Kate Barkman
Clerk of the Court
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Ms. Barkman is the Clerk of the Court for the The United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Prior to her appointment, she served as the Director of the Department of Court Records of Allegheny County from 2008 to 2016. Prior to joining County government, Ms. Barkman was in private practice focusing on the representation of public sector entities in labor, municipal and employment issues. She also served on the Allegheny County Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review. Ms. Barkman began her legal career as an assistant public defender in Monroe County, Pennsylvania.
Ms. Barkman is the 16th clerk to serve the Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The Clerk of Courts office has 220 employees and two (2) locations: in Philadelphia in the James A. Byrne U.S. Courthouse and in Allentown in the Edward N. Cahn U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building.
Kate A. Kleba
Principal
Post & Schell, P.C.
Ms. Kleba is a Principal in the Firm’s Employment & Employee Relations and Labor Practice Groups. She represents employers in employment-related litigation and administrative proceedings at the federal, state and local levels. Ms. Kleba also counsels employers on compliance with various federal and state laws governing the employment relationship, including Title VII, Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA), the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law (WPCL) and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD). Her clients include companies in the health care, financial services, pharmaceutical, and higher education industries.
Ms. Kleba assists employers with drafting personnel policies, wage and hour issues, disability accommodations, requests for leave, personnel actions, enforcing restrictive covenants, and workplace investigations. She has handled a variety of labor and employment matters, including claims for wage and hour violations, wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of restrictive covenants, and unfair competition. She is also a certified Title IX investigator.
Ms. Kleba has been named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyers “Rising Star” for employment and labor from 2010 – 2016. The annual compilation recognizes the top attorneys in the Commonwealth who are 40 or younger or have been practicing for fewer than 10 years.
The Honorable Juan R. Sánchez
District Court Judge
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Judge Sánchez serves as a District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. On the recommendation of U.S. Senators Rick Santorum and Arlen Specter, Judge Sánchez was nominated by President George W. Bush on November 25, 2003. His nomination was confirmed by the 108th Congress on June 23, 2004, and he was inducted on July 9, 2004. Judge Sánchez previously served as a judge on the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County, PA, where he presided over criminal, civil and juvenile matters.
Prior to his judicial election in 1997, Judge Sánchez worked as a Trial Attorney with the law firm MacElree Harvey (1997) and as a Senior Trial Attorney with the Chester County Public Defender’s Office (1983-1997). He also practiced as a solo practitioner (1990-1997), partner in the law firm Nester, Nester & Sánchez (1983-1990) and as a staff attorney with Legal Aid of Chester County (1981-1983), where he was a recipient of the distinguished Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship awarded by Howard University.
Judge Sánchez was born in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. In 1974, he graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx in New York City. Judge Sánchez received his Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from City College of the City University of New York, and his Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he received the Benjamin R. Jones Award for his outstanding contribution to the public interest.
David A. Sonenshein
Professor Emeritus
Temple University Beasley School of Law
Professor Sonenshein teaches at Temple University School of Law. A graduate of Cornell University and the New York University School of Law, Professor Sonenshein has taught at Boston University, DePaul University, and was the Lyle T. Alverson Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School. He was named the I. Herman Stern Professor of Law at Temple in 1992. Professor Sonenshein has received the Outstanding Professor Award at both DePaul and Temple Law Schools a total of six times. In 2004, Professor Sonenshein was honored as one of the University’s finest teachers, receiving the University’s Lindback Award for Outstanding Teaching. In 2007, Professor Sonenshein was awarded the University’s Great Teacher Award.
Professor Sonenshein is co-author with the late Irving Younger and Professor Michael Goldsmith of the casebook, Principles of Evidence. In addition, Professor Sonenshein has co-authored ten other books on Evidence as well as numerous articles on the subjects of Evidence and Civil Procedure.
Professor Sonenshein is formerly the Director of the American Institute for Law Training within the Office, the in-house training arm of the American Law Institute-American Bar Association. He has performed training in Trial Advocacy, Deposition Practice, Evidence, Motion Practice and Negotiation Skills at America’s premier law firms and government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition, Professor Sonenshein teaches Evidence to Federal Judges for the Federal Judicial Center.
Finally, he earned the Francis E. Rawle Award from the American Law Institute and American Bar Association for his outstanding contributions to the field of post-admission legal education.
The Honorable Mitchell S. Goldberg
District Court Judge
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Upon graduation from Temple Law School in 1986, Judge Goldberg joined the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office serving in both the trial and appellate divisions. In 1990, he joined the law firm of Cozen O’Connor where his practice primarily focused on commercial litigation. Judge Goldberg was eventually promoted to senior partner and manager of the Cozen’s Arson and Fraud Unit. In 1997, Judge Goldberg returned to the public sector as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania where he handled mostly white collar crime cases. In February 2003, Judge Goldberg was appointed by the Governor of Pennsylvania to a position on the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas, and in November 2003, he was elected to a ten-year term on that Court. Judge Goldberg was appointed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on October 31, 2008.
Michael F. Barrett
Shareholder
Saltz Mongeluzzi Barrett & Bendesky PC
Michael F. Barrett is a personal injury attorney who focuses on medical malpractice, professional negligence, civil rights, prescription drug and medical device products liability and a broad spectrum of other civil litigation cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and the District of Columbia.
A champion of medical malpractice victims, Mr. Barrett is committed to raising the level of care provided by healthcare providers. He has achieved numerous multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements for Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky clients
Mr. Barrett is considered one of Pennsylvania’s best medical malpractice attorneys. He has been a member of Philadelphia magazine’s peer-selected, top 5 percent Super Lawyers of Pennsylvania every year since 2004. In 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013 the same publication named him one of the 100 best lawyers in both Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. In 2017 The same publication named him one of the 100 best lawyers in Philadelphia. In 2013, Mr. Barrett was selected as one of the Top 100 Litigation Lawyers in America by Best Lawyers, the U.S. legal profession’s oldest peer-review publication. He has received an AV rating, the highest possible rating, from Martindale-Hubbell as well as being named one of their Top Rated Lawyers in Medical Malpractice Law for 2014. He was also selected by Legal Leaders magazine as one of Philadelphia’ Top Rated Lawyers of 2014. In 2006, Mr. Barrett received the President’s Award from the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association.
Mr. Barrett graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a J.D. law degree from the Villanova University School of Law. Mr. Barrett is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, is a Certified Civil Pre-Trial and Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocates and is a Certified Civil Trial Attorney by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Mr. Barrett regularly lectures lawyers, law students and other professional groups on such topics as personal injury law, handling delayed diagnosis of cancer cases and selecting jury members and expert witnesses.