Previous Law Firm Name

• Shay & Santee, January 1, 1990

Law Firm Overview

Shay, Santee and Kelhart is a general practice law firm whose special emphasis is litigation, particularly insurance defense litigation, personal injury, family law and domestic relations litigation, and administrative law and zoning matters. The firm consists of three partners, Richard E. Santee, Jr., Michael P. Shay, and Joanne Kelhart. In addition, the firm employs an experienced paralegal and secretarial staff. The office is located in downtown Bethlehem, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in the Broad Street Business Center, 44 East Broad Street.

The firm's origins are traced to 1985 when Richard E. Santee, Jr. and Michael P. Shay entered into a partnership known as Shay & Santee, following the dissolution of the five member insurance defense law firm with which they had been associated for approximately ten years. This partnership's primary practice emphasis remained litigation oriented matters, in the insurance defense, personal injury, family law and municipal law (zoning and political subdivision practice, in particular).

On May 1, 1990, Joanne Kelhart joined the firm as a partner. The firm's name was accordingly changed to Shay, Santee & Kelhart. Kelhart brought to the firm almost eight years of trial experience, including insurance defense, personal injury litigation and family and domestic relations matters.

Since then, the firm has departed from a general practice law firm with an emphasis on insurance defense work to a litigation oriented firm, whose litigation portfolio includes insurance defense, personal injury matters, and other civil litigation matters. In addition to its civil trial practice, the firm maintains an active participation in domestic relations matters and family court litigation as well as municipal law, in particular, zoning appeals and litigation.

For the foreseeable future, due to the volume of its litigation practice, Shay, Santee & Kelhart intend to continue the emphasis on, and the development of, its civil trial and insurance defense litigation practice.

The core of the firm remains its three partners. Richard E. Santee, Jr., is a 1976 graduate of the University of Virginia Law School and Michael P. Shay is a 1975 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, both of which are perennially ranked among the top law schools in the country. Joanne Kelhart is a 1983 graduate of Temple University Law School, which was ranked in the U.S. News and World Report year 2000 guide of America's best graduate schools as the number one law school in the country for trial advocacy. The three partners have extensive trial experience in numerous areas of civil law. All three partners are equally capable of handling civil trial matters from inception through jury trial.

In addition to the trial skills and experience of the three partners, there is a strong bond of loyalty, mutual respect, and friendship among the three partnerships. In an era of great volatility among law firms, the three partners intend and expect their relationship to continue for many years into the future. They share common goals and ideas about the practice of law and its place in their lives. They have managed to avoid the tensions and discord that commonly affect and disrupt law partnerships which result in inefficiency, arguments about client files and responsibility, petty in-fighting and, ultimately, partnership dissolution.

All of the partners are active members of the legal community in Northampton County and the Lehigh Valley. Joanne Kelhart has served on the Northampton County Bar Association as a member of the Board of Governors and, currently, as its President. She is also a past president of the Clinton Budd Palmer American Inn of Court, a professional association emphasizing litigation and trial practice.

Michael P. Shay has served as Editor of the Northampton County Reporter for many years and has chaired the Insurance Committee of the Northampton County Bar Association.

Richard E. Santee, Jr., is a Past-President of the Bar Association and has been a long-time chair of the County's Civil Procedural Rules Committee.

All three of the partners have served on continuing legal education panels for the County Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and the American Inns of Court.

It is the long-term goal of Shay, Santee & Kelhart to continue it emphasis on civil litigation especially in the areas of insurance defense matters, personal injury claims, domestic relations and family court litigation and zoning and municipal law advocacy. The firm will continue to strive represent its clients efficiently, successfully, and at a reasonable cost.

Areas of Practice

• Bad Faith Insurance
• Business & Commercial Law
• Contracts
• Business Organizations
• Employment Law -- Employee
• Employment Law -- Employer
• Family Law
• Child Support
• Custody & Visitation
• Divorce
• Insurance Defense
• Insurance Law
• Litigation & Appeals
• Personal Injury -- Plaintiff
• Motor Vehicle Accidents -- Plaintiff
• Land Use & Zoning
• Workers' Compensation Law

Representative Clients

• Erie Insurance Exchange
• State Farm Mutual Insurance Companies
• Forks Township Zoning Hearing Board

West Practice Categories

Bad Faith Insurance, Business & Commercial Law, Contracts, Business Organizations, Employment Law -- Employee, Employment Law -- Employer, Family Law, Child Support, Custody & Visitation, Divorce, Insurance Defense, Insurance Law, Litigation & Appeals, Personal Injury -- Plaintiff, Motor Vehicle Accidents -- Plaintiff, Land Use & Zoning, Workers' Compensation Law