Greater Philadelphia Chapter Understanding the Legal and Professional Risks for Failing to Disclose a Client’s Fraud

Paul C. Troy

Mr. Troy joined the firm in 1991. He previously served as a law clerk to The Honorable Albert R. Subers of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in 1990. Mr. Troy focuses his practice on trials advocacy. He has tried professional liability, medical malpractice, commercial, auto, general liability, and product liability cases to verdict. While trial advocacy is Mr. Troy’s specialty, he believes that the ultimate responsibility of an attorney is to solve his client’s problems as efficiently and inexpensively as possible. He also believes that there is a widening chasm in the practice of law today between “litigators” and “trial lawyers”. While civil trials are the favorite part of Mr. Troy’s practice, he also believes that appropriate cases resolve more fairly and expeditiously when opposing counsel realizes that there is a trial lawyer on the other side.

In Pennsylvania Super Lawyers, Mr. Troy was voted by his peers to be not only one of the Top 100 attorneys in Philadelphia, but also one of the top 100 attorneys in Pennsylvania each year from 2012 through 2015. He is one of only a few defense attorneys on that list.

Mr. Troy has served as Chair of the House of Delegates of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. The House of Delegates is comprised of 450 attorneys from across Pennsylvania which meets to vote on the resolutions to be adopted as official positions of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Mr. Troy served a two year term on the Pennsylvania Bar Association Board of Governors until May, 2005. Previously Mr. Troy served a three year term on the Pennsylvania Bar Association Board of Governors from 1997 to 2000. He served as Chair of the PBA Young Lawyers Division in 1998. He has been a member of the PBA House of Delegates from 1996 to the present, and was appointed Chair of the Mid-Year Meeting in 2001.

Mr. Troy also served as either Chair or Vice-Chair of the PBA Health Care Law Committee from 2000 to 2009. He was appointed Chair of the Bar Leadership Institute (BLI) in 2001 and served as Co-Chair of the BLI for several years.

 Mr. Troy was President of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute in 2011-2012. He still serves on the Board of Directors of the PBI, and had previously served as President Elect, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary of the PBI before serving as President. The PBI is the largest non-profit provider of Continuing Legal Education in Pennsylvania. He is presently Chair of the PBA Leadership Development and Recruitment Committee.

As part of his commitment to Continuing Legal Education, Mr. Troy has taught well over 100 seminars in professional liability risk management. Most of these seminars have been for attorneys, though some have been for physicians and nurses.

Locally, Mr. Troy served as President of the Montgomery Bar Association in 2013. He severed a President of the Young Lawyers Section in 1997. He previously served as a Director of the Montgomery Bar Association from 1997 to 1999, and served as the President Elect, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary in successive years before becoming President in January 2013.

Mr. Troy is a past President of the Montgomery County Trial Lawyers Association, and received the distinguished James P. Fox Trial Lawyer of The Year Award for professionalism in the art of trial advocacy from the Montgomery County Trial Lawyers Association in 2011. His other activities in the Montgomery Bar Association include serving as either Chair or Co-Chair of the Insurance Committee of the MBA from 1996 to 2005. Mr. Troy received Special Achievement Award from the Montgomery Bar Association in 1999.

In the community, Mr. Troy has served as the Chair of the Gaudeamus Music Ministry, Inc. where he helped the Board of Directors raise funds to benefit children’s medical research and award college scholarships. Mr. Troy serves as Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library. He was honored by the Ambler Gazette as “Citizen of the Week” in March 2013.
Mr. Troy is forever grateful to have been fortunate enough to join a firm where he was given trial experience at a very young age. Today he mentors several very bright and talented younger lawyers in his firm, and tries to provide them with the same education and opportunities he received as a young lawyer. He appreciates the confidence his clients were willing to show in him as a young lawyer, and continue to have in him today. Most importantly, he is grateful for the love and support of his wife Liz, and three daughters with whom he resides in Blue Bell, PA.

John E. Mitchell, CPA, ABV, CFF, CVA
Partner-in-Charge
Marks Paneth LLP

John E. Mitchell, CPA, is the Partner-in-Charge of litigation consulting, business valuation, and accounting and auditing. Mr. Mitchell has completed damages analysis, business valuation, investigative accounting, auditing and other types of engagements for a variety of clients and end users, including attorneys, bankers, and the courts. As part of providing litigation consulting, business valuation and investigative accounting services, Mr. Mitchell has provided expert witness testimony in several jurisdictions (including the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas (multiple counties), the United States District Court (Eastern District), the Delaware Court of Chancery, and the New Jersey Superior Court) and arbitration venues (including AAA and FINRA). Mr. Mitchell’s accounting and auditing practice includes privatelyheld and venturebacked companies in the technology, business services, manufacturing/distribution, real estate and nonprofit sectors.

