AV PREEMINENT

Rawle & Henderson transportation attorneys Timothy J. Abeel and Robert A. Fitch recently received Martindale-Hubbell’s AV Preeminent® rating, the highest rating given by Martindale-Hubbell’s® Peer Review Ratings™ system.

An AV Preeminent® rating demonstrates that a lawyer’s peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence. The rating is the result of evaluations of lawyers by other members of the bar and the judiciary in the United States and Canada. AV Preeminent attorneys have achieved a very high general ethical standards rating and a legal ability numerical rating.  The legal ability ratings are based on performance in five areas: legal knowledge, analytical capabilities, judgment, communication ability, and legal experience.

Tim Abeel is the Chair of the firm’s Commercial Motor Vehicle Section and has defended transportation companies in the state and federal courts of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware for more than 30 years.  Mr. Abeel graduated, magna cum laude, from the State University of New York at Albany and received his J.D. from the Temple University School of Law. He was one of the founders of the Trucking Industry Defense Association (TIDA) and he served as President of TIDA in 2000-2001. From 1994 to 2003, he was a member of the TIDA Board of Directors. His clients include some of the largest transportation companies and insurers of commercial motor vehicles in the United States.  Mr. Abeel has been selected as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for ten consecutive years, 2004 through 2013.  He is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee.

Tim can be reached at (215) 575-4280; tabeel@rawle.com

Bob Fitch is the resident partner in Rawle & Henderson’s New York office. He concentrates his practice in the defense of architects and engineers, construction, medical and oral surgery malpractice claims, and commercial motor vehicle litigation. He received his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University and his J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law. He has been admitted to practice in New York since 1974, as well as in federal courts in Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of New York and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. He has tried over 100 cases to verdict and is a member of the Defense Research Institute, Federal Bar Council, PIAA and Trucking Industry Defense Association. He was selected as a New York Metro Super Lawyer by the publishers of Law & Politics in 2013.

Bob can be reached at (212) 323-7060; rfitch@rawle.com

TLU Articles Republished in TIDA, PENNTRUX, ABA/TIPS Commercial Transportation Litigation Committee Newsletters

Gary N. Stewart’s October 2013 Transportation Law Update (Vol. 14, No. 7) article “Pennsylvania: Punitive Damages and the Handheld GPS” was published in the TIDA Fall 2013 Newsletter and in the November 2013 issue of PENNTRUX, the monthly publication of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association (PMTA).

In addition, the November 2013 Transportation Law Update (Vol. 14, No. 8) article “Pennsylvania: Is Your Truck Driver a ‘Professional Driver’?: Chapter Two”, written by Gary Stewart and David R. Chludzinski, is scheduled to be published in the next ABA/TIPS Commercial Transportation Litigation Committee Newsletter.

Gary Stewart is a partner in the Commercial Motor Vehicle Section in our Harrisburg office. He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and Rhode Island as well as before the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Pennsylvania, the District of New Jersey, the District of Massachusetts, the District of Rhode Island, the District of Connecticut and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First and Third Circuits.

Gary can be reached at (717) 234-7730; gstewart@rawle.com

David Chludzinski is an associate in our Pittsburgh office. He concentrates his practice on the defense of commercial motor vehicles and their insurers.  David was selected as a Pennsylvania Rising Star by Law & Politics Magazine earlier this year and also in 2012.  Rising Stars are the top 2.5 percent of attorneys in Pennsylvania who are 40 years old and younger or have been in practice for 10 years or less. David earned his J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law at Penn State University. While attending law school, he was a Comments Editor on the International Law Review and received the C.A.L.I. Award for advanced pre-trial advocacy. David earned his B.A., cum laude, from Boston College. He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, as well as before the U. S. District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Pennsylvania.

David can be reached at (412) 261-5738; dchludzinski@rawle.com

  TLUV14N9.pdf