Biography
Eric is the current Managing Partner at Elliott & Davis. His experience in structuring transactions, including joint ventures, partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability companies and corporations makes him a valuable resource to businesses in need of a “strategic lawyer.” Eric concentrates in providing corporate, business and tax counseling to privately-held companies, including representing clients in transactions involving equity and debt financing, formation and start-up, venture capital, sales, mergers and acquisitions, technology licensing, and information technology.

For years, Eric has helped nonprofits gain tax exempt status and deal with issues confronted by nonprofit boards. Eric is also a recognized expert on nonprofit fundraising and teaches grant writing classes for the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations and has served as a panel expert for the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Eric also has extensive experience in the aspects of real estate transactions, including financing, leasing, development, purchasing and selling real estate. His specialty in this area of the law is using corporate entities to reduce tax and risk exposure.

Biography
Attorney Todd Elliott is a Pittsburgh area resident and a litigator by vocation.  Since 1997, he has practiced civil defense litigation in state court proceedings throughout Western Pennsylvania. On the plaintiff side, he has received numerous six figure awards for clients involved in motorcycle and other accidents.  Several of his cases have been deemed “complex” and were handled through a separate division of the courts.

Having worked for two prominent regional firms, Todd’s areas of practice include breach of contract, construction law, mechanic’s liens, injury law (plaintiff and defense), professional negligence (plaintiff and defense), premises liability, unfair trade practices, trade disparagement, defamation, and multi-state litigation. Over the course of his career, Todd has handled mediation of disputes, several trials by jury, and appeals to the Superior and Pennsylvania Supreme Court.  He has also served as an arbitrator in state court and a judge during mock trial competitions at the University of Pittsburgh.

On the defense side, Todd defended the outgoing CEO of Worldcom, Bernard Ebbers, who was sued in Pittsburgh for his alleged role in diminishing the value of Worldcom stock. In another case, Todd represented Nationwide Insurance Company when a group of Nationwide insurance agents broke off from Nationwide and formed a company that competed directly with Nationwide. Nationwide then filed suit in Western Pennsylvania against the former agents who, in turn, counter sued, resulting in a prolonged legal dispute involving claims (and counterclaims) for trade disparagement (defamation) and theft of trade secrets. Todd defended a Colorado corporation on a breach of contract suit filed in Allegheny County. In that case, the lower court dismissed the case based on a lack of jurisdiction and improper venue, and he ultimately argued the case before the Pennsylvania Superior Court. Likewise, in another breach of contract case, Todd represented a Las Vegas company concerning litigation in Pittsburgh.

Todd graduated magna cum laude from the University at Buffalo. He is a member of the Golden Key Honor Society, and Phi Beta Kappa (graduated top 10% of class). He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh. 

Todd has significant experience throughout Western Pennsylvania, including not only Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) where he lives, but also the surrounding counties such as Beaver, Washington, and Butler Counties.

Upon graduating from law school, Todd served as a judicial law clerk for The Honorable Peter O. Steege, Court of Common Pleas of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. He also sat for and passed the West Virginia bar examination to expand his practice beyond Pennsylvania. Todd is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association, Pennsylvania Bar Association (Civil Litigation Section), and the American Bar Association.

In addition to civil litigation, Todd also possesses experience representing clients in matters involving divorce, support, custody, PFA, and criminal defense.  He won a custody trial involving a dispute over the child’s religion.  He also won a child support trial which the opposing party appealed to the Superior court, and Todd won again.  The case was profiled in The New York Times. Todd’s closing argument was quoted at length.

Biography

Attorney Adam Anderson has practiced in Wills and Estates Law and Personal Injuries for a decade. Whether litigating personal injuries on both the defense or the plaintiff’s side, or helping individuals and families through asset protection strategies, you can rest assured Adam has the knowledge and experience to handle your matter with the utmost skill and care.  He handles three main areas of law:

Estates and Trusts.  Adam considers many factors and uses a variety of tools to help protect assets and ensure plans are accomplished. These tools include Wills, a variety of Revocable and Irrevocable Trusts, gifting schemes, various Powers of Attorney, Living Wills, and Health Care Declarations. He has administered estates ranging in value up to seven figures and including antique artwork, textiles, collectibles, jewelry, which have include nationally renowned auction houses, real estate, mineral rights, guardianships and wrongful death claims. He has also represented Estate beneficiaries in litigation over several million dollar estates as well as heirs in litigation over family heirlooms.

