Jeffrey P. Burke

Commercial Litigation

February 6, 2015 by Hoppel Design

Your business is business. Ours is litigation.

A critical tool in protecting your company’s interests, litigation can also be used to attack those same vital interests – often putting your entire life’s work at risk, and leaving your future uncertain.

At MacElree Harvey, our Commercial Litigation Practice is uncompromisingly committed to providing clients with the upper hand – utilizing the advantage that comes from our years of experience, and our dedication to helping you achieve your overall goals.

With a depth of expertise and the resources expected of large firms without sacrificing the responsiveness and personal attention typically found in much smaller firms, our experienced commercial litigators advise and advocate for the rights of businesses and individuals engaged in sales, trades, and commerce.

Whether you’re an industry leader with high visibility, or a smaller family-owned franchise, from onset to closing, our attorneys are equipped with the sophisticated knowledge and training to ensure you have the right team on your side.

Our clients know that it doesn’t matter if they’re a large business involved in breach of contract dispute, a business or individual seeking to protect his or her intellectual property, or a shareholder seeking to protect his or her rights in a corporate dispute, our commercial litigators approach each matter the exact same way – with the expertise required to properly advise you on the next steps, the skill to unrelentingly fight for, or defend you – and – most importantly – the initiative to obtain the result desired.

If you would like to schedule a consultation, please call the firm at 610.436.0100 or submit the contact request form.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

February 4, 2015 by Hoppel Design

In many legal matters, going to trial is the least desirable way to reach an outcome. Litigation costs can be very high and emotions can run the gamut of apprehension to anger and even worse. Using Alternative Dispute Resolution, parties can resolve business disagreements, estate and trust disputes, family law matters and other legal disputes in a more efficient and surprisingly more satisfactory way than heated courtroom battles.

The process of Alternative Dispute Resolution is valuable because it involves a knowledgeable, neutral person to provide a forum in which a parties can settle their differences.

At MacElree Harvey both our Pennsylvania and Delaware attorneys often use Alternative Dispute Resolution to facilitate resolution of our clients’ legal disputes. In addition, the Firm has several attorneys who offer Alternative Dispute Resolution services as part of their practice by serving as Mediators and Arbitrators.

The use of Alternative Dispute Resolution forums to resolve disputes in Pennsylvania and Delaware has expanded greatly in the past thirty years. Many types of disputes are particularly suited to resolution through mediation or arbitration. Some examples include:

Divorce
Custody
Personal injury
Estate matters
Employment conflicts
Breach of contract

The primary methods of Alternative Dispute Resolution are Mediation and Arbitration, which are chosen depending on the client’s individual situation, and desired manner of interacting with the process and the other parties involved.

Mediation
Mediation is a process by which parties to a dispute use a neutral party to attempt to facilitate a mutually agreeable resolution to their conflict. It is a confidential process in which the mediator, an impartial third party, directs settlement discussions, but does not render a judgment on any issue in dispute. The mediator helps the parties reach their own negotiated settlement by holding joint sessions with all parties present followed by caucuses with each party individually, during which issues are defined, emotions are defused, and potential resolutions are discussed. Mediation is a non-adversarial way to resolve conflicts, including lawsuits. A mediator can facilitate the parties in conflict to frame the business problem caused by the conflict, hear the parties out, and engage them in the process of working through the conflict to reach an agreement acceptable to the parties that includes gives and takes, and specific behavior.

Arbitration
When Arbitration is used, a neutral person (called an arbitrator) hears arguments and evidence from each side, then, in contrast to Mediation, decides the outcome of the dispute. Arbitration is less formal than a trial, and the rules of evidence are often relaxed. Participants in Arbitration may choose for the outcome to be considered binding or non-binding. When the outcome is binding, the right to a trial is waived, and participants agree to accept the arbitrator’s decision as final, often with no right to appeal. When participants choose nonbinding Arbitration means that the parties are free to request a trial if they do not accept the arbitrator’s decision.

MacElree Harvey attorneys have the experience to serve as arbitrators, mediators and to represent parties at mediations and arbitrations in disputes throughout Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Litigation Law

January 29, 2015 by Hoppel Design

Litigation Law

From its inception, MacElree Harvey has been the home of accomplished trial lawyers serving clients in Southeastern Pennsylvania and Northern Delaware.

Our attorneys are known for their efficient and effective representation of a broad range of clients.

The firm has continued that tradition by recognizing that the legal challenges facing individuals, families, businesses, professionals, and charities can have devastating consequences if not properly prosecuted or defended.

To meet the challenges of today’s legal climate, while MacElree Harvey continues to have a broad range litigation practice, the firm has also begun to concentrate its practice areas so that clients who face a particular legal challenge in these areas can expect quality representation by the right litigation lawyer with the right level of experience.

PRACTICE AREAS

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Banking & Finance Litigation

Commercial Litigation

Corporate Governance, Regulatory and Compliance (Self-Insured Corporate Defense)

Environmental Law

Insurance Coverage Disputes

Intellectual Property Litigation

Medical Malpractice

Product Liability

Professional Malpractice

Trademark & Trade Secret Litigation

Trust & Estate Litigation

OFFICES

Kennett Square, PA

West Chester, PA

ARTICLES

What is Mediation?

