John is a member of the firm’s Real Estate and Business practice groups regularly assisting business clients with a wide variety of general corporate issues, including such matters as entity formation, mergers and stock asset acquisitions. John has also provided counsel on commercial real estate, commercial leasing, planned communities, condominiums and the financing of all types of commercial transactions. He has also successfully represented clients in various industries involved in real estate tax assessment appeals throughout eastern Pennsylvania.
He also has experience in bankruptcy and workout situations, and works regularly with the firm’s commercial landlord clients who have been faced with tenant bankruptcies. He has also defended clients faced with bankruptcy preference claims and other adversary proceedings.
J. is a member of Barley Snyder’s Litigation Practice Group. Since joining Barley Snyder, J. has broadened his practice, assisting clients with matters pertaining to breach of contract, real estate, landlord and tenant litigation. He is also a member of the firm’s Creditors’ Rights Practice Group, where he handles bankruptcy and debt collection. J. has worked with contractors, corporate landlords and leasing companies on their collection efforts and has asserted the priority of mortgages and liens. He also deals with real estate litigation, ejectments and evictions.
J. has previous experience working as the lead litigator at the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) as part of the Office of General Counsel within the governor’s office. He was able to successfully recover an excess of $15 million taxpayer dollars through judgments, bankruptcy and settlement agreements. He once served as counsel to the coordinator for the City of Harrisburg through the city’s progression toward financial recovery through the DCED. J’s experience handling administrative appeals comes from a familiarity with procedures and government appeals from administrative agencies. Additionally, J. has made appellate decisions in the Commonwealth Court and Superior Court of Pennsylvania.
Prior to his experience in Pennsylvania, J. served as a law clerk to the Hon. Michael J. Kassel in the New Jersey Superior Court. A Harrisburg native, J. is very active in the Dauphin County community and currently lives in Lancaster with his wife, Christina and their daughter. Outside of the firm, J. is active with the Dauphin County Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division as treasurer of the organization.
Randy is a partner and practice group leader of the firm’s Trusts & Estates group. He concentrates his practice in both complex and simple estate and tax planning as well as estate and trust administration.
Randy is also a member of the firm’s Family Business group, working closely with family owned business owners in formulating succession plans and advising owners of closely held businesses with respect to their estate and retirement plans. Randy works with his clients to address their business and personal needs in a way that will minimize their future estate, gift, income and generation skipping transfer taxes while maximizing and preserving family wealth. Randy also works with his clients to identify potential family conflicts with respect to succession planning, estate and retirement planning matters and offers suggestions to incorporate into business planning to avoid such conflicts.
Randy’s estate planning practice includes the following:
Drafting complex and simple estate plans that include wills, revocable trusts, dynasty trusts, irrevocable insurance trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), charitable remainder trusts, family limited partnerships, limited liability companies and powers of attorney for both finance and health care needs.
Assistance with retirement planning and charitable giving.
Counseling owners of closely-held businesses on business succession planning, business formation, governance issues including buy-sell agreements and planning for the sale or disposition of family businesses.
Advising clients of the consequences of proposed transfers and transactions as they relate to estate, gift, generation-skipping and income taxes.
Assistance with estate administration and the probate process.
Planning for the creation, preservation and transmission of wealth among generations.
Creating charitable foundations/trusts and assisting in corporate governance and formation of such charitable entities.
Randy’s practice also focuses in the area of tax exempt organizations, including the formation of non-profit organizations and obtaining tax exempt status from the IRS. Randy also works with governance issues affecting tax exempt organizations, including public charities, private foundations, colleges, universities and other non-profits.
Randy served in the United States Marine Corps and was stationed in the Persian Gulf as part of operation Desert Shield. He also served in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba during the Haitian refugee crisis from 1991-1992 and was awarded the Navy achievement medal.
John is a member of the firm’s Business Law Group and Family Business Law group. John’s primary practice is comprised of two separate but related areas: (i) counseling family-owned and closely held businesses; and (ii) buying and selling businesses, and in many cases, acting as a general counselor for the business on an ongoing basis after the transaction is completed.
