Pond Lehocky is pleased to announce that all four of its partners and several of the firm’s associates have been named to the 2020 Best Lawyers in America© list.
Managing Partner Samuel Pond and Partners Jerry Lehocky, Thomas Giordano Jr. and Stephen Miller were all recognized this year. This year marks the 13th consecutive year Pond made the list and the eighth consecutive time Lehocky was recognized. Giordano and Miller have each made it three consecutive years.
Several associates have also made the Best Lawyers in America© list multiple consecutive times. Marilyn Jamain made the list for the third straight year, while Alexis Handrich, Francis Ciprero and Ryan Scanlon have now been recognized back-to-back times.
New to the list this year were associates Maureen “Morty” Cassidy and Andrew Ruder.
Recognition by Best Lawyers in America© is entirely based on confidential peer reviews collected from leading attorneys in specific practice areas and geographic locations. For more than three decades, Best Lawyers’ publications have been respected by the legal industry and recognized as a definitive, unbiased resource for legal referrals.
Pond Lehocky opened its doors in July 2010. Today, it is the largest workers’ compensation and Social Security disability law firm in the region and has expanded nationwide with offices in New Jersey, New York and California. The firm has also recently added new practice areas for workers, including employment law and long-term disability, and has a national referral network, which has helped 86,000 clients with referrals.
Pond is a founding and managing partner of Pond Lehocky, the largest workers’ compensation and disability law firm in Pennsylvania. A former President of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, he served for six years as treasurer of that organization’s Committee for a Better Tomorrow. He also is president of Union Services Access, a legal consulting services network for unions and their members, and the chairman of the Pennsylvania Alliance. He has previously served in leadership roles for numerous organizations, including chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Section and member of the Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners.
Jerry Lehocky is a founding partner of Pond Lehocky. A 1985 graduate of Temple University School of Law, he has been a litigator of workers’ compensation and Social Security disability since being admitted to practice. Initially, he represented employers and insurance companies. However, since 1991, he has represented claimants exclusively. He is currently serving a three-year term as a member of the Disciplinary Board of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He is also a former president of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice, the first workers’ compensation attorney to hold that position.
Giordano has dedicated his career to assisting disabled Americans. He leads Pond Lehocky Disability, the firm’s nationwide Social Security and disability insurance arm. The department has represented tens of thousands of disabled individuals in all 50 states. In August, he was named to the Lupus Foundation of America’s board of directors. A graduate of Rutgers University School of Law – Camden, Giordano is a founding partner of Pond Lehocky. He currently serves as the chair of the Social Security Disability Committee of the American Association for Justice and as the co-chair of the Social Security Disability section of the Philadelphia Bar Association.
Miller joined Pond Lehocky in 2016. He leads the firm’s Pittsburgh office. After Just 18 months with the firm, he was promoted to partner—becoming the firm’s first partner outside of its founding members. Since his admission to the Pennsylvania Bar in 2000, Miller has dedicated his practice to workers’ compensation law and has litigated countless cases throughout central and western Pennsylvania. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Washington & Jefferson College and received his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
