Pond Lehocky associate Julie Fritsch will be speaking at the United Steelworkers Local 8041 members meeting on Feb. 18. She will discuss what union members should know about their rights should they be injured on-the-job or develop a work-related illness.
Local 8041 is a part of the USW, which represents 850,000 workers in the metals, mining, paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and energy-producing industries.
Fritsch joined Pond Lehocky last July as an associate in the firm’s Pittsburgh office. Certified as a Workers’ Compensation Law Specialist by the Pennsylvania Bar Association, she has represented injured workers for more than 15 years.
Before joining Pond Lehocky, Fritsch was a partner at a Pittsburgh law firm where she represented claimants and plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, veterans’ and Social Security disability matters at the administrative, trial and appellate levels. Prior to practice, she completed a judicial clerkship with the Honorable Jolene Grubb Kopriva of Blair County, Pennsylvania.
She received her J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and earned her B.A. in political science from Pennsylvania State University – Behrend College. She is also accredited by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to represent veterans with claims for disability benefits.
Union outreach is important to Pond Lehocky, which prides itself as a fierce advocate for labor. For Pond Lehocky, it’s personal. Many of the firm’s attorneys and staff members come from union backgrounds and Managing Partner Samuel Pond is the president of Union Services Access, a legal consulting services network for unions and their members.
In August, pro-labor media platform and service provider PhillyLabor recognized Pond Lehocky for its commitment to unions, naming it the Who’s Who in Injury and Injured Workers Advocacy Program Firm of the Year. The honor recognizes the firm’s “exemplary representation of injured workers and disabled citizens” from across the Philadelphia area.