News

Pennsylvania Court Administrator Promotes Legal Staff

July 02, 2001

HARRISBURG, July 2, 2001 — Three veteran, Philadelphia-based Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts attorneys have been promoted to new positions, Court Administrator of Pennsylvania Zygmont A. Pines announced today. Named as chief legal counsel is Howard Holmes, who most recently has served as deputy counsel. Staff attorney Maryellen Gallagher will assume the newly created position of assistant chief legal counsel, while Assistant Counsel A. Taylor Williams has been named assistant chief of litigation. “I am pleased to have the opportunity to recognize members of our existing staff in these important new roles,” Pines, formerly chief legal counsel, said. “They, along with Chief of Litigation David Donaldson, and staff attorneys in Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, will at once provide both continuity and new direction in guiding the diverse administrative legal needs of Pennsylvania’s Unified Judicial System.” Holmes earned his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania after earlier study at Boston College where he earned his bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in history. He joined the AOPC staff in 1987 as assistant legal counsel, after having served as an attorney with Clark, Ladner, Fortenbaugh & Young and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office. Gallagher is a graduate of Temple University Law School and Gwynedd Mercy College. Prior to joining the AOPC in 1992, she was vice president and counsel for Fidelity Leasing Corporation. She also was a law clerk to Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Samuel Lehrer, and an accountant with McNeil Consumer Products Co. Prior to joining the AOPC legal staff in 1990, Williams was a litigator with the law firm of Bray, Walther and Reardon and earlier with Abrahams and Lowenstein. A Temple University Law School graduate, she earned her undergraduate degree and a master’s degree in journalism from Pennsylvania State University. Williams has served as course planner and faculty for trial skills and employment law seminars for the Philadelphia Bar Institute. The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts is the administrative arm of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. In addition to providing general counsel to the Supreme Court and AOPC, the legal department supports approximately 2,000 jurists and staff of Pennsylvania’s Unified Judicial System primarily in areas of litigation and administrative law. Principal AOPC offices are located in Philadelphia and Harrisburg.