Civil Litigation – Injuries.  In his personal injury litigation practice, Adam has been designated as both national and regional counsel for a variety of companies over the past decade. He has also been requested to assist and manage mass litigation and law suits in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Illinois.

Guardianship Practice.  Adam understands the delicate nature of guardianships.  He has over a decade of experience in this realm and are skilled and caring in understanding the needs of family members when it comes to initiating and assisting in guardianship proceedings.  Whether an elderly loved one needs assistance with daily living and care or an incapacitated child needs a guardianship platform to ensure proper care, rest assured he is dedicated to providing the highest quality services for you and your loved one.

Adam attended undergraduate business school at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio. It was at Ohio Northern where he also found his passion for persuasive speaking. Adam continued this passion at Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law where he was selected to serve as an editor on the Journal of Law and Health.

Adam is active in the community serving on a local preschool board of directors, coaching in several youth sports leagues, volunteering his time for various social organizations, and also performing collection work for a local non-profit organization. He and his wife, April, reside in Pine Township with their four children.

Biography

Rohit Dharwadkar concentrates his practice on all aspects of immigration law, ranging from family and employment-related matters to asylum, naturalization, and citizenship matters. With an emphasis on business immigration, including H-1B visas and labor certifications, Rohit has helped bring employers and needed global talent together to insure that businesses can compete successfully in the marketplace and acquire and retain the necessary talent for proper growth and expansion. He speaks Hindi, Marathi, and also has a working knowledge of French. Rohit has represented immigration clients from all over the world.

Prior to joining Elliott and Davis, Rohit practiced law in both Pennsylvania and California at firms that focused exclusively on immigration law matters. Born in India and raised in Southern California, Rohit moved to Pittsburgh with his wife, who is originally from the area, where they have settled and started a family. Rohit is active with the Indian and business communities in the Pittsburgh area, including being a member of the Network of Indian Professionals (NetIP) and Pittsburgh Technology Council. He is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Pittsburgh Subchapter.

Biography
Dave Bruening is a seasoned business attorney who specializes in serving as strategic counsel for both established businesses and start-ups, often operating as “outside” in-house counsel. He has guided businesses through early, formative stages — assisting a large number of entrepreneurs to establish legal entities — as well as through later-stage complex decisions and business issues. Working with a business c-suite, Dave, as in-house legal counsel and part of the legal team, strategically grew the organization, which was eventually acquired for over $100MM.

Dave’s breadth of legal knowledge and experience makes him an especially agile lawyer. Throughout his nearly two decades in practice, he has tackled a broad range of telecommunications issues, real estate and leasing transactions, including commercial real estate asset leasing for telecommunications and renewable energy, estate planning cases, technology licensing, complex corporate formations and management issues, all manner of contract matters and a wide variety of corporate transactions. Additionally, he has deep knowledge of and experience with land management and zoning cases, having represented numerous clients in front of local governing boards.

Dave is a Pittsburgh native who enjoys being outdoors, traveling, reading, and investing in and redeveloping real estate.

Biography

Bill Labovitz is a veteran civil litigator and business attorney who represents individuals and businesses in the Pittsbugh area. Bill practices in the areas of commercial litigation, business law, employment law, construction litigation, media law, and real estate/HOA law.

Bill has represented his clients in the prosecution and defense of a wide array of litigation matters, including breach of contract, collection cases, fraud claims and other business torts, construction disputes, and adversary proceedings in bankruptcy court. He has represented individuals, companies of all sizes, and planned communities in state and federal court, before environmental administrative agencies, and in mediations and arbitrations before FINRA and the American Arbitration Association.

In addition to his role as a litigator, Bill counsels clients on business matters such as the formation of business entities, reviews of commercial contracts, and reviews of employment agreements, including non-competition agreements. Bill also has represented developers, condominium, and homeowner associations in connection with drafting and amending governing documents such as declarations and bylaws; enforcing covenants, rules, and regulations; and collecting unpaid fees and assessments.

