We are a Mid-Atlantic regional law firm of over 100 attorneys engaged in the defense of civil trial litigation. Our experienced attorneys handle a wide range of matters in numerous substantive areas of law. Our offices are Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg), New Jersey (Marlton, Jersey City), New York (Downtown Manhattan, Midtown Manhattan, Long Island), Connecticut (New Haven), Delaware (Wilmington) and West Virginia (Wheeling). Our clients come from virtually every industry, service and profession. We not only work with and defend our clients, we learn their business and their industry. We offer clients the benefit of skillful practice teams that focus exclusively on a single industry or area of expertise. Your attorney will have a broad, informed knowledge of the specific issues and challenges you face.

Our attorneys represent and defend businesses, municipalities and professionals in the areas of product and professional liability, casualty and premises liability, commercial motor vehicles, construction, environmental law and toxic torts, insurance coverage, commercial litigation and transactions, and other civil disputes. The cases we handle range from relatively small matters that can be overseen by a single attorney to complex litigation requiring the resources that only a major firm can provide.

CLIENTS VALUE OUR SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE

Rawle & Henderson LLP clients benefit from our specialized litigation and trial attorneys. Our “practices within a practice” model means that our attorneys are experts in a specific industry and the current legal issues facing that industry. Superior staff and state-of-the-art litigation support systems allow us to apply resources precisely as needed.

THE NATION’S OLDEST LAW OFFICE

Founded as the Rawle Law Offices in 1783, we have been recognized by the American Bar Association as the oldest law firm in continuous practice in the United States. Over our long history, Rawle & Henderson LLP has been driven by two ideals: maintaining the highest legal standards, and promoting the best results for our clients. Today, our growing regional firm includes over 100 attorneys working in eight offices located throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

We have earned a reputation for tenacity—in our preparation, and in the courtroom. Our fact-finding is targeted and complete. We are willing and able to try cases, and we don’t back down. This aggressive attitude promotes the best results.

COST-CONSCIOUS AND ACCESSIBLE

We respond to our clients’ needs in a comprehensive and cost-effective manner. We are always accessible and ready to devote the resources needed to accomplish the task at hand.

Attorneys Who Can Handle Your Challenges

No sector of the economy is immune to the rising tide of litigation. Rawle & Henderson LLP clients come from virtually every industry, service and profession. We not only work with and defend our clients, we learn their business and their industry. We offer clients the benefit of experienced practice teams which focus exclusively on a single industry or area of expertise. Your attorney will have a broad knowledge of the specific issues and challenges you face.

Fighting For Our Clients Since 1783

The Rawle & Henderson LLP culture of meticulous preparation, tenacious representation and adherence to the highest legal standards has roots that go back more than two centuries. Since our founding in 1783, members of the Rawle firm and attorneys who trained with us have been in the forefront of America’s legal history.

* Our founder, William Rawle, served as a delegate to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Assembly in 1789 and accepted President Washington’s request to become the first U.S. Attorney for the District of Pennsylvania.

* The Honorable Joseph Hopkinson, who trained in our offices, served as counsel to Samuel Chase, the only Supreme Court Justice to be impeached, in his trial before the U.S. Senate in 1805. Judge Hopkinson later served as co-counsel in the famous Dartmouth College case. He was appointed to the U.S. District Court by President John Quincy Adams.

* William Henry Rawle, who joined the firm in 1844, was well known as a trial lawyer in high-profile and constitutional cases, including the Registry Act cases, the Slaughterhouse cases and the Burd Orphan Asylum case. He authored definitive legal texts, including the American edition of Smith’s Law on Contracts, and represented the Philadelphia Centennial Commission in the U.S. Supreme Court. Thomas Wharton wrote of William Rawle, “His name appears in most of the important cases of that period, and his arguments always commanded the attention and respect of the court. His address to the jury was simple in diction, but earnest and impressive.”

* Francis Rawle was one of the founders of the American Bar Association in 1878. He served as the ABA’s first secretary and treasurer, and later as its president.  His revision of Bouvier’s Law Dictionary coincided with the firm’s centennial in 1883.

