Paul practices commercial, real estate and fiduciary litigation and maintains an active trial practice in the state and federal courts of Pennsylvania and Maryland. In 25 years of practice he has handled a wide range of litigation matters including contract litigation, fiduciary litigation, minority shareholder litigation, restrictive covenant and trade secret litigation, insurance and coverage litigation and real estate, eminent domain and tax assessment appeal cases.
Paul also has a significant Orphans’ Court practice handling trust disputes, will contests and guardianship proceedings.
Paul’s practice also includes zoning and land development matters for some of the largest national and regional residential and commercial developers. Paul’s experience includes obtaining variances, special exceptions, conditional uses and other zoning relief.
A native of York, Paul has supported the growth and well-being of his hometown through his active community involvement. Paul serves on the board of directors for various non-profit organizations including social service agencies, and the local bar association.
In addition to being an active litigator, mentor and adviser, Paul has also been a well-received speaker, delivering presentations on construction, insurance, risk management and fiduciary law issues to a variety of public and private groups.
Peter Faben is apartner in the Health Care and Litigation groups at Barley Snyder. Peter focuses on the defense of health care facilities and physicians in medical malpractice litigation. He also represents medical service providers in state regulatory matters and assists his clients to identify potential risks to mitigate future liabilities. He also works with clients on HIPAA compliance as well as other state and federal health privacy compliance provisions.
In addition to his work in health care, Peter also works with private-sector clients on third-party discovery requests, responding to subpeonas and defending accusations of civil rights violations.
Prior to joining Barley Snyder in 2015, Peter worked as an attorney in Delaware, litigating a wide variety of cases at both the federal and state level. He has represented corporations and shareholders in disputes before Delaware’s Court of Chancery, debtors and creditors in bankruptcy actions, and parties in commercial disputes in federal courts in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Most recently, he has represented retailers and manufacturers in products liability actions in Delaware state and federal courts.
Jeremy Frey is the chair of the firm’s Business Practice Group, focusing his practice in the areas of planning, negotiation and execution of business and real estate transactions, real estate development, land use and zoning matters, real estate assessment appeals, business and real estate financing, and business planning.
In the real estate area, Jeremy has successfully represented numerous clients on zoning matters, has a broad knowledge of the Municipalities Planning Code, and has been involved in numerous successful land use and real estate assessment appeals (for both commercial and residential properties). Jeremy regularly advises clients in the purchase and sale of residential and commercial properties, including the sale of hotel properties and the transfer of liquor licenses. Jeremy is a mediator for the REALTORS Association of York & Adams Counties (RAYAC), and is a licensed title agent for Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company.
In the area of business transactions, Jeremy works with clients on stock and asset purchases and sales and mergers between various types of business entities. Jeremy has assisted businesses in purchases and sales ranging from under $1,000,000 to more than $100,000,000 and he has also assisted borrowers and lenders in many types of loan transactions.
Jeremy is also part of the Food and Agribusiness Industry Group where he provides general counsel in a variety of areas to clients in the food and agricultural industries. In 2012, he successfully appealed the denial of a crop insurance claims for an Adams County orchard to the U.S. Federal Court.
He is very active in the community. He formerly was the president of the board of directors of the Hanover YMCA and was instrumental in the planning, fundraising and construction of the South Hanover YMCA. He is also very active in youth sports, coaching football, basketball and baseball in the local community.
Jeremy was selected to the 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Stars list.
Jennifer is a member of Barley Snyder’s Trusts & Estates Practice Group, and estate planning and estate administration are her primary practice areas. Jennifer’s estate planning work involves the preparation of wills, financial and health care powers of attorney, and other estate planning documents, as well as trust creation and administration. Her practice also includes probate and estate administration through which a deceased person’s property and other assets are distributed and the estate is managed and settled. Jennifer also represents clients in guardianship matters through which a person or entity is appointed by the court to make decisions for another person of any age who is incapacitated, as well as Medicaid planning matters in which individuals or couples determine how to best structure or transfer assets in order to qualify for Medicaid to pay for nursing care.
