internal point of contact for all lateral attorneys joining our firm. She works closely with these laterals before, during, and after their arrival to ensure a timely start and seamless transition. Many of these lateral shareholders brought with them other associates or special counsel, paralegals, and administrative staff, and Sandy oversees their onboarding as well. 

Among her responsibilities, Sandy liaises with the firm’s administrative departments to ensure that conflict searches are performed, client guidelines and rates are obtained, and press releases and marketing materials are prepared. From day one, she ensures that lateral shareholders who join Marshall Dennehey have the technological and administrative resources and training tools necessary to enable them to hit the ground running. Each of the 15 new shareholders was uniformly impressed with our lateral integration process and marveled at how quickly they were assimilated into Marshall Dennehey.

I am very pleased to highlight the addition of our remarkable new lateral shareholders, who further enhance our firm’s extraordinary litigation talent across our many jurisdictions, offices, and practice areas. To a person, these new attorneys saw Marshall Dennehey as the perfect firm in which to further develop their careers and build meaningful professional and personal relationships. I am humbled by their confidence in us, and I firmly believe that they made the right decision in joining us. With their transitions eased by the efficiency of Sandy Caiazzo’s team and our firm’s many other administrative and technological resources, our new lateral shareholders position Marshall Dennehey very well for continued success in the service of our clients. I am also confident that, over the coming months, Marshall Dennehey will have the opportunity to welcome other lateral shareholders who will continue our tradition of finding the right attorneys to serve our clients. 

_{Defense Digest, Vol. 29, No. 2, June 2023, is prepared by Marshall Dennehey to provide information on recent legal developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. ATTORNEY ADVERTISING pursuant to New York RPC 7.1. © 2023 Marshall Dennehey. All Rights Reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm. For reprints, contact tamontemuro@mdwcg.com.}