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Community Legal Services and Philadelphia Legal Assistance welcomed new board members at their annual meeting, hosted by Pepper Hamilton.

Those new board members include: Renée Garcia, PNC senior counsel; Sara Richman, Pepper Hamilton partner; Alix Mariko Webb, executive director of Asian Americans United; Ruthanne Gordon, a Berger & Montague shareholder; and Valentine Brown, a Duane Morris partner. The incoming members were each elected to three-year terms of service.

Elected and Appointed

Unruh, Turner, Burke & Frees named Kristen Ladd as a new partner.

Ladd has been with the firm since 2010 and is a member of the firm's creditors' rights and bankruptcy and litigation departments.

Ladd's practice is focused primarily in representing institutional lenders, in both commercial and residential mortgage foreclosures, confessions of judgment, contract disputes, garnishments, replevin actions, levies, loan workout actions, bankruptcy actions, receiverships and general litigation.

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McNees Wallace & Nurick paralegal Beth Bell was elected to serve as the first-vice president of the Central Pennsylvania Paralegal Association.

Bell, a Pennsylvania certified paralegal, provides assistance in the corporate and tax and state and local tax practice groups.

She offers general support, helps to manage cases and oversees document productions.
Bell is on the advisory board at Central Penn College, providing advice to its legal department regarding its degree program, along with insights on the practice of law.

She is also a member of the Central Pennsylvania Paralegal Association.

Bell has been with McNees Wallace since 2012.

Additions

Nancy Carman joined Fendrick & Morgan as its first elder care coordinator, offering a more holistic approach to elder care planning.

Carman has worked closely with elders and their family caregivers in the South New Jersey area for more than a quarter century.

She is a trained gerontologist as well as a certified geriatric care manager and has worked for over 30 years in the field of aging, including management of home care services and consulting in the senior housing industry.

Honored

The Pennsylvania Bar Association presented a County Bar Recognition Award to the Philadelphia Bar Association during the 52nd annual seminar of the Conference of County Bar Leaders on Feb. 22–24.

Recognized for its Take Action Philly program, the Philadelphia Bar Association is one of 23 local bar associations in Pennsylvania honored this year for sponsoring projects that improve the legal profession, justice system or community.

The awards are presented annually by the PBA.

TAP, a project created by the Philadelphia Bar Association with the support of the city of Philadelphia and a number of nonprofits including the Public Interest law Center and American Civil Liberties Union, was established to protect and assist vulnerable populations in the aftermath of state and federal policy changes.

Announcements

The Legal and Pennsylvania Law Weekly are looking for verdicts and settlements to report.

If you're a plaintiffs or defense attorney who has obtained a verdict or settlement in Pennsylvania county or federal court recently, email Zack Needles at [email protected].