Counseling Family Owned and Closely Held Businesses
John’s work in this area is extremely varied and from the broadest standpoint, John acts as a virtual in-house counsel to these businesses. In this “in-house counsel” role, John learns about the business, the owners, the objectives, and outlook of the owners, and then combines this information with his legal knowledge and the expertise of colleagues at Barley Snyder to provide counsel to the business on legal and business related issues. John has been involved in specific family-related matters such as succession planning, developing both advisory boards and boards of directors with outside directors, developing family councils, facilitating family meetings, navigating owner disputes, and negotiating and implementing Shareholder Agreements (Buy-Sell Agreements). Of course, John also advises on general business issues such as contract review and negotiation, real estate purchases or sales, employment issues, strategic planning, and general business strategy.
Barley Snyder is also one of the founding members and a current corporate sponsor of the S. Dale High Family Business Center at Elizabethtown College. John leads the firm’s efforts at the Center and is a frequent speaker and a regular resource for the CEO Roundtable and Emerging Leaders Groups at the Center.
Buying and Selling Businesses
John regularly represents clients buying or selling businesses. This representation can include very complicated transactions involving mergers of entities, multi-level financing and equity arrangements, earn-out provisions, and floating purchase prices or straightforward deals as well as advising clients on the proper entity to form for a purchase, negotiating and drafting letters of intent and term sheets, guiding the due diligence portion of the investigation, negotiating and securing financing, analyzing financing options, determining value, and leading the team of advisors in the negotiation of the deal.
Outlook
John finds working with family businesses and their owners extremely rewarding. Barley Snyder has a tradition of representing generation after generation of family businesses. Family business owners have a very different outlook and approach to business than the Fortune 500s. The family business owner does not base his or her decisions on what will maximize profits for the next month (and his or her bonus), but rather makes decisions keeping in mind that he or she is just holding the business in trust for the generations to follow. These owners make decisions that will benefit the business in the long run to ensure the business survives from generation to generation. John understands this approach and acts as a partner and strategic advisor with his family business clients.
In addition to his legal work and when he is not chasing his three sons, John is actively involved in the community. Since John arrived in Lancaster, he has made community involvement a high priority and believes the community is made stronger through dedicated volunteers and that a stronger community results in a strong and more stable business environment. The central Pennsylvania region is proof of that.
Reilly is a member of the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group and the Construction, Environment & Energy and Municipal industry groups in addition to being a licensed title agent. He dedicates his practice to the representation of clients in all aspects of their real estate transactions and developments with a particular focus on land use and development, construction and regulatory matters as well as leasing.
Land Use & Development Reilly’s zoning and land development work includes representation of clients in the submissions of and hearings for text amendment, rezoning, variance, special exception, conditional use, subdivision and land development and condition modification applications. He understands the complexities of the Municipalities Planning Code and the requirements that municipalities and developers must follow throughout the land development process in Pennsylvania. Reilly’s expertise in this area includes assistance with the development of mixed-use, commercial/industrial buildings and complexes as well as residential neighborhoods. Reilly also frequently counsels clients on the Pennsylvania Uniform Planned Community Act and Uniform Condominium Act. He prepares homeowners’ association and condominium documents for developments of all types and sizes, including building conversions, shopping centers, residential planned communities, master-planned developments, and site condominiums.
Construction Matters In his construction practice, Reilly advises owners, contractors, subcontractors and design professionals on all facets of construction law and procurement matters. This includes the review and negotiation of the American Institute for Architects (AIA) form agreements, updates to form purchase orders and agreements, and assistance with mechanics’ lien, prevailing wage and Contractor and Subcontractor Payment Act issues. Reilly has specific experience with engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts for renewable energy projects. Reilly also represents developers with respect to building code and Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) enforcement issues and appeals as well as Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB) approvals.
Regulatory & Permitting In connection with his land use and development practice, Reilly helps clients navigate the regulatory and permitting requirements associated with real estate projects including the rules and regulations of various Pennsylvania state agencies such as the Department of Environmental Protection, PennDOT, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and the Pennsylvania Utility Commission. He regularly assists clients with issues related to permits for public infrastructure as well as highway occupancy, NPDES, post-construction stormwater management and building permits.
Leasing Reilly devotes a significant portion of his practice to the representation of landlords and tenants in various leasing matters. He frequently negotiates retail, industrial, office, and ground leases and advises clients on ancillary leasing issues such as financing and construction issues. Reilly also assists clients in the negotiation of energy and utility leases, including solar farm and cell tower leases.
