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A Look Back
by Arthur Thomas Donato, Jr.
In October of 1986, I attended the "Strength in Numbers" NACDL seminar in Chicago. At that time, NACDL was aggressively attempting to establish organizations of criminal defense lawyers on the state and local levels. The political climate was such that lawyers were being routinely subpoenaed, fees were being confiscated and money laundering allegations were a real threat. The IRS was aggressively pursuing lawyers for taking cash fees and failing to file 8300 forms. I wondered exactly what would be involved in starting an organization that would not be a subcommittee of a Bar Association but would be a standalone defense lawyers organization.
Attending that seminar was one of the more important things I have done as a lawyer. It showed me not only the logistics of starting an organization that would last but it reinforced the importance of having such an organization.
When I returned, I sent letters to lawyers in my county who were active criminal defense practitioners and asked them to help me form the Delaware County Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
That organization began with about 20 members who met once a week at 8:00 a.m. at my office. I supplied coffee and donuts or pastries and we talked about recent developments in the law, problems that lawyers were having with prosecutors or judges and generally shared information for our mutual benefit. After about a year of those meetings and seeing how important and successful they were, I decided to try and start a statewide organization.
I wrote to lawyers across the state who I only knew by reputation. George Newman and some other lawyers in Philadelphia, Stan Levenson and Dennis Clark and Tom Livingston from Pittsburgh and Joshua Lock in Harrisburg. I was 30 years old. All of the lawyers to whom I wrote had much more experience than I and had developed a reputation far beyond my own. I was not sure whether any of them would even answer my letter.
To my surprise, they all did. They were all interested and willing to work to create a statewide organization. I invited them to my house on a Saturday afternoon for a barbecue. To my surprise, they came. Joshua Lock was actually at my house. It amazed me that these people were willing to travel to meet someone they did not know, to engage in an endeavor that had every reasonable chance to fail. But they did it. Everybody had good ideas. Everyone knew other people who would be interested in working to achieve this goal. Everyone was optimistic. Egos were uninvolved. All of this just simply amazed me.
We wrote to other lawyers across the state and asked them to attend a meeting in Philadelphia on June 11, 1988. In that room were legends. Some of the lawyers who attended that meeting were George Newman from Philadelphia, Peter Campana from Williamsport, Bernie Siegel from Philadelphia, Joshua Lock from Harrisburg, Rick Gray from Lancaster, Dave McGlaughlin from Philadelphia, Richard Fink from Bucks County, Sara Webster from Bucks County, Stan Schmuckler from Philadelphia, Frank Hartman from New Jersey, Carl Poplar from New Jersey, Dave Eshelman from Reading, Joel Trigiani from Philadelphia, Rob Donatoni from West Chester, Stan Levenson from Pittsburgh, Alan Josel from Norristown, Bill Honig from Norristown, John Duffy from West Chester, Alan Ellis from Philadelphia, Bob Simone from Philadelphia and Arthur Goldberg from Harrisburg. Expressing interest but could not attend were Tom Livingston from Pittsburgh, A. Charles Peruto, Sr. from Philadelphia, Ron Kidd from Philadelphia and many others.
Frank Hartman and Carl Poplar were the Deans of the criminal defense bar in New Jersey and had been instrumental in starting the New Jersey organization. Both of them attended and made presentations on how we should go about structuring the organization. Alan Ellis, then the second vice president of NACDL, pledged the complete support of that organization in assisting us. Rick Gray had already proposed a set of by-laws which were adopted by the committee as a whole.
There was a formal resolution that all of us would form an organization to be called the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. I was chosen as the interim president of the organization until such time as formal elections could be held.
