BAR_REPORTER_ad_release 10/16/07 3:29 PM Page 1 “GASP...” (We’ll take your breath away.) You won’t believe your eyes. Then you will. Then you’ll realize you’ve never seen anything like this before. Then you’ll want to live here. CALL FOR A PRIVATE APPOINTMENT AT 215.568.1577. PHASE II NOW AVAILABLE. PRICING FROM $1 MILLION. ONLY THREE BALCONIES REMAINING! It’s different up here. 50 S. 16TH STREET | 57TH FLOOR | PHILADELPHIA, PA 19102 | TWOLIBERTY.COM 2 <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Bar</strong> Reporter <strong><strong>No</strong>vember</strong> <strong>2007</strong> philadelphiabar.org
Editor-in-Chief Sunah Park, Esq. Associate Editors Heather J. Holloway, Esq. Asima Panigrahi, Esq. Stacey Z. Jumper, Esq. Brian K. Sims, Esq. Kathryn C. Harr, Esq. Ria C. Momblanco, Esq. Regina Parker, Esq. Contributing Editor Richard Max Bockol, Esq. Advisory Editors Bruce H. Bikin, Esq. Molly Peckman, Esq. Marc W. Reuben, Esq. Director of Communications Mark A. Tarasiewicz Senior Managing Editor Jeff Lyons Copy Editor Adrienne Cornwall Executive Director Kenneth Shear The <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Bar</strong> Reporter (ISSN 1098-5352) is published monthly and available by subscription for $45 per year by the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Bar</strong> <strong>Association</strong>, <strong>11</strong>01 Market St., <strong>11</strong>th floor, <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Pa. 19107-29<strong>11</strong>. Periodicals postage paid at <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Pa. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Bar</strong> Reporter, c/o <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Bar</strong> <strong>Association</strong>, <strong>11</strong>01 Market St., <strong>11</strong>th floor, <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Pa. 19107-29<strong>11</strong>. Telephone: (215) 238-6300. <strong>Association</strong> Web site: philadelphiabar.org. Newspaper e-mail address: reporter@philabar.org. The editorial and other views expressed in the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Bar</strong> Reporter are not necessarily those of the <strong>Association</strong>, its officers or its members. Advertising rates and information are available from Howard Hyatt at MediaTwo, 1014 W. <strong>36</strong>th St., Baltimore, MD, 212<strong>11</strong>. Telephone: (410) 902-5797. Page 1 skyline photo by Edward Savaria, Jr./PCVB Tell Us What You Think! The <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Bar</strong> Reporter welcomes letters to the editors for publication. Letters should be typed. There is no word limit, but editors reserve the right to condense for clarity, style and space considerations. Letters must be signed to verify authorship, but names will be withheld upon request. Letters may be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to: Jeff Lyons, Senior Managing Editor, <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Bar</strong> Reporter, <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Bar</strong> <strong>Association</strong>, <strong>11</strong>01 Market St., <strong>11</strong>th floor, <strong>Philadelphia</strong>, Pa. 19107- 29<strong>11</strong>. Phone: (215) 238-6345. Fax: (215) 238-<strong>11</strong>59. E-mail: reporter@ philabar.org. Frontline Pennsylvania Needs to Improve Fairness of Death Penalty System Last month, the American <strong>Bar</strong> <strong>Association</strong> issued a lengthy analysis of Pennsylvania’s death penalty system. Based upon the principle that fairness and accuracy form the foundation of the American criminal justice system, the sweeping report concludes that Pennsylvania’s death penalty has many significant shortcomings. Most capital jurisdictions in the United States have not had such a comprehensive examination conducted of their death penalty systems. We commend the report, which was the result of a thorough two-year examination by the Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Team of the ABA’s Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project. We applaud the contributions of the <strong>Philadelphia</strong>-based members of the ABA’s Assessment Team, including Professor Anne Bowen Poulin of the Villanova University School of Law (chair); Professor David Rudovsky, senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School; and Gregory P. Miller, founding shareholder of the law firm of Miller, Alfano & Raspanti, P.C. The team also included a Delaware County Common Pleas Court judge and an assistant district attorney from Montgomery County as well as several law student research assistants. The report highlights, with great detail, numerous deficiencies in the current system - deficiencies that