Reilly currently serves as the chair of the Ethics Committee for the Building Industry Association of Lancaster County and the chair of Lancaster Bar Association’s Municipal, Zoning the Environmental Law Section. Reilly was the recipient of the 2020 Pennsylvania Bar Association Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section Trailblazer award which is given annually to a bar association Young Law Division member practicing primarily in the area of real property law or probate and trust law. The attorney must demonstrate excellence and the highest ethical standards in the practice of law and must show a commitment to pro bono legal services.
In his spare time, Reilly enjoys biking, hiking, reading, astronomy, Revolutionary and Civil War history, and spending time with his family outdoors.
View some of Reilly’s representative matters:
Represented a regional funeral home in the acquisition and development, including permitting, land development, and zoning approvals, for a new, approximately 14,000-square-foot funeral home and crematory
Represented a farm equipment and machinery sales and repair business in the sale of its existing building, the acquisition of raw land, and the development of a multi-phased, 300,000 square foot vehicle retail, service, and repair center. Reilly’s work on this matter included obtaining conditional use, variance, and land development plan approvals for the new building as well as assistance in obtaining a PIDA loan to finance the development.
Counseled a large retailer in the development of a multi-phased, 250,000-square-foot manufacturing, office, and warehousing center, including navigation of permitting and land development issues, sewer and water capacity matters, and special exception approvals for the use.
Represented landowners in obtaining variances and special exception approvals to convert existing buildings into an apartment building and an AirBnB building.
Represented a large church in the conversion of its existing building into a condominium, and the sale of a condominium unit to a buyer.
Counseled a residential developer in rezoning several tracts of land, obtaining text amendments for higher density, and development of townhome, single-family and mixed-use buildings.
Served as counsel for a one-of-a-kind stream restoration and walking trail project in Lancaster County, which included preparation of easements, construction documents, and municipal intergovernmental agreements related to stormwater and MS4 permitting.
Prepared condominium/planned community documents for a shopping center redevelopment, single-family and townhome developments throughout central Pennsylvania as well as building conversions in urban settings including Lancaster and Harrisburg.
“Trends in Zoning and Development,” – Moderator, Wake Up With Barley: A Morning on Real Estate Seminar (June 2023)
“What Residential Builders Need to Know About Construction and Land Development”, Building Industry Association of Lancaster County Morning Mingle (Sept. 2022)
“Exploring and Negotiating Key Clauses in Construction Contracts”, ABC Keystone’s Fall Regional Construction Wake-up Call Series (Fall 2022)
“Construction Agreements & Payments: Understanding the Construction Process”, ABC Keystone (October 2020)
Joseph Erb is part of Barley Snyder’s Real Estate and Litigation practice groups. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the York County Bar Association. He clerked for the Honorable John T. Miller of the York County Court of Common Pleas. Attorney Erb is member of St. Matthew Lutheran Church of Hanover; a past board member of the Hanover Red Cross; a past board member of the Battlefield Preservation Society of Gettysburg, and a past board member of the York County S.P.C.A.
Prior to law school and the practice of law, Joseph worked as a mixed gas tender/diver offshore throughout the oilfields of the Gulf of Mexico. He still continues nautical pursuits enjoying recreational scuba diving and sailing with friends.
Rob is counsel at the firm and serves as Chief Legal Officer of PAM Heath, a central Pennsylvania-based health care system that owns and operates more than 80 hospitals throughout the United States. He is responsible for all legal operations associated with PAM Health including compliance and regulatory, litigation, business development and contracting, and employment issues.
Rob has served as lead counsel in business litigation of all types, from small corporate claims to “bet-the-company” litigation. He regularly represented clients in complex litigation, including employment, intellectual property and corporate governance disputes. In addition, he has represented business and governmental entities in all aspects of employment law, from day-to-day human resource issues to drafting handbooks and employment agreements to litigating all aspects of employment discrimination, wage and hour, and FMLA claims.
“The Impact of Cyberculture on Administrative Litigation,” 6th Annual Administrative Law Symposium for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute (2001)
“The Practitioner’s Guide to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure,” co-author, Recent Developments in Federal Practice (1995, 1998)
“Rule 68: Awakening a Sleeping Giant,” co-author, 65 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 379 (1997)
“Practice Tips for Litigating in Federal Court,” co-author, 68 Pennsylvania Bar Association Q.1 (January 1997)
“Rule 11: Focus on Sanctions,” co-author, Vol. 2, No. 3, The Middle District Reporter 6 (Fall 1996)
“The Nuances of Rule 26,” co-author, Vol. 2, No.3, The Middle District Reporter 5 (Summer 1996)
“Cracking the Doctrinal Wall of Chapman v. Barney: A New Diversity Test for Limited Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies,” 5 Widener J. Pub. L. 89 (1995)
“Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools: Bursting the Bubble of Sexual Discrimination in Education,” 19 Ohio No. U.L. Rev. 817 (1993)
Maria is a member of the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group. She counsels international, national, regional and local businesses and individuals on complex real estate and construction transactions. She takes the time to understand her clients’ business so she can design legal and business solutions to best meet their needs.
