Fedullo Eyes School Help; Law Firm Laboratory

William P. Fedullo, Esq., who will become the 87th Chancellor of the 211-year-old Philadelphia Bar Association, announced a new program for starting and nurturing new law firms and helping existing firms serve the changing needs of tomorrow’s clients, as part of his 2014 agenda unveiled today at the Association’s Annual Meeting Luncheon at the Hyatt at The Bellevue.

Fedullo’s one-year term as Chancellor of the 13,000-member Philadelphia Bar Association – the oldest association of lawyers in the United States – begins on Jan. 1, 2014.

The new program – known as the “Law Firm Laboratory” – will be an ongoing incubator of innovative ideas, strategies and concepts.

“The next generation of Philadelphia lawyers must be entrepreneurs – starting and growing new legal service models for new generations of clients,” Fedullo said.  “If they’re good business-builders themselves, these lawyers will be able to help other entrepreneurs and other businesses.”

Respected Philadelphia law firm “rainmakers” will be brought in to share their business-generation strategies with the city’s attorneys.  Similar laboratory sessions will be held with top marketing professionals and other thought leaders in the legal community.

Among his other 2014 initiatives, Fedullo will create an Education Task Force, to be co-chaired by Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge John M. Younge and Philadelphia attorney Jeffrey M. Lindy, to work on the fundamental task of finding more ways that the legal community can help public education in our city and commonwealth.

“We have reached out to the School District of Philadelphia and to School Superintendent Dr. William Hite to find ways to help our public schools as they navigate their way through a difficult and critical period,” Fedullo said.

The Education Task Force will identify new areas to lend support, supplementing existing collaborations such as the Association’s Advancing Civics Education program (ACE), an initiative launched in 2008 in which teams of volunteer lawyers and judges teach a civics curriculum in city schools and libraries.

The incoming Chancellor noted that 2014 will mark the 60^th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional.  The Association will partner with the Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia to mark the anniversary with a diverse set of programs in May during Law Week.

Of Counsel to the law firm of Rosen, Schafer & DiMeo, LLP, Fedullo is a graduate of Temple University and Delaware Law School (now Widener University School of Law). He has achieved professional distinction by obtaining seven-figure verdicts and settlements in the areas of medical malpractice, insurance bad faith, products liability and auto personal injury.

Fedullo met his wife, Shelli – a partner in the law firm of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP – in 1971 when he was a 21-year-old junior and she was an 18-year-old freshman at Temple.  Their son, William Hollender Fedullo (Bill), is a 20-year-old sophomore at Swarthmore College who plans on attending law school after graduation in 2016.

Fedullo was elected Vice Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 2011, serving in that position in 2012. He currently serves as Chancellor-Elect. He has twice served as Chair of the Association’s Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention, as well as Chair of the Campaign for Qualified Judges, Bar-News Media Committee and Co-Chair of the Historical Society. He has twice served as Co-Chair of the State Civil Litigation Section in addition to serving on the Board of Governors.  He also served as Chancellor of the Justinian Society.  He sits on the boards of several law-related public interest organizations that serve the citizens of Philadelphia.

Also at the Annual Meeting Luncheon, the Association’s Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Distinguished Jurist Award was presented to U.S. District Court Senior Judge Norma L. Shapiro.  The Award honors a jurist whose life and work exemplify the high ideals and consummate achievement of the late Justice Brennan.  Any member of the state or federal bench, whether active or retired, who has made a significant, positive impact on the quality or administration of justice in Philadelphia is eligible for consideration.

Additionally, the Association’s PNC Achievement Award was presented to Sayde J. Ladov, the fifth woman to serve as Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association (2009).  Sponsored by PNC Wealth Management, the Award honors significant accomplishments in improving the administration of justice (preferably in Philadelphia) and distinguished service consistently rendered over a considerable period of time or a single outstanding achievement in a particular year.