demand critical action. The <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Bar</strong> <strong>Association</strong> has recognized these significant concerns for many years in numerous section- and committeesponsored resolutions adopted by our Board of Governors. We have conveyed these concerns through correspondence with state officials and legislators, testimony, editorials and forums. For nearly a decade, our <strong>Association</strong> has supported a moratorium on executions in Pennsylvania until such time as the fair and impartial administration of the death penalty can be ensured and the risk that innocent persons may be executed is minimized. In <strong><strong>No</strong>vember</strong> 1997, the <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Bar</strong> <strong>Association</strong> joined the ABA and the Pennsylvania <strong>Bar</strong> <strong>Association</strong> in calling for a nationwide moratorium on executions until policies and procedures are implemented to ensure due process. The resolution cited “a substantial risk, By Jane Dalton in <strong>Philadelphia</strong> and elsewhere, that the death penalty continues to be imposed in an arbitrary, capricious and discriminatory manner.” The report from the ABA identifies a number of specific areas for reform, including: inadequate procedures to protect the innocent; failure to protect against poor defense lawyering; no state funding of capital indigent defense services, resulting in a failure to afford uniform, quality representation to many capital defendants; inadequate access to experts and investigators; lack of statewide data on death-eligible cases; significant limitations on postconviction relief; significant capital juror confusion; and racial and geographical disparities in Pennsylvania’s capital sentencing. The report also includes a detailed series of recommendations to improve Pennsylvania’s death penalty proceedings to ensure fairness at all stages. They include requiring all law enforcement agencontinued on page 12 Sections, YLD Schedule Holiday Events Th e Pr o b a t e a n d Tru s t Law Se c t i o n kicks off the holiday season with its Annual Reception on Tuesday, <strong>No</strong>v. 27 at the Radisson Plaza-Warwick Hotel beginning at 5 p.m. The State Civil Litigation Section will hold its Annual Meeting and Reception on Wednesday, <strong>No</strong>v. 28 at the National Liberty Museum, 321 Chestnut St., beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $45. The Family Law Section will hold its Annual Dinner on Wednesday, <strong>No</strong>v. 28 at Davio’s <strong>No</strong>rthern Italian Steakhouse, <strong>11</strong>1 S. 17th St. Tickets are $60 for employees of the First Judicial District; $65 for members of the Family Law Section and $70 for non-members. There is no charge for Family Court judges to attend. The Real Property Section Annual Meeting will be held at Loews <strong>Philadelphia</strong> Hotel, 1200 Market St., on Thursday, <strong>No</strong>v. 29 at 12 p.m. Karen Black of BIA will receive the Section’s Good Deed WebCheck Award and Harris Steinberg of Penn Praxis will present the keynote remarks. Tickets are $40. The Young Lawyers Division will hold its Annual Holiday Party on Thursday, <strong>No</strong>v. 29 at Triumph Brewing Company, <strong>11</strong>7 Chestnut St., from 6 to 9 p.m. The Workers’ Compensation Section Holiday Party will be Tuesday, Dec. 4 at the Pyramid Club, 1735 Market St., where the Martha Hampton Award will be presented. Tickets are $40. The Public Interest Section Annual Reception and Awards Ceremony will be Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 5 p.m. at Loews <strong>Philadelphia</strong> Hotel, 1200 Market St. Tickets are $50 for members of the Public Interest Section and $35 for government For more information or to purchase tickets to any of these events, visit philadelphiabar.org and public interest attorneys. A special package including a ticket to the event and a contribution to the Higginbotham Scholarship is also available for $100. The Section will present its annual Andrew Hamilton Award at the program. The Criminal Justice Section Annual Reception and Awards event will be held Dec. 6 at 5:30 p.m. at Loews <strong>Philadelphia</strong> Hotel, 1200 Market St. Court of Common Pleas President Judge C. Darnell Jones II will receive the Section’s Thurgood Marshall Award. Tickets are $45. The Tax Section will hold its Annual Meeting and CLE on Wednesday, Dec. 12 at the Rittenhouse Hotel, 210 W. Rittenhouse Square. For more information about the CLE, please visit pbi.org. philadelphiabar.org <strong><strong>No</strong>vember</strong> <strong>2007</strong> <strong>Philadelphia</strong> <strong>Bar</strong> Reporter 3
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