Real Estate Law Much of her real estate work involves commercial, residential and mixed use projects, including hospitals, banks, colleges, water and sewer treatment plants, apartment buildings, shopping centers, nursing homes and continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). She prepares documentation for developers for a variety of condominium and planned communities (commercial, residential, mixed use and site condos) and has also represented homeowner’s associations.
She collaborates with her clients through every step of the real estate matter, including:
– negotiating and preparing sales agreements
– assisting clients with due diligence
– obtaining any zoning and land development approvals
– obtaining liquor license approvals
– forming entities for real estate ownership
– reviewing title commitments and resolving any title matters
– reviewing and negotiating loan documents from banks and state agencies
– closing the deal by preparing settlement documents and attending settlement
– paying attention to any post-closing matters, such as tax assessment appeals or in the case of non-profits and educational institutions, tax exemption appeals
Maria has successfully negotiated leases and related documents for all types of commercial and residential properties, including college campuses, medical office buildings, health campuses, professional office buildings, retail and shopping centers, cell towers, apartment buildings, banks, farms, parking lots, hotels, and industrial, manufacturing and warehouse buildings. She represents both landlords and tenants on a regular basis.
She also gets involved in various agricultural real estate matters for clients, including Clean and Green (Act 319), Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) and agricultural preservation easements.
Construction Law Maria’s construction law practice involves issues during all phases of the construction process, including drafting and negotiating construction contracts, providing advice on claims avoidance and handling bond claims. She also counsels clients on various alternative dispute resolutions for construction matters, including mediation, arbitration and litigation.
She regularly addresses general construction matters involving liquidated damages, change orders, performance and payment bonds, termination of contracts, and mechanics’ liens waivers and releases. She has extensive experience with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) construction contracts, including creating standard changes for clients working on multiple construction projects. Maria is familiar with the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, having assisted clients with ensuring their construction contracts meet the requirements of the act. She advises clients on the amendments to the Pennsylvania Mechanics’ Lien Law and how the changes affect their construction projects. She is familiar with amendment to the Mechanic’s Lien Law to address the Pennsylvania Construction Notices Directory, which was implemented in 2017 for construction projects over $1.5 million. She is also knowledgeable with the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code and the International Building Code. In 2020, Maria was named a Fellow at the Construction Lawyers Society of America, joining the invitation-only international honorary association composed of preeminent lawyers specializing in construction law and related fields.
Examples of her real estate and construction experience include:
– Successfully handled the purchase of a $5 million corporate headquarters site for a food manufacturer including the preparation of condominium documents in connection with Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority (PIDA) financing and handling a Machinery and Equipment Loan Fund (MELF) loan for equipment financing.
– Was instrumental in the purchase and partial lease-back of a $10 million industrial building along with obtaining successful zoning approval for a special exception to allow the client to manufacture its recycled rubber surface and flooring products at the site.
– Created condominium documents for a hospital pavilion, a shopping center, a studio complex, an industrial/business site condo and a mixed use urban building condo.
– Obtained successful zoning approvals for a sewer authority to install a pumping station and sewer lines in existing residential development and worked on sewer line easement agreements.
– Negotiated a warehouse lease for an international manufacturer of fishing equipment and construction documents for the tenant fit-out as well as resolving a change order dispute for the client.
Maria regularly presents on real estate and construction matters. She has given presentations before Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. – Keystone Chapter, Building Industry Association of Lancaster County and the Commercial & Industrial Real Estate Council of the Lancaster County Association of Realtors. In addition, she has taught continuing legal education classes for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and the Lancaster Bar Association. She is conversational in Italian and speaks Spanish.
Maria has three active kids and lives in Lititz. She sings as a cantor at St. James Catholic Church in Lititz and can be found doing karaoke now and then. She loves theatre and has performed in musicals and comedies when she was younger. Now, she can often be found playing pickleball at the Lititz recCenter.
