Jennifer Marie McHugh, 52, died on Aug. 7 from metastatic breast cancer.

McHugh earned her Juris Doctor degree from the Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University in 1992. She had a law career that began in Harrisburg as a law clerk to Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas Judge John “Jack” Dowling. In 1993, she joined the firm of Rhoads & Sinon as an associate where she was a litigator.

In 1999 McHugh joined Cozen O'Connor as an associate in the commercial litigation department in the Philadelphia office. She practiced in the areas of commercial litigation, professional liability, medical malpractice, insurance, real estate litigation, gaming, white-collar defense and other general civil litigation and administrative matters.

Her appointment as deputy insurance commissioner by Pennsylvania's then-Gov. Ed Rendell was perhaps the most public honor that memorializes McHugh's expertise in the field of insurance litigation. Serving from March 2004 to 2005, she was responsible for resolving some of the most significant malpractice claims in Pennsylvania, according to a prepared statement.

She had been active in the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession since 1996. She served as the commission's chair and co-chair, and was a member of the Commission's Executive Council, the Commission's Awards Committee, as well as the Pennsylvania Bar Association's technology taskforce. She was a former chair and vice chair of the quality of life task force where she developed policies for alternative work arrangements to assist in balancing the many work/home challenges faced by those in her profession. McHugh was a member of the Louis J. Goffman award committee, serving as chair in 2009. She was also a former delegate for Zone 1 of the House of Delegates for the Pennsylvania Bar Association from 2002-07.

An author and lecturer on insurance law and commercial litigation-related topics, McHugh co-authored with H. Robert Fiebach a chapter titled, “Issue and Claim Preclusion” in the legal series “Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts.”

In May, McHugh received the Lynette Norton Award presented to her by the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession. The award is designed to recognize and encourage female attorneys who excel in litigation skills and who have devoted significant energy, effort and time to mentoring female lawyers.

A funeral mass is set to be held at 11 a.m. on Aug. 20 at St. Mary Magdalen Parish located at 2400 Providence Road, Media, Pennsylvania, 19063. Calling hours will be at the church beginning at 9:45 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, consider a donation to one of the charities McHugh supported: Legal Clinic for the Disabled, Special Olympics or a Memorial donation: Pennsylvania Bar Association Attn: Jennifer McHugh Memorial Fund P.O. Box 186 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 17108.

McHugh is survived by her son, mother, father, sister and brother and their families.