Recently, the Bucks County Bar Association (“BCBA”), an organization of attorneys dedicated to promoting and advancing the legal system and justice throughout Bucks County, conducted a plebiscite (peer evaluation) to evaluate ten attorneys who announced their candidacy for three vacancies on the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas, and the four current Judges of the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas who are running for retention.

Election day is Tuesday, May 21st.   To assist in your decision making, here is a link to the plebiscite results.

Elizabeth J. Fineman, a Partner with the law firm of Antheil Maslow & MacMinn, LLP in Doylestown, Bucks County has been named co-editor-in-chief of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Pennsylvania Family Lawyer magazine.  Ms. Fineman shares editor duties with Judy McIntire Springer of Astor Weiss Kaplan & Mandel, LLP in Philadelphia. 

Fineman practices exclusively in family law and handles a variety of issues, including divorce, child support, alimony/spousal support, marital taxation, equitable distribution and child custody matters. She has handled many high-income support cases involving an intricate knowledge of both family law and complex financial issues.

Elaine Yandrisevits, an Associate in Antheil Maslow & MacMinn's Estates & Trusts practice group, will participate as faculty on April 23 & 24 at a National Business Institute continuing education program at the Sheraton University City Hotel in Philadelphia.  The program will highlight information crucial to effective adminstration of an estate in Pennsylvania.

This two-day basic level seminar will provide attorneys, accountants, tax professionals Financial Planners, Trust Officers and Paralegals an overview of the latest court and tax rules and the most effective transfer tools to ensure each client's estate is laid to rest according to the decedent's wishes, with minimal tax burden. This comprehensive program will cover all the skills needed to administer estates that include trusts and/or business interests.

Course Content

• Crucial notice and filing requirements when opening the estate

• Forms and checklists that will help you in administration.

• Understand how income and estate tax deductions interact and find the most advantageous way to structure the tax returns

• Learn how to use disclaimers more effectively.

• Clarify what must be done when the trust becomes irrevocable.

• Practical legal ethics guide focused on trusts and estates practice.

• Prevent mistakes in final petition and ensure each estate is closed quickly and without disputes.

  To register, visit Estate Administration Boot Camp

Elaine Yandrisevits, an associate in Antheil Maslow & MacMinn’s Estates and Trusts practice group, will participate as faculty on March 28th at a Pennsylvania Bar Institute continuing education program in Philadelphia, with simulcast at various locations. This basic to intermediate level program will teach the essential procedures for closing an Pennsylvania estate including: the advantages and disadvantages of the methods used to close an estate, steps involved in a Formal Court Accounting and Audit, Family Settlement Agreements and Receipts and Releases.  To register visit www.pbi.org/meetings

Course Content

Examine Each Step of a Formal Court Accounting and the Audit Process

•  Learn the statutory requirements for filing an account
• Understand the nuances involved in providing proper notice to an accounting
• Know what forms to use and when
• Understand how to handle objections to the accounting and walk through the audit process

Family Settlement Agreements and Receipts and Releases

• Understand what elements are required in a family settlement agreement
• Avoid common mistakes when drafting a family settlement agreement
• Review sample agreements and discuss enforceable issues

On January 31st, Employment Law Partner Patricia Collins of Antheil Maslow & MacMinn, presented an online continuing legal education webinar “Employment Law, Ethics & Professional Responsibility” offered by Celesq, Attorneys Ed Center.  This seminar reviewed the ethics issues that arise for employment attorneys in representing organizations.  The program identified risks for attorneys resulting from close involvement with the operations of the client.  Topics examined included:  negotiating employee contracts, drafting policies that impact client contact, termination or resignation of client contracts, attorneys as fact witnesses, attorneys as investigators, and maintaining professional distance.

