Overview

Doug represents businesses in sophisticated commercial litigation matters involving construction issues, breach of contract, creditor’s rights/loan workout, business torts, insurance coverage, and employment disputes.

Having handled countless criminal appellate matters in state and federal courts, Doug is an experienced appellate litigator. Prior to joining Dilworth, he served as the head of the Civil Litigation Unit at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, where he advocated for victims of crime and the prosecutors who protected them. As both a prosecutor and civil litigator, Doug handled complex defensive and affirmative civil litigation, including civil rights, consumer fraud, open records, and employment litigation, in addition to criminal appellate cases.

Doug served as a law clerk to the Honorable Barry T. Albin on the Supreme Court of New Jersey. 

He also worked as an associate in a prominent Philadelphia law firm where he practiced catastrophic injury and commercial litigation. 

During law school, Doug served as a senior editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.

Representative Experience

  • Successfully litigated a motion to compel arbitration on behalf of a prominent Pennsylvania food company in an employment discrimination and retaliation suit
  • Successfully moved for a protective order on behalf of Mid-Atlantic HVAC company barring all discovery sought by a former employee in breach of contract suit
  • Drafted briefs in successful opposition to multiple motions to dismiss in complex commercial redevelopment dispute involving breach of exclusive redevelopment agreement
  • Achieved early dismissal of national designer/manufacturer of gun-range ventilation systems in complex breach of contract dispute
  • Successfully negotiated a favorable settlement on behalf of guarantor of long-term commercial lease where lessee abandoned lease on the eve of coronavirus pandemic
  • Oversaw consumer-protection litigation by municipal prosecutor’s office against manufacturers and distributors of opioids
  • Defeated motion to certify multi-million dollar restitution class in a major civil-rights class action against municipal agency
  • Oversaw all right-to-know-law litigation for municipal agency

Professional & Community Activities

  • Philadelphia Bar Association

Speeches & Presentations

  • “Objection! Making Your Record on Appeal,” Philadelphia Inn of Court (Apr. 2018) (moderator)
  • “Law-Enforcement Records and Body Cameras,” Pennsylvania Bar Institute (Aug. 2017) (panelist)
  • “The Civil Consequences of Ethical Violations,” Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office (Nov. 2015) (presenter)

Publications

  • Fair Cross-Section Concerns Potentially Impacting Pandemic Jury Trials, The Legal Intelligencer (Jan. 8, 2021) (co-author)
  • Law-Enforcement Records, Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law: Update 2017 (Pennsylvania Bar Institute)

Representative Experience

  • Successfully litigated a motion to compel arbitration on behalf of a prominent Pennsylvania food company in an employment discrimination and retaliation suit
  • Successfully moved for a protective order on behalf of Mid-Atlantic HVAC company barring all discovery sought by a former employee in breach of contract suit
  • Drafted briefs in successful opposition to multiple motions to dismiss in complex commercial redevelopment dispute involving breach of exclusive redevelopment agreement
  • Achieved early dismissal of national designer/manufacturer of gun-range ventilation systems in complex breach of contract dispute
  • Successfully negotiated a favorable settlement on behalf of guarantor of long-term commercial lease where lessee abandoned lease on the eve of coronavirus pandemic
  • Oversaw consumer-protection litigation by municipal prosecutor’s office against manufacturers and distributors of opioids
  • Defeated motion to certify multi-million dollar restitution class in a major civil-rights class action against municipal agency
  • Oversaw all right-to-know-law litigation for municipal agency

Insights