Peter J. Weidman

Peter J. Weidman is an accomplished and experienced trial attorney who
concentrates in the areas of commercial litigation, employment law and litigation, and
executive compensation.

As a commercial litigator, he represents individuals and businesses both publicly
and privately owned in business-related disputes and litigation. His experience includes
cases involving antitrust violations, professional liability, securities fraud, RICO
violations, infringements of intellectual property, shareholder disputes, breach of
contract, fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation, unfair competition, and other
business torts. In one recent case, for example, he obtained a $2.45 million jury verdict
in federal court on behalf of a bankruptcy trustee against an accounting firm that aided
and abetted a Ponzi scheme orchestrated by the firm's client.

As an employment litigator, he represents both employers and employees in
matters involving breach of employment agreements, violations of state wage payment
statutes, theft of trade secrets and other intellectual property, violations of restrictive
covenants, ERISA violations, wrongful discharge, and civil rights violations. In addition,
he has served as an independent investigator for employers faced with allegations of
sexual harassment and other forms of workplace misconduct. In his executive
compensation practice, he negotiates and structures employment and separation packages
for senior business executives, lower level executives, and professionals, primarily
physicians.

Mr. Weidman was born in 1957 and is a native of Roslyn, New York. He
graduated from Amherst College with a B.A. degree in 1979. After spending two years
working as a professional musician, he attended Columbia Law School, graduating with a
J.D. degree in 1984. Upon graduation, he worked as an associate at Debevoise &
Plimpton in New York City, in the firm's litigation department. After moving to
Philadelphia in 1985, he worked as an associate at Dechert Price & Rhoads, practicing in
the area of civil litigation with an emphasis on complex commercial litigation. In 1988,
he took a position as a staff attorney at the Defender Association of Philadelphia, where
he handled and tried numerous jury and non-jury criminal cases.

In 1990, he became associated with what was then Kaufman, Coren & Ress,
continuing his practice in the areas of civil and criminal litigation, and becoming a
partner in 1992 and a name partner the following year. In October, 2001, he resigned
from Kaufman, Coren, Ress & Weidman to fulfill a career-long dream of establishing his
own law practice, The Law Office of Peter J. Weidman. In 2008, the practice welcomed
a new partner, Debra B. Weidman, and became Weidman Law, LLC.

Based upon evaluations from fellow attorneys, Mr. Weidman has earned
Martindale-Hubbell's highest honor for legal ability, an AV rating. He is admitted to
practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, New York State, the United States Court
of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the United States District Court for the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania, and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern
Districts ofNew York. He is a member of the American, Pennsylvania, New York State
and Montgomery County Bar Associations, and has been very active in the Theater Wing
of the Philadelphia Bar Association. He teaches trial advocacy, serving as a longtime
member for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He is also on the Board of Trustees
of Congregation Or Ami in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania, and served as the
congregation's President from 2001 through 2003 and from 2005 through 2006.

Lynn E. Feldman, Esq.

Feldman Law Offices PC

Lynn E. Feldman has been actively engaged in the practice of law for over 20 years. She concentrates her practice in bankruptcy and debtor/creditor rights, serving clients primarily in Bethlehem and Allentown. As an experienced bankruptcy lawyer, she has an extensive debtor practice representing individual and businesses in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 filings. In addition, she serves as a Chapter 7 panel trustee for US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of PA. She is also a member of the Bar Association of Lehigh County. She is also a member of the Berks County Bar Association, Middle District Bankruptcy Bar Assoc, and the Eastern District Bankruptcy Conference.

Lawrence J. Kotler practices in the area of reorganization and finance, representing chapter 11 debtors-in-possession, chapter 11 trustees, chapter 7 trustees, liquidating trustees, creditors' committees, secured creditors and large institutional unsecured creditors in all facets of bankruptcy. Mr. Kotler is currently serving as counsel for the Unsecured Creditor Agent in the In re Orleans Homebuilders', Inc. bankruptcy cases pending in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, and as trustee's counsel in the bankruptcy cases of Ira Pressman, PJI Distribution Corp., Image Masters, Inc., et al., Bayard Sales Corp., Fabulous Fitness, Inc. and Boyertown Auto Body Inc., all pending in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He also is representing the senior secured creditor in the bankruptcy case of Philadelphia Entertainment Development Partners.

A Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, Mr. Kotler is certified as a business bankruptcy specialist by the American Board of Certification. He is also a frequent speaker on bankruptcy and creditors' rights issues. Mr. Kotler is a member of the American Bankruptcy Law Institute. Mr. Kotler is also a member and past Chairman of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference and is a member of the Delaware Inn of Courts. He is currently the President of the Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project and a member of the executive steering committee of this organization. From 2006-2017, Mr. Kotler has been listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers, and since 2005, he has been named as a Super Lawyer by Philadelphiamagazine. Since 2009, he has also been listed in The Best Lawyers in America.