ALL PRACTICE AREAS

If you would like to schedule a consultation, please call the firm at 610.436.0100 or submit the contact request form.

Business and Corporate Law

January 29, 2015 by Hoppel Design

Business and Corporate Law

Businesses need lawyers who not only know the law but who also understand their business.

Our business law practice places an emphasis on small and mid-market companies. We build strong relationships with our clients so we understand their goals and challenges and can act as a trusted legal and business advisor. Our business attorneys help clients in Southeastern Pennsylvania and Northern Delaware find reasonable and practical solutions to business and legal problems.

Starting at formation and through the lifecycle of a business, we provide comprehensive and knowledgeable advice on numerous issues facing small to mid-market companies. Our team of attorneys will assist with entity formation, hiring and terminating employees, confidentiality and non-compete issues; drafting shareholder, partnership and operating agreements; and a wide variety of business and commercial contracts. Our business attorneys regularly handle complex business matters including governance issues, strategic planning, executive compensation, negotiating and structuring financing, transition, continuity and succession planning, and liquidity events such as sales or mergers.

To ensure our clients get the best representation possible, where appropriate, our business team that works closely with other MacElree Harvey lawyers, drawing on the skills and experience of lawyers in the areas of commercial litigation, taxation, estate, and succession planning, real estate, employment, finance, insolvency, collections, and restructuring.

Representative Areas of Service:

Business Formation
Transactions and Transitions
Family Businesses
Professional Practices

Business Formation

MacElree Harvey has helped hundreds of new businesses get their start. We assist clients in the start-up phase with the critical first steps to establish their businesses. We listen to our clients’ objectives, in order to understand the nature of their business, taking into consideration liability concerns, tax ramifications, management and ownership structures, financial issues, and other issues specific to their business.

Throughout every stage of a client’s business, we encourage an eye to the future. Our goal is to build long-term relationships with our clients, tailoring our legal services to their business as it grows and develops.

Transactions and Transitions

MacElree Harvey aims to simplify the legal process and provide affordable, high-quality corporate law services so our clients can stick to what they do best while we handle the compliance, contractual and other legal concerns. We assist owners and boards of directors maintain their operations and foster growth while avoiding legal and regulatory pitfalls. Our attorneys regularly handle complex business matters related to governance, transitions and transactions, strategic planning, raising financing, and offering new services or products. Our attorneys also advise clients on transfers of technology and intellectual property, as well as trademarks, copyrights, and licenses. As our clients’ businesses expand and change, we approach each transaction with financial considerations and long-term strategic plans in mind. Our attorneys listen to the clients’ objectives before aggressively pursuing their interests in any transaction.

Unfortunately, not all business ventures end harmoniously. A “business divorce” involves issues of control, ownership, and distribution of property, as well as potential payments. These business decisions are often accompanied by high-stakes conflict and intense emotions. Our attorneys lend a depth of experience in negotiation and strategic unwinding of a business. When necessary, we work with our litigation group to resolve disagreements as part of the business divorce process.

Family Businesses

MacElree Harvey has worked closely with generations of family business owners and executives. We understand that an owner’s closely held business may be a family’s largest and most important asset. We provide advice related to governance, risk management, employment, real estate, and tax matters, as well as continuity and succession planning. In addition, we help family business owners anticipate risk and conflict through each stage of their business. We evaluate the goals of a business’s current and future owners and advise clients on advanced planning related to management, tax structures, valuation, and transition.

As family businesses pass from generation to generation, transferring ownership, control and assets can be a complex and emotional process. Our attorneys work with families and their advisers to do advance planning for these transitions, minimizing conflict and stress. If disputes arise within the family as part of this process, our attorneys are highly skilled at dealing with those conflicts and negotiating them to resolution. We apply our experience and knowledge from prior successful transitions to our clients’ situations to achieve clients’ goals.

Family business succession planning is a vital component for any closely-held business owner’s estate plan. Our business attorneys work closely with our estates and trusts group, coordinating our efforts to plan business ownership transfers using methods that satisfy our clients’ personal objectives while minimizing risk and tax burdens.

Professional Practices

Owners of professional practices are subject to the same important business decisions as to any other business owner. Doctors, dentists, accountants, lawyers, architects and owners of other licensed professional practices frequently call upon our attorneys for counsel on the legal issues confronting their businesses.

MacElree Harvey’s business attorneys regularly establish professional practices, assisting clients with entity selection and formation, as well as management and governance. Our real estate attorneys negotiate leases for office space and space sharing agreements. As practices grow, owners may choose to add associate members. These changes require developing employment contracts, partnership tracks, non-competition agreements, and compensation plans. Further, when more than one person will be involved in the ownership of the practice, our attorneys assist in designing appropriate business agreements that consider issues ranging from buy-in methods to exit strategies.

Employment policies are also an important consideration for professional practices. We advise clients on employment issues such as employment manuals, workplace policies, hiring and termination procedures, as well as compliance with federal, state and local laws.