Thereafter, on June 22, 1988 the initial steering committee of the organization met in Bernie Siegel's office and they appointed other interim officers and committee chairmen. They were George Newman - Eastern District Vice President; Joshua Lock - Middle District Vice President; Stan Levenson - Western District Vice President; Rob Donatoni - Secretary; and Richard Gray - Treasurer. The Lawyers Assistance Strike Force was established and Joshua Lock was its first chairman. The membership committee was established and Arnold Silverstein was its first chairman. The brief bank was established and Joel Trigiani was its first chairman. The news letter was established and Rob Donatoni was its first chairman. The Amicus committee was established and David McGlaughlin was its first chairman and served as its chairman for over 15 years. The hotline panel of experts was established and Peter Campana was its first chairman and the CLE committee was established and Stan Levenson was its first chairman.
We talked about meeting across the state, in Pittsburgh at least once a year, in the middle of the state at least once a year and agreed to have the first annual meeting in State College in October. The following dues structure was established: regular membership - $100.00; Public Defenders and lawyers in practice for less than 3 years - $50.00; charter member - $500.00; benefactor - $1,000.00; life member - $2,500.00.
The first years required an enormous investment of time. There was so much to be done that it seemed overwhelming. But it was fun. We got to know each other and we formed personal bonds that we knew would last a lifetime. We all spent our own money and, at the time, many of us did not have it. For a lot of us, our partners and spouses wondered what the hell we were doing. Why were we spending so much time and why were we investing so much of our own funds in this endeavor. But it was so important to us that we did it willingly. It was so much fun that we looked forward to it. There was no mandatory CLE at the time but everybody went to every conference. In the meantime, we were going around the state to county bar associations and law offices on Friday afternoons for cocktail parties to introduce local lawyers to our organization. Many of us kept going to NACDL meetings to cultivate the organizational relationship with that organization.
I remember flying on a 5 passenger plane with George Newman to Erie to do a CLE. I remember going to Bucks County to Sara Webster's office to try and recruit members from that county. I remember going to law offices in the Poconos and Easton and Bethlehem and Allentown, West Chester, Kennett Square, Lancaster, Reading and meeting local lawyers and telling them about PACDL. Others did similar things.
I remember the first time that a lawyer asked for PACDL's help. Bill Costopoulos had a fee forfeited and Joshua Lock represented him. Richard Sprague was the subject of a motion to disqualify in federal court and I represented him. Bobby Simone had various problems and some of us represented him.
At that meeting on June 11th, Bobby Simone stood up and said that this was important and he would give $1,000.00. John Duffy did the same. Chuck Peruto did the same. Many of those lawyers gave that much, or almost that much in service of getting the organization started. It was a fool's bet at the time but it worked.
Now we had people we could call when we were in trouble. When we had a difficult case or a difficult issue, we could reach out to each other and, as a result of what those people did that day, more than 700 lawyers around the state can now do the same. A young, brand new lawyer who becomes a member can call a Joshua Lock or a Stan Levenson or a Royce Morris. A lawyer with his or her first death penalty case can call a Jules Epstein or a Bernie Siegel or a Nathan Schenker. People can get together at various locations around the state and know that they have support and the affection of their peers. Lawyers can do good work in the legislature and for each other.
And now, when the legislature considers a criminal justice measure, they ask for our opinion. When the Sentencing Commission holds a hearing, they ask for our opinion. And maybe, because of what those people did on June 11, 1988, maybe when a judge decides that he is going to hold a lawyer in contempt, he hesitates for a moment. Maybe when a prosecutor decides to file a disqualification motion, he or she hesitates for a minute. Because they know that PACDL will be there and will weigh in.
We are criminal defense lawyers. We do not always win but now we are heard.
ARTHUR THOMAS DONATO, JR. is a solo practitioner in Media, Pa., and was PACDL's first President and a founding member. He is a member of the American, Pennsylvania and Delaware County Bar Associations, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association, and holds an A-V rating from Martindale-Hubbell. He was a founding member and past president of the Delaware County Bar Association. Mr. Donato was privileged to serve on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Criminal Procedural Rules Committee from 1992 to 1998. He is a Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