On January 31st,  Susan Maslow, a founding Partner and Business Law Attorney with Antheil Maslow & MacMinn in Doylestown, Pa,  participated in a continuing legal education webinar entitled “Protecting Workers and Managing Company Risk in Supply Chains: Moving from Policies to Contracts”.  Ms. Maslow is a member of the American Bar Association Business Law Section’s working group which has developed  model clauses to incorporate human rights protections in international supply chains.  The program explained how these clauses make supply chain control and worker protection both legally effective and operationally likely by moving the commitments that companies require of their suppliers into the actual contract documents, where they have greater impact. 

  
 An Invitation to Manufacturers:

Antheil Maslow & MacMinn, LLP will host a Manufacturers' Roundtable Breakfast featuring Employment Law Partner Patricia Collins, Thursday, March 7th, 8:30 - 10:00 a.m., at the Bucks County Bar Association, 135 E. State Street, Doylestown, PA. Please share with "Makers", there will be great content on issues that impact this sector, and an opportunity to ask questions and share concerns. 

We hope you will take advantage of this rare opportunity to:

• Receive employment law updates impacting manufacturers;
• Share knowledge, pain points & strategies with other local "Makers";
• Ask questions & brainstorm answers with an experienced employment lawyer, fellow manufacturers and advisors to the industry   

Topics to include: Hiring, Discipline and Termination |  Overtimes Rules & Violations | Sexual Harassment Training, Practices & Procedures for Managers |Retention & Recruitment Strategies for a "Well Workplace"

To Register: please RSVP by March 1st:

jseidle@ammlaw.com or Jessica S. - 215.230.7500

AMM is pleased to welcome Michael A. Klimpl back to full time practice with the firm. 

Mr. Klimpl has been serving full time as the Bucks County Solicitor since 2012, and was an assistant Solicitor from 1984 until his appointment as Solicitor in 2012, representing 34 years with the Solicitor’s Office.
As County Solicitor, Mr. Klimpl oversaw all litigation brought by and against the county, and provided counsel to its leaders on a broad swath of legal issues confronting county government – everything from contract law to personnel and labor questions.
Commissioners’ Chairman Robert G. Loughery praised Klimpl for providing clear-headed legal advice that always transcended partisan politics.
“Above all of that, you cared deeply for Bucks County, and that is what made you stand out,” Loughery said. “You have a lot of institutional knowledge, and you can’t put a price on that.”

At Antheil Maslow and MacMinn, Michael Klimpl will resume his full time practice in the areas of Real Estate, Municipal Law, Zoning and Land Use, Employment Law, Civil Litigation, Estate Planning and Estate Administration and Transactional Law.

Mediation is an alternative dispute resolution process which serves as an option to civil litigation in the court system. It is a voluntary, non-binding, structured process where people in conflict can work with the guidance of a neutral party toward the best, most mutually agreeable outcome. Mediation eases the friction between people so that they can pursue a common end without the stress, trauma, cost and uncertainty of civil litigation. Antheil Maslow & MacMinn has a strong team of seasoned attorneys who are trained mediators in the areas of commercial litigation, family and Orphan’s Court matters.  With comprehensive knowledge of each court system, and the challenges and costs inherent to  litigating disputes, our mediators bring a high level of legal acumen and interpersonal skill to every mediation.  

Commercial Litigation/Dispute Mediation

As commercial litigators, Antheil Maslow & MacMinn’s mediation team is able to leverage extensive trial and litigation experience to work with the parties and their counsel in a collaborative and thoughtful way to achieve an agreeable resolution.  Much of our practice as commercial litigators involves analyzing and resolving the competing claims and interests of shareholders, owners, general contractors, design professionals, suppliers and subcontractors. As a result, we are well versed in the essential elements key to commercial conflicts and necessary to achieving agreeable resolutions.  Our years of representing stakeholders to business conflicts lends itself to mediation, as AMM mediators are comfortable and experienced in negotiating the resolution of strongly contested multi-party disputes.

