A high-ranking public defender has sued the Defender Association of Philadelphia, claiming its leader demoted and chastised him for pointing out that a fellow attorney in the organization was representing hundreds of children without a law license.

Christopher Welsh, deputy defender of practice operations and systems development, filed suit in federal court alleging Chief Defender Keir Bradford-Grey lashed out at him for rooting out the attorney with the suspended license. Welsh said in his complaint that the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts had specifically tasked him with ensuring that all of the attorneys in his organization had active law licenses.

Welsh, a 12-year veteran of the office, claimed in the complaint that the alleged verbal abuse he took from Bradford-Grey, along with being placed on a performance improvement plan, caused him enough anxiety to take medical leave. Additionally, he claimed that he was demoted in retaliation the day he returned from leave.