Bill has published a number of articles, including: co-author of the Pennsylvania portion of Libel Defense Resource Center (LDRC) 50-State Survey, Media Privacy and Related Law, 1997-2000; co-author of “Attorney-Client Privilege in Individual Bankruptcy Cases…An Emerging Oxymoron?” Commercial Law Journal, Fall 1999; and “Innovation Over Regulation: Newspapers to Self-Police Racks in Pittsburgh,” Media Law Update, March 1999.

Bill lives with his wife and three children in Mt. Lebanon, where he is active in the community. Bill served as chairman of the Lebo Cup recreational soccer program for about 500 children in grades K-12. He is vice president of the Mt. Lebanon Soccer Association. He received the soccer association’s President’s Award in February 2014 in recognition of his leadership skills and work performed for the organization. He also is involved with the Mt. Lebanon Democratic Committee. In addition, Bill is a former board member and president of Tufts University Lawyers Association and is chairman of Tufts University Alumni Admissions Program’s Pittsburgh Committee.

Bill is an adjunct professor at Point Park University where he teaches a media law course. He previously taught at Robert Morris University and at the University of Pittsburgh.
Before becoming an attorney, Bill was a reporter for The Daily Item in Sunbury, Pennsylvania.

Biography

Jeffrey T. Morris is a lifelong resident of the Pittsburgh area and has 35 years of experience as an attorney practicing in the areas of intellectual property, bankruptcy, zoning, construction, business and commercial litigation matters in state, federal and bankruptcy courts. He is admitted to practice in both Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

In the course of his career, Jeff has handled complex business and commercial litigation matters including patent infringement litigation involving tooling equipment utilized in the highway construction industry. He has further represented specialty contractors in construction claims disputes including a large claim by the signage subcontractor to the PNC Park project in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. He has also represented project owners, in particular an owner with a claim against the completion contractor in a large Western Pennsylvania senior living development project.

Jeff also has substantial experience on the transactional side in which he has assisted business owners in the negotiation and drafting of commercial finance documents, nondisclosure and noncompete agreements; intellectual property licensing agreements and employment agreements

Jeff has also been a frequent lecturer for the National Business Institute, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and the Federal Bar Association on commercial litigation and employment law issues. Jeff is a past president of the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. He is a member of the Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Allegheny County (Construction Dispute Resolution Group) and American Bar Associations as well as the American Arbitration Association (Commercial Arbitration Panel).

Biography

Joshua concentrates his practice in the corporate, transactional and securities areas and has represented both private and public companies in a wide range of business transactions including mergers, acquisitions, corporate governance and business planning and structuring. He specializes in working with start-up businesses and regularly structures transactions involving the acquisition and divestiture of assets and advises clients as to general corporate legal affairs with respect to capital formation and development. Before joining the firm, Joshua was an associate in the corporate practice of the Pittsburgh office of a Richmond, Virginia based law firm specializing in start-up companies and cross-border transactions.

Biography

James T. Tallman has over twenty years of experience as a trial attorney and litigator with a wide breadth of experience in both state and federal courts. James draws upon these experiences to serve his clients in a variety of cases, such as commercial litigation, breach of contract, construction litigation, mechanics’ liens, employment contracts, and personal injury.

Over the course of his career, James has helped his personal injury clients recover over $10 million. James practiced personal injury at a prominent personal injury firm in Pittsburgh for over a decade, and for nine years prior to that as a litigator at two leading Pittsburgh law firms, where he practiced commercial litigation, insurance coverage, antitrust law, and construction litigation.

James received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and graduated magna cum laude and first in his class from Widener University School of law. While attending law school, James served as an editor of the law review. James serves on the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association’s Board of Governors. He is a regular author for the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association’s publication The Advocate. James is also active on the Allegheny County Bar Association’s Civil Rules Committee and is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association Construction and Civil Litigation Sections.

James resides in Ben Avon, PA, and has three sons. He is active in the community and charities. He is a member of the North Boroughs Rotary. He is past-president of the local youth soccer organization and is a former Cub Master.