Our Attorneys

Founding Partner

• Rutgers University School of Law – Camden (J.D. 2004)
• Towson University (2001)

• Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association
• National Organization of Social Security Claimant’s Representative (NOSSCR)
• American Association of Justice
• Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Bar Associations
• Justinian Society
• The National Advocates
• Top 100 Lawyers
• Super Lawyers
• US News Best Lawyers

With Thomas J. Giordano, Jr., city smarts and hustle meet suburban polish and finesse.

It’s how a fresh-faced workers’ compensation attorney who put 100,000 miles on a car with a 36,000-mile lease by driving to court appearances across Pennsylvania became a seasoned attorney fighting for the injured and disabled, and later, a founding partner of Pond Lehocky Giordano, the largest workers’ compensation and disability law firm in Pennsylvania.

Today, Tom oversees the firm’s day-to-day operations. His responsibilities include managing the firm’s attorneys to ensure they’re zealously advocating for clients and securing the best legal results possible for them; making sure staff members provide world-class client service and are empathetic when clients tell them their stories; reaffirming that the firm’s culture supports and encourages its attorneys and staff members to be the best they can be; and seeing to it that the firm’s marketing reaches and educates injured and disabled people in need of legal representation.

(With Tom’s efforts, Pond Lehocky Giordano has become renowned within the national legal community for its operations and marketing know-how.)

Discovering his life’s mission to serve society’s injured and disabled

Born in a row home in South Philadelphia, Tom grew up around blue-collar workers who served society by rolling up their sleeves and building things. Seeing these people day after day, and growing up with their kids, shaped his appreciation for blue-collar workers and gave him the ability to connect with them when they were his clients and to empathize with them when workplace injuries took a devastating toll on them and their families when those injuries prevented them from working and earning a paycheck.

When Tom was in elementary school, his family moved to Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Growing up in the suburbs around doctors, attorneys, and other professionals, Tom saw how his neighbors were serving society like his old neighbors did—but this time with their brains instead of their brawn.

Tom’s mother solidified his desire to serve society’s injured and disabled. She rose from a legal secretary at a prominent regional Philadelphia-area law firm to lead its human resources department. Working at that firm while he was in high school and college, Tom saw the way attorneys work, think, and most importantly, how they counsel clients through difficult times. To be an attorney would allow Tom to help people—something he had a desire to do from a young age.

After graduating from Towson University in 2001 with a degree in Communications, and Rutgers Law School in 2004, Tom joined the law firm his mother worked at as a newly minted attorney defending companies against workers’ compensation claims filed by their employees.

It took Tom a whole 13 months before he realized his passion was representing injured workers—not their employers.

It was at his next law firm that he first met his eventual law partners, Sam Pond and Jerry Lehocky.

The Pond Lehocky Giordano seeds are planted—and begin to sprout

Technically, Tom first met Sam and Jerry when he worked at his first law firm. But they were his opponents in a number of lawsuits. Tom saw how skilled and polished they were as attorneys and what staunch advocates they were for their clients. Tom thought they were the epitome of form and substance. Tom was so impressed that he eventually joined the firm they worked at, hoping he could learn from them.

And Tom did—but not just about workers’ compensation law. Tom’s office was two offices away from Sam’s. Quickly, Tom and Sam formed a bond, as did Tom and Jerry. Sam and Jerry became Tom’s mentors, teaching him about the practice of law, and life. They taught him the things successful attorneys and law firms must do. Tom marveled at their unrelenting passion. Even when they achieved their greatest successes, they were never satisfied. They simply kept working harder.

They taught him, for example, how to provide top-notch client service, how to deal with employers and insurance companies that refuse to promptly pay injured workers the benefits they are entitled to, how to motivate and lead colleagues, and how to run a law firm effectively so it will always be there for its clients.

In Tom’s eyes, working alongside Sam and Jerry forever changed his life for the better, and in too many ways to count. A big reason for that is because after five years of working and learning alongside Sam and Jerry, Tom was presented with an opportunity to launch Pond Lehocky Giordano with them. And on July 1, 2010, that opportunity became a reality.

When Pond Lehocky Giordano first launched, Tom led the firm’s Social Security Disability department. Tom originally began representing disabled clients after hearing Sam speak passionately about the lack of quality legal representation for this large portion of Americans. Tom was inspired. Sam and Jerry gave Tom the opportunity to run the firm’s Social Security Disability department when Pond Lehocky Giordano’s doors first opened.

But Tom didn’t just run the department—he grew it. Exponentially.

What began as a one-attorney (Tom) department with two staff members has today become an operation with a number of attorneys and dozens of staff. The department has grown from serving a few hundred clients to now having successfully obtained benefits for more than 50,000 clients throughout all 50 states. And, it has become a model for other law firms across the U.S. who want to build efficient, client-focused departments within their firms.

Tom credits this remarkable growth to the incredible support of Sam and Jerry, the out-of-the-box thinking of current CEO Shawn Lehocky, and the tireless efforts of Pond Lehocky Giordano’s Social Security Disability team, including the team’s staff and attorneys

Ensuring society’s injured and disabled will always have a law firm on their side

As important as Tom’s background and achievements—such as the growth of Pond Lehocky Giordano’s Social Security Disability department—have been in making him the attorney and leader he is today, they are also helping him stay focused on the future.

Knowing how difficult life can be for the injured and disabled, Tom sees it as his duty to ensure Pond Lehocky Giordano continues to represent injured and disabled people for the next 100 years. He also believes he has a duty to honor the spirit and vision of Sam and Jerry, since they are responsible for giving him the opportunity to help build and grow Pond Lehocky Giordano.

Like every other attorney and staff member at Pond Lehocky Giordano, Tom believes there is no law firm that can walk the walk like Pond Lehocky Giordano can when it comes to getting justice for the injured and disabled.

That’s why Tom sees his biggest responsibility as building Pond Lehocky Giordano in a way that will allow it, its attorneys, and its staff to continue to seek justice for the injured and disabled for generations to come.