Philadelphia, Pa. – March 9, 2006 – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – A. Michael Pratt, a partner with Pepper Hamilton LLP, has been elected vice chancellor of the 13,000-member Philadelphia Bar Association. He will serve as chancellor-elect in 2007, and lead the bar as chancellor in 2008.
“Mike is a natural leader and a terrific representative for the profession, the city and our firm,” said Robert E. Heideck, Pepper’s executive partner.
“We are proud of his efforts on behalf of the bar.”
Mr. Pratt said, “It is indeed an honor to have been elected to this post, and it is a privilege to work with the current chancellor, Alan Feldman, and chancellor-elect Jane Dalton, who are truly visionary leaders of this bar association. I look forward to working with them over the next several years on issues affecting our membership and legal community, including initiatives to increase funding for legal services and to promote diversity.”
Mr. Pratt concentrates his practice in commercial, product liability and mass tort litigation. He represents clients in a range of complex commercial and product liability matters involving contracts, affirmative action and civil rights policies, legislation, toxic tort, industrial and consumer products, and pharmaceutical devices and drugs.
Mr. Pratt has held many leadership positions in the Philadelphia Bar Association, including serving on its board of governors and as chairman of the Young Lawyers Division. He also has served as president of the Barristers Association of Philadelphia, Inc., a local organization of African-American lawyers.
He is actively involved with the Pennsylvania and American bar associations, serving as a member of the PBA’s House of Delegates since 1995, and as a member of both the ABA’s Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants and the Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service.
Mr. Pratt will be the sixth Pepper partner to lead the Philadelphia Bar Association. Other partners who served as chancellor include Francis P.
Devine, III in 1996 (while practicing at White and Williams), Peter Hearn in 1989, William R. Klaus in 1974, Ernest Scott in 1962, and George Wharton Pepper (the firm’s founder) in 1930-32.
The Philadelphia Bar Association (www.philabar.org) is America’s oldest chartered metropolitan bar association and Pennsylvania’s largest local bar association. The 13,000-member organization, founded in 1802, is a keystone in the ongoing developments of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania legal systems.
Pepper Hamilton LLP (www.pepperlaw.com) is a multi-practice law firm with 400 lawyers in six states and the District of Columbia. The firm provides corporate, litigation and regulatory legal services to leading businesses, governmental entities, nonprofit organizations and individuals throughout the nation and the world. The firm was founded in 1890.