* Joseph Henderson, the first member of the firm from outside the Rawle family, joined Rawle & Henderson LLP in 1913 and served as president of the ABA in 1943.

To this day, members of the firm continue to be appointed or elected to the bench, carrying on a tradition over 200 years old. This is a legacy we’re proud to carry on in the 21st century. We are equally proud of our commitment to diversity and we have been recognized for the same by our peers and the legal community.

Rawle & Henderson LLP is committed to diversity in the workplace at all levels, including partners, associates, paralegals and staff. We have been named one of the best law firms for female attorneys in the U.S. in a recent Law360 survey.  In the 2018 PaLaw Annual Report on the Legal Profession, the firm was ranked 10th in Pennsylvania by percentage of female attorneys and 21st in Pennsylvania by percentage of minority attorneys.

Practice Areas

Appellate
Rawle & Henderson LLP handles appeals at all levels of the state and federal courts throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. This includes cases that the firm initially defended at trial as well as matters referred to the firm specifically to handle the appeal.

Architects & Engineers
For more than 25 years, the firm has represented client interests in all aspects of architectural and engineering malpractice defense, including litigation involving contract, tort, and breach of warranty issues.

Aviation
The firm has represented pilots, flight instructors, fixed base and air taxi operators and airlines since the 1940s. Several attorneys on this practice team bring added perspective as certified pilots.

Casualty & Premises Liability
The firm represents local and national operators of retail stores, such as supermarkets, department stores and convenience stores; common carriers and public transportation operators; motor vehicle owners and drivers; restaurants and fast food chains; municipalities; public sporting facilities; oil companies and gasoline station operators; schools; stadiums; hospitals and nursing homes; and the owners or operators of every type of facility where people conduct their lives.

Catastrophic Loss
The firm handles complex, high-profile, high-stakes cases. The Catastrophic Loss Group is retained by insured and self-insured local, national and international companies, as well as excess insurers, to defend clients facing a wide range of claims.

Commercial Litigation
Rawle & Henderson LLP assists clients in complex commercial litigation involving contractual disputes; shareholder, partnership and governance disputes; restrictive covenants; fiduciary duties; corporate collections; real estate; health care; government contracts; mortgages; interpleader actions; and personal guarantees for large and small businesses.

Commercial Motor Vehicle
The firm defends commercial motor vehicles and their insurers in accident litigation, insurance coverage disputes and freight claims. The Commercial Motor Vehicle Group publishes a monthly newsletter, the Transportation Law Update, which provides timely articles on new trends in the law and the potential impact of these developments on litigation concerning the industry. In addition, State Law Summaries for Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware have been prepared which outline significant laws that affect commercial motor vehicles operating in those jurisdictions.

Commercial Transactions
Rawle & Henderson LLP assists clients in complex business transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, business formation, joint ventures, real estate, employment agreements, vendor transactions and government contracts. The firm’s clients include profit and non-profit organizations, corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, sole proprietorships, physicians and medical practices.

Construction
The firm defends both personal injury and property damage claims arising out of the construction process. The firm provides comprehensive defense of owners, developers, trade contractors, construction managers, architects and design and engineering professionals.

Employment Relations
Rawle & Henderson LLP provides legal support for all aspects of employment-related matters—from counseling human resources personnel to defending employers in litigation—including, but not limited to, claims involving employment discrimination based on race, age, gender and disability, as well as claims involving sexual harassment. Attorneys have defended clients from claims based on violations of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Environmental: Toxic and Mass Torts
The firm’s attorneys have local, regional and national trial experience defending companies in mass and toxic tort matters related to toxic exposure, product liability, and pharmaceutical and medical device failure. They have defended clients as trial counsel in asbestos, talc, formaldehyde, multiple chemical sensitivity, sick building, latex glove, benzene, underground storage tank, orthopedic bone screw, pharmaceutical, silica, coal tar pitch volatiles, and a variety of chemicals and solvents. They have handled cases involving a wide variety of disease claims, including mesothelioma, lung cancer, esophageal cancer, the various leukemias, lymphomas, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, colon cancer, toxic encephalopathy, and other neurological deficits. In addition to defending clients, the firm represents clients in appellate litigation at all levels of state and federal courts.