• Post-closing disputes arising out of mergers and acquisitions, including net working capital disputes
• Products liability
• Personal injury
• Toxic tort
• Medical device claims
• Unsuitability claims against broker-dealers and lender liability claims
• Products cases involving industrial machinery and consumer products
• Construction disputes
  
  

Corporate, Business, Business Divorce

An internal business dispute can result in a loss of control over business operations or expensive and distracting litigation. Antheil Maslow & MacMinn's business and corporate practice has been offering sophisticated
legal advice to shareholders since it's formation in 1992.  Our corporate mediation team is well prepared to evaluate the various interests and contributions of parties in business disputes, and is adept at helping parties
reach a fair resolution to minimize loss and costly litigation in matters including:

• Breach of Contract
• Business Divorce 
• Construction Claims
• Intellectual Property Disputes
• Real Estate Disputes
• Securities Claims
• Shareholder Disputes
  
  

Employment Dispute Mediation

Controversies arising from disputes with employees are a major risk factor in today’s business environment.  The damages that may result from a major dispute with an employee or conflict with a key executive can be tremendously costly, not only in financial terms, (legal fees, and potential jury awards), but with regard to the negative impact that litigation causes in distraction, disruption and emotional cost to managers,  owners and employees alike. When a terminated or current employee makes a claim against his or her employer, it is generally in the interest of both parties to attempt to resolve the matter early through a procedure called mediation.  AMM employment law mediation offers an efficient, economical and low stress alternative to the litigation process. We assist parties facing employment law disputes including:

• Wage and Hour Claims
• Family, medical, parental, military and other leaves
• Noncompetes
• Discrimination
• Workplace harassment
• Sexual harassment
• Disciplinary issues
• Wage and hour issues
• Non-competition, non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements
• Disability and religious accommodation issues
• Wrongful termination or other adverse actions
• Employment & severance agreements
  
  

Family Law Mediation

For families going through the process of divorce or separation, the path ahead can be difficult, emotional, stressful and frightening.  Going through costly and adversarial court battles only makes a bad situation worse.  For couples who can work together toward a resolution, choosing a skilled mediator who can facilitate a discussion between the parties and their counsel with as little trauma and acrimony as possible can significantly minimize the emotional and financial cost to the family.  The aftermath of successful divorce mediation can help the parties to amicably and move forward toward the future.

• Divorce & separation agreements
• Co-parenting Agreements
• Child support, spousal support and alimony
• Gay & lesbian partnerships
• Military divorces

All of our mediators take an active, persistent, conciliatory approach to their role.  Our focus is to defuse emotional drivers which may impede progress toward agreement, and boil the conflict down to its practical realities, thereby helping the parties to generate and analyze options, and identify ways to overcome barriers to reach their settlement objectives.

Elaine Yandrisevits,an associate in Antheil Maslow & MacMinn’s Estates and Trusts practice group, will participate as faculty on December 3rd at a National Business Institute continuing education program focusing on the requirements, procedures and pitfalls of fiscal planning with supplemental needs trusts. This legal briefing will provide an overview of the specialized skills required to provide special needs beneficiaries with financial structure and stability and enable accountants, attorneys and financial planners to offer clients guidance on this important estate planning tool and find creative cost-effective ways of funding supplemental needs trusts.  To Register, visit Special Needs Trusts and the ABLE Act,

•    Get tips for accurate assessment of the client's present and future disability and needs.
•    Determine whether a client qualifies as a beneficiary of a special needs trust.
•    Don't reinvent the wheel - modify our sample trust documents and use our drafting tips to create airtight trusts.
•    Understand and communicate the limitations of SNTs and ensure reasonable client expectations.

Who Should Attend

This legal briefing offers a simple guide to supplemental needs trusts that will benefit attorneys. Others who may benefit from this course include trust officers, estate planners, accountants, and paralegals.

Course Content

•    What SNTs Can and Cannot do for Your Client
•    Assessing the Degree of the Beneficiary's Current and Future Disability and Needs
•    Types of SNTs and Their Uses
•    Basic Drafting Considerations
•    SNT Funding, Administration and Termination