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Additions

Barley Snyder added attorney Sarah C. Yerger to its growing roster of Harrisburg attorneys. Yerger joins the firm one year after Barley Snyder opened its Harrisburg office. She brings 25 years of experience to the firm after working in both the public and private sector and is a member of the firm's employment practice group.

Yerger worked for more than 13 years in the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, where she was a senior deputy attorney general. She moved into the private sector in 2013, where she represents management in labor negotiations and litigation and counsels in employment laws and litigation.

The Pennsylvania Bar Association awarded her its Lynette Norton Award for excellence in litigation in 2014. She received the Widener Law Commonwealth Excellence in Public Service Award in 2016 and is a member of the school's advisory board.

Elected and Appointed

Gross McGinley announced the appointment of John F. Gross to managing partner of the firm. Gross was elected at the firm's recent partnership retreat during which two deputy managing partners, Howard S. Stevens and Loren L. Speziale, were also named.

An attorney with Gross McGinley for 20 years, Gross is involved in firm leadership, serving on multiple management and leadership committees, most recently as chair of its finance committee. In his legal practice, Gross counsels clients in general business matters as well as more complex deals involving real estate, mergers and acquisitions and succession planning, intellectual property, data security and privacy, and more. Gross serves on several boards and advisory committees for nonprofits and municipal entities.

Stevens is the chair of the firm's medical malpractice defense group, representing large hospitals and health networks as well as individual physicians in medical malpractice claims. Speziale, chair of the firm's employment group, regularly counsels small to midsize businesses on employment and corporate matters including financing, policies and procedures, contracts, business structure, sales and acquisitions. She provides guidance to firm management on personnel and employment issues, and she will continue to do so in her new role as a deputy managing partner.

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McNees Wallace & Nurick appointed James Franklin as chair of its personal injury practice group, succeeding recently retired attorney Guy Brooks.

In addition to being chair of the McNees personal injury practice group, Franklin also practices in the litigation and transportation, distribution and logistics groups. He has experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants and both businesses and individuals.

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Widener University Commonwealth Law School announced that Randi Teplitz was named the assistant dean of students.

In the role, she will lead the office of student affairs and develop and oversee the application of policies for students that relate to ongoing assessment. Teplitz will work with students and student groups to enrich the law school experience, including advising and counseling students on a variety of academic issues.

Teplitz will be responsible for reporting to regulatory organizations and ensuring that the law school is compliant with educational requirements at the federal, state and local levels.