Greenberg Traurig's Miami office. Photo: J. Albert Diaz/ALM

Elected and Appointed

The Committee of Seventy, a nonprofit focused on effective government in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, recently named George J. Farrell, government law and policy associate at Greenberg Traurig, to its latest class of up-and-coming civic leaders from the region as a 2019-20 Buchholz fellow.

Farrell is one of six in the 2019-20 class.

The program trains emerging leaders under 40 who work in the private or nonprofit sector and embody personal and professional integrity, work ethic, collaborative spirit, intellect and a passion for improving the community.

Farrell joined the firm in 2018 and focuses his practice on regulatory and government-related issues, complex commercial litigation, class action, political law and compliance, and labor and employment matters.

Previously, he held posts for a senior staffer for both a Pennsylvania state senator and a Philadelphia city councilman.

He is a 2017 graduate of the Temple University Beasley School of Law.

Buchholz fellows serve as nonvoting members but otherwise full board participants of the Committee of Seventy, which was founded in 1904.

The program is named for Carl Buchholz, a civic-minded attorney with a history of leadership in the private and public sectors.

The one-time U.S. Senate staffer later helped build the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

His career included managing the Philadelphia offices of two Am Law 200 firms as well as serving on the boards of Drexel University, Visit Philadelphia and the United Way of

Southeastern Pennsylvania, which he chaired. The fellowship honors the professional and personal attributes of Buchholz, who died in 2016 at age 51.

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Capehart Scatchard announced that Sheila M. Mints, chair of the firm's cannabis law practice, was recently appointed by the New Jersey State Bar Association as a member of its cannabis law special committee.

According to the NJSBA, the mission of the cannabis law special committee is to bring together a group of attorneys who examine the many legal issues—from civil or business to criminal—that will stem from medical and potential consumer access to cannabis.

Mints counsels businesses, public entities and entrepreneurs interested in entering the cannabis market.

Additionally, Mints chairs the firm's health care law practice, where she specializes in health care transactional matters, including shareholder and employment agreements, purchases and sales of medical practices, including ACO transactions, and practice mergers.

Events

The annual Villanova Law Review Norman J. Shachoy Symposium is set to be held from 8 a.m. to 4:40 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law.

The topic of the symposium is "Gender Equity in Law Schools."

The symposium will examine a broad variety of issues relating to gender equity in law schools, such as:

Teaching issues—whether excellent teaching is valued in law schools, whether women faculty have a disproportionate teaching load, whether women are disproportionately present/absent in particular substantive courses, whether women are evaluated differently by students.

Scholarly issues—whether areas of particular interest to women are undervalued, whether the work of women is given equal weight by law reviews, and whether female faculty bring a different voice to legal scholarship.

Service issues—whether non-scholarly tasks performed by female faculty disproportionately disadvantage them with respect to status and compensation.

The gender disparity in legal writing and in clinical education, which also produces substantial pay disparities that fall disproportionately on women in legal education.

The Intersections with issues of race, class, gender and sexual identity.

The symposium will also examine recent pay discrimination litigation at Denver Law School and focus on best practices for law schools that want to avoid similar litigation in the future.

Announcements

The Legal is seeking contributing authors for its weekly In-House Counsel column. Articles can cover a broad range of subjects but should be of particular interest to in-house counsel.

Contact Kristie Rearick at [email protected] for more information or to submit a proposal.