Jennifer’s diverse practice also includes preparation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements which are often an integral part of the estate planning process. Jennifer has practiced in courts throughout central Pennsylvania, including Adams, Berks, Cumberland, Franklin, Fulton and York counties.
Her work in estate planning and administration also serves as a lead-in to the business and real estate elements of her practice. Her business and real estate experience includes:
Entity formation
Small business asset and stock purchases
Commercial and residential real estate settlement and refinancing
Preparation of commercial and residential purchase agreements
Jennifer is a native of Hanover and lives in the Hanover area with her husband and daughter. She is a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Hanover, and is a graduate of Delone Catholic High School.
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.
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.
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.
Jennifer is the firm’s managing partner and a member of the Employment Practice Group where she concentrates her practice in the areas of labor and employment law as well as school law.
In the area of employment law, Jennifer serves as both a counselor and a litigator. In her litigation role, Jennifer has handled cases at both the administrative level and in state and federal court. Jennifer regularly practices before the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as well as administrative agencies throughout the country, handling all manner of discrimination and retaliation claims. Jennifer routinely handles litigation in the Federal District Courts in both the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania. Jennifer has obtained summary judgment and successful verdicts on behalf of her employer clients in numerous cases involving discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. In addition to defending discrimination cases involving sex, race, color, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, Veteran’s or military leave status, and other legally protected classes, Jennifer has also handled litigation for employers both at the administrative level and in state and federal courts involving claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Executive Order 11246, the False Claims Act, the Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), and comparable state and local ordinances.
In her role as employment counselor, Jennifer regularly provides advice to employers on a myriad of employment issues, including counseling on performance and conduct related issues, reasonable accommodation obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), FMLA compliance and management, sexual and other harassment, workplace violence, and many other issues. Jennifer has worked with clients in investigations involving harassment, misappropriation of funds and other areas of misconduct, including conducting investigations of executive and high level management employees. Jennifer also has expertise in Executive Order 11246 to include affirmative action compliance for government contractors and handling OFCCP audits. Jennifer works with government contractors on hiring and compensation audits and drafting and reviewing affirmative action plans. Jennifer also has experience in assisting employers with claims involving unemployment compensation and workers’ compensation and frequently counsels clients on the interplay between the ADA, FMLA, and workers’ compensation. In addition, Jennifer reviews personnel policies for employers and has reviewed hundreds of employee handbooks for legal compliance.
Jennifer believes in a strategy of prevention for her employer clients, and in this role not only provides counseling and investigation services to employers, but also conducts a variety of on-site, workplace training in the areas of sexual and other harassment prevention, diversity, documentation strategies in the context of discipline and discharge as well as performance evaluations, FMLA/ADA/workers’ compensation interplay and management, workplace violence, union avoidance strategies for managers and supervisors, and the nuts and bolts of workplace management to prevent litigation. Jennifer is accustomed to conducting training at all levels to include employees, supervisors and managers, and executives and directors.
In her role as labor attorney, Jennifer has handled numerous labor arbitrations both in the public and private sector. In addition, she has handled labor negotiations for unionized employers, including Act 111 negotiations in in the public employer arena. Jennifer also counsels public employers on issues unique to the Heart and Lung Act and has successfully handled numerous civil service and grievance arbitrations involving termination of Heart and Lung Act benefits. Jennifer has also represented employers before the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board and the National Labor Relations Board.
Jennifer also provides representation to universities and colleges on labor and employment matters, affirmative action compliance, student discipline, sexual assault and other sensitive issues, and on compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Jennifer regularly presents on FERPA issues, including the interplay between FERPA and HIPAA. In addition, Jennifer counsels schools on issues related to Title IX compliance and student accommodation requests under the ADA. She is also a past presenter for the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO) on FMLA and ADA matters unique to school districts.
Jennifer represents clients of all sizes and in all industries and is well versed in issues unique to manufacturing and the service sector and provides employment law expertise and litigation management services to a national retailer. In addition, she regularly represents hospitals, long term care facilities, and other health care institutions in employment issues unique to those settings, including issues related to the Older Adult Protective Services Act, credentialing and staff privileges, and medication diversion, among other issues. Jennifer is also labor and employment counsel to municipalities throughout Pennsylvania.
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