Lawyer Overview

Michael J. Foley brings over 20 years of professional experience to the Foley Law Firm. He began his education at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, graduating with a B.A. in History in 1980. He then went on to earn his J.D. at the Duquesne University School of Law in 1983. In the year following his graduation from Duquesne, Mr. Foley served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Robert N.C. Nix, Jr., Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. In 2004 he became a fellow for the National College of Advocacy. In 2002, Mr. Foley was appointed to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission on Venue.

Mr. Foley's excellence in law has been formally recognized on several occasions, in 1999 when he received the Special Achievement Award for the ATLA Annual Convention, and in 2004 and 2005 when Philadelphia Magazine named him a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer. He currently focuses his practice on medical malpractice, civil litigation, and products liability.

Over the course of his career, Mr. Foley has authored many highly regarded articles and papers, including "Exploiting Fear Itself" - Medical Lobby's Challenge to Patient's Rights" (the Barrister, August 2004); "Injustice in the Wake of the False Promise of Tort Reform (The Barrister, 2003); "Separation of Powers: Restrictions on Legislative Regulation of Attorneys' Fees in Medical Malpractice Actions" (The Barrister, Special Supplement, December 2002); "An Historic Overview of the Supreme Court's Rulemaking Authority" (The Barrister, Special Supplement, December 2002); "Funded Employment and Vocational Rehabilitation Shams Affecting Injured Workers (ATLA 2000 Annual Convention Reference Materials, Vol. II, pgs. 2845-2857); "The Evolution of the Right of Partially Disabled Workers to Receive Workers' Compensation Benefits Even When Laid Off" (The Barrister, 1990); "Straight Talk about the 1993 Amendments to the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act" (The Barrister, Fall 1993); and "Enforcement of the American with Disabilities Act Will Bring Equity to the Job Referral Practice in the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation System" (The Barrister, Vol. XX, Number 1, Spring 1995).

Mr. Foley is a member of several professional organizations, including the Philadelphia, Lackawanna County (Member and Special Trial Master) and Pennsylvania (Member, Judicial Section and Administration Committee) Bar Associations; Also, the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association (Treasurer, 2004-2005; Executive Committee, 1995 - present). Also, The Association of Trial Lawyers of America (Member, Birth Trauma Litigation Group; Board of Directors, Workplace Injury Litigation Group, 1996-present); Attorney's Information Exchange Group (Speaker ATVs, 1993); the Million Dollar Advocates Forum; and Lackawanna Pro Bono, Inc. (Board of Directors, 2001-present).

Mr. Foley has lectured on a variety of legal issues for such groups as The American Trial Lawyers Association, Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, National Business Institute, Attorneys' Information Exchange Group, The University of Scranton ACHE Symposium, Mercy Hospital Grand Rounds. He has been a past co-chair of American Trial Lawyer's Association's Misread Pap Smear Litigation Group.

In January 2001, Mr. Foley obtained the first million dollar jury verdict in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, in the Pasternak v. Wayne Memorial Hospital.

Mr. Foley has acted as amicus curiae counsel for the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyer's Association in Zieber v. Bogart, M.D., (rejecting extension of "two disease rule" to medical malpractice cases); and co-author of PATLA's brief in Kroken v. Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania, Inc., (upholding Insurance Commissioner's authority to require arbitration clauses UM/UIM disputes) and for The American Trial Lawyers Association, and The Workplace Injury Litigation Group, Inc. in American Manufacturer Mutual Insurance Co. v. Sullivan, in the United States Supreme Court (court rejected constitutional challenge to automatic supersedes provisions of utilization review of medical expenses).

Mr. Foley submitted written testimony to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on April 16, 2003 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, entitled "It is An Elementary Principle of Justice that Victims of Medical Malpractice Deserve Full Compensation For Life-Altering Injuries."

Mr Foley has been a plaintiff attorney invitee in national medical malpractice conference including "Creating a Malpractice Liability System to Improve Patient Safety," sponsored by the Kaiser Permanente Policy Institute, The Milbank Memorial Fund, and the Reforming States Group in San Francisco, California in January, 2003, and the National Patient Safety Foundation Joint Medical-Legal Conference funded by the United States Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality held at Southern Methodist University Law School in Dallas, Texas, in October, 2003.

In 1983, Mr. Foley was admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, U.S. District Court, Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit; and in 1999, he was admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court.

West Practice Categories

Personal Injury -- Plaintiff

Bar Admissions

• Pennsylvania, 1983

Education

• Duquesne University School of Law, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Address

Linden Plaza
600 Linden Street
P.O. Box 1108
Scranton, PA 18501

Phones

(570) 342-8194
(800) 523-6539 (Toll Free)
(800) 52 FOLEY

Faxes

(570) 342-4658

Emails

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Websites

http://www.foleylawfirm.com