Pietragallo partner Scott Coffina recently spoke on AARP’s podcast, The Perfect Scam℠, on the episode “Couple and Homeless Man Conspire on Viral $400K GoFundMe Scam”. On the podcast, Scott shared his unique perspective on the viral story of a New Jersey couple and a homeless veteran, having supervised their prosecution for their $400,000 GoFundMe scam during his time as County Prosecutor for Burlington County, NJ. Mr. Coffina discusses this and other scams he saw during his time as County Prosecutor during the podcast.
The podcast is available below, and can be found on Apple Podcasts, Amazon, and Spotify.
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Pietragallo is pleased to announce that Lourdes Sánchez Ridge has been appointed Chair of the Allegheny County Bar Association’s Professional Ethics Committee. Ms. Sánchez Ridge will serve a one-year term as Chair of the committee, which renders opinions on the proper interpretation of the Code of Judicial Conduct or Rules of Professional Conduct and their applicability to particular facts as requested by practitioners. She also serves on the Pennsylvania Bar Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee, a similar committee within the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
Professional ethics prove important to Ms. Sánchez Ridge, having stated in an interview that one of her proudest accomplishments in her previous role as Chief Legal Counsel/City Solicitor for the City of Pittsburgh was the creation of the City of Pittsburgh’s Ethics Hearing Board. This Board was formed to regulate compliance with the city’s code of ethics.
Learn more about Ms. Sánchez Ridge and her commitment to the community here. Read More
Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP has been recognized in the 2024 edition of Best Law Firms®, receiving fourteen Tier 1 Metro rankings in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. These fourteen rankings include:
Commercial Litigation (PGH & PHL)
Employment Law – Individuals (PHL)
Health Care Law (PHL)
Insurance Law (PGH)
Litigation – Insurance (PGH)
Litigation – Labor & Employment (PGH & PHL)
Litigation – Real Estate (PGH)
Litigation – Trusts & Estates (PGH)
Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Plaintiffs (PGH)
Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants (PGH)
Product Liability Litigation – Defendants (PGH)
Workers’ Compensation Law – Employers (PGH)
In addition to the Tier 1 Metro rankings, Pietragallo also received ten Tier 2 and Tier 3 Metro rankings:
Tier 2 Metro firm in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and West Palm Beach in the respective practice areas of Bet-the-Company Litigation, Criminal Defense: General Practice, Criminal Defense: White-Collar, Employment Law – Management, and Litigation – Intellectual Property.
Tier 3 Metro firm in Pittsburgh and West Palm Beach in the respective practice areas of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law, Construction Law, Litigation – Construction, and Criminal Defense: White-Collar
Pietragallo has also been named as a Tier 2 National firm in Commercial Litigation and Litigation – Labor & Employment and a Tier 3 National firm for our work in Health Care Law.
Prior to merging with Pietragallo, Gentile Horoho & Avalli P.C. (GHA) was slated to be ranked as a Tier 1 Metro firm in Pittsburgh for their work in Family Law and a Tier 3 Metro firm in Pittsburgh for their work in Litigation – Trusts & Estates, and Trusts & Estates Law. All seven GHA attorneys, well-known for their experience in complex and high net-worth divorce and custody disputes as well as intricate estate/trust cases, have joined Pietragallo.
Best Law Firms rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys in their field, and review of additional information provided by law firms as part of the formal submission process. Read More
Partner Doug Rosenblum and his fellow cyclists helped to raise over $5.8 million dollars for three different causes. Doug has been completing cycling fundraisers each summer for years, this year he rode over 100 miles and raised funds for rides benefiting the American Cancer Society (Bike-a-Thon), Multiple Sclerosis Society (Bike MS: City to Shore Ride), and Families Behind the Badge Children’s Foundation (The Ben to The Shore) which supports the families of first responders who died in the line of duty. Read More
An opinion piece written by Pietragallo partner Scott Coffina has been published by Fox News. This article titled “Corruption 101: Menendez indictment contains so many bombshell allegations, it’s almost textbook” discusses the details of the federal indictment against Senator Robert Menendez for bribery, and the standards that are used to convict such bribery cases.
Read the full article here. Read More
Pietragallo partner Scott Coffina will present “How to Run an Effective and Ethical Diversion Program” at the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) 2023 National Law Enforcement Summit held in Boston, MA on December 4-5, 2023.
Mr. Coffina will be speaking alongside Melissa O’Mara, Assistant Prosecutor in the Burlington County, NJ Prosecutor’s Office. Mr. Coffina was the County Prosecutor in Burlington County, NJ for five years.
More information can be found here. Read More
Pietragallo partner Scott A. Coffina will be presenting at the Police, Treatment, and Community Collaborative’s (PTACC) 2023 National Deflection & Pre-Arrest Diversion Summit taking place from October 3-6, 2023 in Denver, Colorado. Mr. Coffina’s presentation “Coloring Inside the Lines: How to Run an Effective and Ethical Diversion Program”, will take place on October 4th.
Drawing upon his experience as the former County Prosecutor of Burlington County, New Jersey, Mr. Coffina will discuss both running an effective police-led intervention program and operating said program in a way that avoids the ethical pitfalls that can plague the treatment industry. He will be joined by Melissa O’Mara from the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office. The program will highlight the importance of choosing and vetting the right partners, the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act, support for police and recovery coaches operating the program, as well as oversight, transparency, and accountability.
Further information on the conference can be found here. Read More
The entire New Jersey Legislature is up for election this year, and over 200 legislative candidates — plus scores more in down-ballot races — finally got word from the state Supreme Court as to whether they may lawfully accept bribes during their campaigns.
The answer is a definitive no.