The firm’s attorneys are leaders in the defense and litigation of environmental claims in district courts and state courts, and before local, state and federal agencies throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. This multidisciplinary team includes attorneys with substantial experience in air, water, hazardous materials and waste matters working together to handle complex and cutting-edge environmental litigation cases  and coverage-related issues. The firm represents potentially responsible parties in cost recovery actions, property owners for on-premises contamination issues and off-site migration claims.  The firm’s attorneys are national counsel in the MTBE MDL litigation as well as the various related state companion cases.  The firm has substantial experience in the defense of environmental diminution of property value class actions. Rawle & Henderson LLP represents a number of REITs and individual owners, operators and certified tank owners in UST release litigation.

Immigration Law, Policy & Strategy
Rawle & Henderson LLP attorney Rachel Ji-Young Yoo has extensive experience representing healthcare, K-beauty and technology clients in all aspects of U.S. Immigration Laws, including, but not limited to, obtaining temporary and permeant visas for foreign professionals, multi-national executives, investors, entertainers and religious workers. Ms. Yoo also represents individuals in various family-based immigration filings and in deportation (defense in removal) proceedings. Ms. Yoo helps clients navigate through complicated status maintenance issues, consular processing of visas, waivers of the foreign residence requirement and other citizenship matters. In addition, Ms. Yoo advises employers with respect to employer I-9, LCA and audit compliance requirements. Ms. Yoo has also represented EB-5 regional centers, developers, and investors; worked with various HR departments on I-9 employment verification matters as well as H-1B and LCA compliance; represented individual E2 investors and Korea-U.S. branch office enterprise E2 employee visa; represented foreign EB-5 investors with I-526 filings and I-829 filings; and assisted several U.S. companies in diverse industries with H-1B RFE responses.

Insurance Coverage
The firm’s attorneys have extensive experience representing insurers in coverage disputes, preparing coverage opinions and, if necessary, litigating declaratory judgment actions to determine the rights and obligations of the parties with respect to various types of insurance policies.

Maritime
From our founding in the port city of Philadelphia, Rawle & Henderson LLP has had an active admiralty and maritime practice. Admiralty became an even more significant focus after Joseph Henderson joined the firm in 1913. This practice group represents shipowners throughout the Mid-Atlantic region in virtually every type of litigation.

Medical Professional Liability
For over 20 years, the firm has represented and defended health care providers confronted with claims of personal injury resulting from alleged medical malpractice. These matters have spanned all of the health care professions, including hospitals, physicians, dentists and nurses.

Product Liability
This practice group includes some of the area’s best trial attorneys. Several attorneys in this group are routinely called in by clients at the 11th hour to take over and try catastrophic injury cases involving various products such as amusement rides, bicycles, vehicles, trailers, tires and rims, power tools, chemicals, electric blankets, household appliances, presses and other industrial machinery, firearms, drugs and pharmaceuticals, and medical devices. The trial attorneys in this Group routinely represent manufacturers, both domestic and foreign, in catastrophic injury cases.  In addition to their trial skills and experience, many of the group’s attorneys have made presentations on product liability litigation issues locally, nationally and internationally.

Professional Liability
Rawle & Henderson LLP represents professionals from all areas of practice. The firm has represented professionals in a variety of civil actions and licensing proceedings. The firm actively defends attorneys and law firms in professional legal malpractice actions, and has represented accountants and mortgage bankers. The firm has been involved in director and officer liability cases as well as defending professional clients charged with violations of the civil RICO laws.

Workers’ Compensation
The firm represents clients of all types and sizes in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and New York, including self-insured Fortune 500 companies spanning numerous industries, insurance carriers, third-party administrators and governmental agencies. A hallmark of the firm’s practice is working with risk management and administrators to resolve claims quickly at minimal cost but ensuring that overall business goals are met, whether by trying a case at every level of adjudication and appeal, or reaching some other resolution.

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