“Understanding Complex Lease Provisions,” – Moderator, “Wake Up With Barley: A Morning on Real Estate” Seminar
“What Residential Builders Need to Know About Construction and Land Development”, Building Industry Association of Lancaster County Morning Mingle (Sept. 2022)
“Exploring and Negotiating Key Clauses in Construction Contracts”, ABC Keystone’s Fall Regional Construction Wake-up Call Series (Fall 2022)
“Doing Business with Coronavirus: Managing Tenant Relationships and Protecting Landlord Interests”, CCIM Webinar (May 2020)
“Condos in the City”, Wake up with Barley: A Morning on Real Estate (June 2019)
Luke is a trial attorney in the Litigation and Health Care groups. In his career, Luke has represented clients in numerous cases throughout Pennsylvania in both state and federal courts. He prides himself on applying methodical case preparation and strategic litigation planning to obtain favorable outcomes for his clients. Luke is experienced in all stages of litigation from addressing disputes prior to the filing of a lawsuit through presenting the case to a jury at trial and on appeal. He is also adept at resolving matters through alternative dispute resolution, including confidential mediations and arbitrations when advantageous to the client goals in any particular case.
Luke devotes a substantial portion of this practice to defending doctors, hospitals and other health care professionals against medical malpractice claims. While collaborating with some of the most highly respected medical experts in the country, Luke has experience defending malpractice claims in a wide variety of specialties: obstetrics and gynecology, neurosurgery, pediatrics, cardiovascular and thoracic surgery, general surgery, neurology, radiology, oncology, dermatology, urology, anesthesiology, neonatology, infectious disease, emergency medicine, hospital medicine, pathology, nursing care, and primary care medicine.
In addition to defending medical malpractice cases, Luke has defended product liability cases, class actions, regulatory prosecutions and various personal injury matters in the health care sector. He also supports hospital clients in conducting peer review investigations and medical board adjudications.
Luke maintains an active commercial litigation practice in addition to his medical malpractice docket. He frequently represents clients in commercial cases involving contract and business disputes, including those against governmental entities, and provides guidance to clients regarding potential claims or liabilities. In addition to pursuing and defending actions in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Luke has been granted special admissions to practice in other states where necessary to litigate cases on behalf of clients. In handling complex litigation, Luke has experience conducting multi-state and transnational discovery as well as coordinating electronic discovery.
Luke was recently recognized for his experience by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and received an appointment to its Committee on the Rules of Evidence. The committee provides recommendations to the court regarding evidence matters by monitoring the application of rules and developments in case law as well as identifying areas in which rules of evidence should be revised or clarified. The committee typically consists of a small number of judges and attorneys throughout the state.
Luke also regularly engages in pro bono work. For example, as part of a project with the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center and the Lancaster Bar Association, Luke filed a pro bono suit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its related agencies seeking protected immigration status and employment authorization for a victim of domestic violence. Ultimately, to resolve the matter, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services awarded Luke’s client deferred action status, issued her an employment authorization and placed her on a pathway to citizenship.
Before going into private practice, Luke trained under a series of judges, including in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, and the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. By working for both state and federal judges, Luke gained first-hand experience in a wide array of matters including employment and labor disputes, municipal claims, state regulatory prosecutions, land use litigation and constitutional law challenges at both the trial and appellate levels.
At Penn State University Dickinson School of Law, he was a member of the schools national trial competition team and an associate editor of the Penn State Law Review. Luke also participated in a medical-legal colloquium in conjunction with the Milton S. Hershey School of Medicine.
A Lancaster County native, Luke lives just outside Lancaster with his wife, Ashley, and their two young daughters.
Bob Frankhouser is a member of the firm’s Education, Employment and Labor law practice groups. He provides advice and representation to educational entities both as a general solicitor and as special counsel. In addition, Bob counsels employers on employment issues with special emphasis on labor union matters.
Bob’s legal practice has spanned nearly 40 years. During that time he has represented school districts in many employment and construction matters. He serves as the solicitor of record for a variety of educational entities, providing guidance on governance, general business issues and labor relations matters.
He also has years of experience in labor/management relations, negotiating for and providing counsel to the firm’s public school district clients on collective bargaining agreements. He also has litigated a wide variety of labor disputes for both the public and private employers he has represented.
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