In State v. O’Donnell,[1] the New Jersey Supreme Court decided unanimously on Aug. 7 that New Jersey’s bribery statute applies to candidates accepting bribes, as well as the patrons who offer them.
Presumably, this decision will not alter any candidate’s fundraising strategy.
All jokes about the integrity of New Jersey politics aside, the outcome in O’Donnell is less obvious than the 7-0 decision would suggest — although even before the decision came down, being caught receiving $10,000 in a Baskin-Robbins bag was a bad look for any candidate.
Now, it is undeniably illegal, at least under state law.
O’Donnell arises from a 2018 sting operation in which a tax attorney cooperating with the government allegedly gave then-Bayonne mayoral candidate Jason O’Donnell $10,000 in “street money” in exchange for a promise to make this cooperator the city’s tax counsel if O’Donnell won the election.
O’Donnell lost, and was subsequently indicted for bribery under New Jersey Statutes Annotated 2C:27-2(d).[2]
The Hudson County Superior Court dismissed the bribery charge against O’Donnell, agreeing that because he was merely a candidate, not a public official, the bribery statute did not apply to him, citing a 2012 federal decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in U.S. v. Manzo,[3] which concluded Section 2C:27-2(d) does not apply to candidates who are never elected to public office.
The Appellate Division reversed, employing a broader reading of the statute, holding that the statute applies to unelected candidates, and it is irrelevant to the candidate’s culpability whether the candidate in fact ever assumes office.[4] Read More
Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP is pleased to announce that 26 lawyers have been named as 2024 The Best Lawyers in America® and Ones to Watch. In addition, partner Marc Stephen Raspanti have received “Lawyer of the Year” award for his work in Health Care Law in Philadelphia.
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Their process is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The following were chosen as The Best Lawyers in America:
Gaetan Alfano
Bet-the-Company Litigation
Commercial Litigation
Employment Law – Individuals
Employment Law – Management
Litigation – Labor and Employment
Charles Avalli
Family Law
Litigation – Trusts and Estates
Trusts and Estates
Joseph J. Bosick
Construction Law
Pamela Coyle Brecht
Qui Tam Law
Kerri Lee Cappella
Family Law
Phillip R. Earnest
Construction Law
Insurance Law
Litigation – Construction
Mark Gordon
Insurance Law
Litigation-Insurance
Workers’ Compensation Law – Employers
Kenneth Horoho, Jr.
Family Law
David E. Lamm
Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
James F. Marrion
Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
Richard J. Parks
Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
Corporate Law
Litigation – Real Estate
William Pietragallo, II
Bet-the-Company Litigation
Commercial Litigation
Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Plaintiffs
Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
Francis E. Pipak, Jr.
Workers’ Compensation Law – Employer
Kevin E. Raphael
Criminal Defense: White-Collar
Health Care Law
Marc Stephen Raspanti
Criminal Defense: White-Collar
Health Care Law – Lawyer of the Year
Qui Tam Law
Lourdes Sánchez Ridge
Criminal Defense: White-Collar
Douglas K. Rosenblum
Corporate Compliance Law
Criminal Defense: White-Collar
Clem C. Trischler
Commercial Litigation
Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
Robert D. Weinberg
Family Law
Peter St. Tienne Wolff
Commercial Litigation
Litigation – Trusts and Estates
Trusts and Estates
The following were chosen as Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch® in America:
John W. Read More
Business and Commercial Litigation Firm Adds Family Law and Estate Administration/Orphans’ Court Practice
AUGUST 1, 2023 – Two established Pittsburgh law firms have agreed to merge, bringing a highly-experienced family law and estate planning, administration, and litigation practice to a nationally-recognized business and litigation firm.
Effective August 1, 2023, Gentile, Horoho & Avalli, P.C (GHA) will merge with Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP (Pietragallo). All seven GHA attorneys, well-known for their experience in complex and high net-worth divorce and custody disputes as well as intricate estate/trust cases will now join Pietragallo, a multi-disciplined business and commercial litigation firm, with offices in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Sharon, PA, Steubenville, OH, Weirton, WV, and Palm Beach Gardens, FL.
The merger comes on the heels of Pietragallo’s expansion into Palm Beach Gardens in 2022. Pietragallo’s clients range from Fortune 200 and large privately-held companies to municipal entities and entrepreneurial businesses in a broad diversity of industries and business sectors.
Gentile, Horoho & Avalli brings to Pietragallo more than 30 years of experience in providing exceptional legal counsel in the areas of family law and estates and trusts as well as complex orphans’ court litigation.
“We are excited to engage with these outstanding practitioners in a new sphere of domestic-business litigation,” said Pietragallo chairman William Pietragallo II. “Our practices share a common commitment to achieving results.”
“The lawyers at Pietragallo have distinguished themselves as leaders in our profession and in the communities they serve,” said Kenneth J. Horoho, Jr. “The blending of our two firms will provide our current clients with experienced business litigation attorneys who are known for problem-solving and results.”
The family law/estate litigation attorneys joining Pietragallo include:
Kenneth Horoho, Jr., Partner
Charles Avalli, Partner
Kerri Lee Cappella, Partner
Carla Schiff Donnelly, Partner
Lorraine W. Mervan, Special Counsel
Robert D. Weinberg, Associate
Adam J. Read More
March 3, 2025
Partner Carla S. Donnelly has been recognized as a 2025 JD Supra Readers’ Choice Award Top Author. Carla is one of ten family law attorneys recognized for their consistently high readership and engagement within the family law industry for 2024. Read More
February 14, 2025
Co-Chair of Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Women in the Profession Commission, partner Carla Donnelly, was highlighted in this month’s edition of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Best of the West member spotlight. Read More
