Legal
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Chester Prison to Test ‘Prisoner-First’ Inmate Units
The state prison in Chester (SCI Chester) is testing a new kind of prison unit, one focused on a prisoner-first approach, writes Adam Hermann for PhillyVoice. The State Correctional Institution, Chester, will use a $163,000 grant to send 12 corrections employees to Sweden and Norway to research the Scandivanian countries’ prisons in the hopes they…
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Mummers Strut Their Stuff for Media Law Day
The 62nd Annual Law Day celebration Friday in Media was a little more “Mummerable” than most, writes Pete Bannon for the Delaware County Daily Times. The Philadelphia Mummers participated this year with the Chester Drumline, along with WPHL-17 news reporter and Mummers announcer Steve Highsmith; and James May, creator of the Avalon String Band headgear…
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Should Free Appropriate Public Education Be Extended to All Students?
By Tracey D. Waldmann Disabled students enjoy rights under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE). Recently, in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, the Supreme Court ruled that trivial or insignificant progress is insufficient to provide FAPE under the IDEA. Under the IDEA, school…
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U.S. News & World Report Ranks Villanova’s Law School Among Nation’s Top 100
Villanova University’s Charles Widger School of Law placed 71st in U.S. News & World Report’s annual law school rankings, writes Jeff Blumenthal for the Philadelphia Business Journal. To determine the ranking, U.S. News graded the schools on several factors, including peer assessments, lawyer and judge assessments, LSAT scores, acceptance rates, and student/ faculty ratio. For…
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Explaining Protection from Abuse … and Harassment
By Konstantinos Patsiopoulos It is the day before Thanksgiving, Nov. 22, 2017. You are standing in open court seeking a Protection From Abuse (PFA) order against the shackled person in an orange jumpsuit accused of physically abusing you for years and charged with simple assault, intimidation of a witness, stalking, and harassment. The judge presiding…
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Widener University Delaware Law School Meets Demand for Paralegals; Open House on March 9
A career as a paralegal can be as satisfying as a career as a lawyer, and it can be achieved in just a fraction of the time and cost. With a similarly advanced understanding of the legal system, paralegals assume much of a lawyer’s workload and play a critical role in the delivery of legal…
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Pennsylvania Alimony and Equitable Reimbursement
By Alex H. Junkin In Pennsylvania, marital assets and debts are divided in a process called “Equitable Distribution.” During this process, the courts also decide whether alimony will be awarded to the dependent spouse. The “dependent spouse” is a term that may be used to describe the spouse with the lower income during the marriage…
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Delaware County’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) Program
By Laura Dugan Delaware County’s District Attorney’s Office understands that not all offenders require harsh punishment to deter future criminal activity. With this understanding, the district attorney’s office offers a program for first-time offenders who are unlikely to commit another crime. That program is called the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) Program. What types of cases…
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What You Should Know About the Pennsylvania Clean Slate Law
By Laura Dugan In mid-2018, Governor Tom Wolf signed into effect Bill 1419, some portions of which became effective law on December 26, 2018. Known as the Pennsylvania Clean Slate law, this new law effectively allows for those who have been convicted of certain non-violent crimes to seal those convictions from public records and disallow…
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The Nation’s Special Education Law: IDEA
By Gabrielle C. Goham The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, commonly referred to as the IDEA, aims to provide children with disabilities across the nation with access to a free appropriate public education “that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent…
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Raffaele Puppio in Media Welcomes Special Education Law Attorney
Raffaele Puppio, a full-service law firm based in Media, has welcomed attorney Konstantinos Patsiopoulos to the firm, where he will focus his practice on special education law. “School district personnel work tirelessly to ensure that students receive the support they need to thrive in school and in life,” said Patsiopoulos. “When legal issues arise, I…
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Delaware County Leadership: Tracey D. Waldmann, Attorney at Raffaele Puppio
What is your full name? Who are you named after? Tracey Dolin Waldmann is my full name. My parents just liked the name Tracey and my mom picked the spelling. Where were you born and where did you grow up? I was born and raised in Philadelphia. I live in Lower Merion. What are some…
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The What, Why, and How of Death Certificates in Pennsylvania
By Nicholas Orloff When we are born, we are issued a birth certificate not only for the purpose of obtaining a legal name, but also to notify the United States government of our existence. A birth certificate enables the government to keep track of who owes taxes, who is entitled to social security benefits, who…
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Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Affected by the Opioid Epidemic in Pennsylvania
By Kathleen A. Piperno Approximately 2.6 million children are being raised by grandparents in the United States and that number continues to rise. In Pennsylvania, more than 100,000 children are being raised by grandparents or other relatives. Pennsylvania has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic. As of the publishing of this blog, thousands of…
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State Supreme Court Case Could Provide Clarity on Airbnb, HomeAway Rentals
A case before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court could bring some clarity on using home-sharing platforms like Airbnb and HomeAway for both homeowners and local government, writes Caitlin McCabe for the Philadelphia Inquirer. The four-year-old case – “Slice of Life LLC vs. Hamilton Township Zoning Board” – originated in the Poconos. There, the owner of a…
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Federal Tax Reform Effect on Alimony Deductions in 2019
By Robyn E. Musi When parties file for divorce, there are usually two main issues that need to be addressed before the parties will receive a decree in divorce: How the marital property is distributed between them – think: houses, bank accounts, investments, retirement accounts, etc. If one party must pay the other alimony. Alimony…
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Selling a Delaware County Business? Here’s How
By Ernest Spiros Angelos You may have spent years building a business from the ground up, utilizing personal capital and investing in daily sweat equity with the hope of someday becoming profitable. For many entrepreneurs, the ultimate goal is to establish a profitable business to then sell. Selling a business is no easy decision and…
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Villanova Law’s Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic Assists Latino Farmworkers in Chester County
Villanova Law’s Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic is providing assistance for Latino farmworkers in Chester County and their families, writes Richard Gaw for the Chester County Press. FLAC has become a strong voice for the many immigrants across the state who work in the agricultural industry. It offers legal representation for agricultural families in cases on…
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