Related Professionals
PHILADELPHIA and SCRANTON, PA, January 3, 2020 – Stevens & Lee announced today that former Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie has joined the Firm’s Litigation Department where he will lead the Firm’s Appellate and Mediation, Neutral Services and Alternative Dispute Resolution practice groups.
Judge Vanaskie was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 2010 where he served with distinction for eight years, participating in and deciding many complex, high profile cases. Before 2010, he served as a district judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, including seven years as chief judge.
“We are honored to have Judge Vanaskie join Stevens & Lee,” said E. Thomas Henefer, Co-Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Group. “His distinguished career as a federal appellate and trial court judge greatly enhances our alternative dispute resolution practice and gives us a truly unique ability to assist clients in appellate matters.”
“I am delighted to be joining Stevens & Lee, a firm I’ve known and respected during my time on the bench,” said Judge Vanaskie. “I look forward to making a positive contribution to the Firm’s commitment to excellence.”
During his more than three decades of service in the legal profession, Judge Vanaskie litigated or oversaw hundreds of complex cases involving areas as diverse as appellate, business and commercial, class action and mass tort, employment, ERISA, insurance, antitrust, securities, intellectual property, civil rights and personal injury cases. This experience underscores his ability to assist private parties resolve disputes through mediation with guidance that is informed, impartial, fair and objective.
In his role as Chair of the Appellate Practice, Judge Vanaskie will lead a team of appellate practice professionals who assist clients with appellate challenges on a national basis. His direct experience as a Third Circuit Judge will provide clients with unique insight and unparalleled value both with framing and preserving issues for appeal and in presenting and arguing issues on appeal.
Judge Vanaskie is a contributing member of the Sedona Conference Working Group 1 on Electronic Document Retention and Production and Working Group 11 on Data Security and Privacy Liability. From 2001 to 2008, he served on the Information Technology Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the policymaking body for U.S. courts, and was appointed chair in 2005 by the late Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.
Judge Vanaskie received a B.A. from Lycoming College and his J.D. from The Dickinson School of Law. Since 2007, he has served as an adjunct professor of law at the Penn State and Dickinson Schools of Law, teaching a course devoted to practicing law in the era of electronic evidence and big data.
