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Speakers

Butler Buchanan III, managing attorney of the Philadelphia office of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin and hiring chair and chair of the firm's diversity committee, was a panelist for the Philadelphia Bar Association program, "Easing Law School Student Concerns During COVID-19."

Sponsored by the Philadelphia Bar Association's young lawyers division, the town hall virtual program was offered to law schools throughout the region, designed to address students' concerns and challenges brought on by the pandemic.

As managing attorney, Buchanan oversees the operations, functions and initiatives of the firm's 130-attorney Philadelphia office.

In his additional role as hiring attorney, he is responsible for the recruitment and hiring of attorneys who join the firm.

He also chairs the firm's diversity committee, where he helps the firm's efforts to enact equal opportunity employment and advancement.

During his tenure with the firm, he has also served two terms on Marshall Dennehey's board of directors.

He is currently a member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association.

He is active in the Philadelphia Bar Association, where he has served as co-chair of the state-civil litigation committee and as a member of the commission on judicial selection and retention.

He is currently a member of the large law firm management committee.

He is a current member and a past president of the Philadelphia Association of Defense Counsel and serves on the board of directors of the Insurance Society of Philadelphia.

He is additionally a member of the Pennsylvania Defense Institute and the Defense Research Institute, where he served on the board of directors

Buchanan graduated from Duquesne University School of Law in 1979.

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Mary-Ellen Allen, partner and co-chair of the employment law department at Lamb McErlane, was a featured speaker on a webinar with PROXUS HR.

The webinar explores how businesses can begin to safely reopen their offices and some of the key employment considerations to keep in mind.

Topics discussed include timing of reopening; communication to active, furloughed and separated employees; compensation and benefits considerations; differences between bringing furloughed and laid off employees back to work; ensuring a safe and discrimination free environment; and guidance on relevant employment laws including new leave laws issued during the pandemic.

A recording of the webinar is available on Lamb McErlane's website.

Allen provides employers with advice and counseling regarding all areas of employment law, including hiring, discipline, termination, leaves of absence, compensation and disability accommodation.

Allen conducts investigations into complaints of harassment, discrimination and workplace irregularities and prepares investigation reports.

She also negotiates and drafts employment agreements, severance agreements, restrictive covenants and personnel policies and employee handbooks.

As a litigator, Allen represents employers before federal and state courts, arbitration panels and administrative agencies in a variety of employment law claims, such as the ADA, ADEA, FMLA, FLSA, PHRA and Title VII.

She also litigates disputes involving restrictive covenants such as noncompetition and nonsolicitation agreements, as well as conflicts over use of trade secrets and other confidential information.

Announcements

The Delaware Business Court Insider is seeking contributors to provide analysis and insight into recent Delaware Court of Chancery decisions, as well as litigation and issues currently of interest to the business law community.

Potential topics that would be appropriate include, but are not limited to, arbitration, books-and-records requests, breach of contract lawsuits, controlling stockholder litigation, derivative claims, discovery disputes in commercial litigation, corporate dissolution, breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits, intellectual property litigation, jurisdictional battles in corporate litigation, merger and acquisition lawsuits, special committee decisions, corporate governance, limited liability company litigation and limited partnership agreement litigation.