Leah Mintz

Associate

  • Leah Mintz
  • Phone: +1 215 979 1263

    Import to Address Book

  • Duane Morris LLP
    30 South 17th Street
    Philadelphia, PA 19103-4196
    USA

Leah Mintz is an associate in the Trial Practice Group, where she focuses on appellate litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and complex commercial litigation. As a member of Duane Morris’ appellate practice, Ms. Mintz has briefed and argued appeals before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third and Sixth Circuits, as well as before all three Pennsylvania appellate courts. Ms. Mintz has particular experience litigating both original jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction matters in the Commonwealth Court, including in challenges to decisions of the Public Utility Commission, the Environmental Hearing Board, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Health, and various zoning hearing boards. Ms. Mintz has also served as appellate counsel for litigators in preparation for and during trials in various state courts.

In addition to her appellate practice, Ms. Mintz has represented clients in federal court in connection with fraud, breach of contract, tortious interference, and civil RICO claims, as well as other complex litigation. She also has particular experience advising clients on sensitive matters involving the attorney-client privilege, legal ethics, and the Rules of Professional Conduct.

Prior to joining Duane Morris, Ms. Mintz served as law clerk to the Honorable Eric L. Clay of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and to the Honorable John R. Padova of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Mintz is a 2015 cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, where she was contributing editor of the Michigan Law Review, and a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

Admissions

  • Pennsylvania
  • New Jersey
  • Supreme Court of the United States
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
  • U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

Education

  • University of Michigan Law School, J.D., cum laude, 2015
    - Michigan Law Review, Associate Editor, Vol. 112; Contributing Editor, Vol. 113
  • University of Pennsylvania, B.A., magna cum laude, 2011

Experience

  • Duane Morris LLP
    - Associate, 2017-present
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
    - Law Clerk to the Hon. Eric L. Clay, 2016-2017
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
    - Law Clerk to the Hon. John R. Padova, 2015-2016

Professional Affiliations

  • Co-chair, Philadelphia Bar Association, Appellate Courts Committee, 2022-2024

Honors and Awards

  • Named a "Lawyer on the Fast Track" by The Legal Intelligencer’s Professional Excellence Awards, 2023
  • Named to the Philadelphia Business Journal's “Best of the Bar” for Pro Bono, 2021
  • Named to Best Lawyers “Ones to Watch,” 2021 and 2022
  • Listed in Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2020-2023
  • Awarded Duane Morris Pro Bono Award, 2020

No aspect of these rankings has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Further information on methodologies is available via these links.

Selected Publications

Representative Matters

  • Represented Sunoco Pipeline L.P. in an appeal from an adverse decision of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, in which the PUC had found that Sunoco Pipeline violated certain construction regulations. On appeal, the Commonwealth Court held that the PUC violated Sunoco Pipeline’s due process rights by relying on those regulations because the complainants in the case never asserted that those regulations had been violated.

  • Secured a complete victory in Commonwealth Court for Abington Little League. The Court agreed with the Little League that it was entitled to install lights and a sound system on two of its baseball fields, despite the project being blocked twice by the Glenburn Township Hearing Board and vigorously opposed by neighboring property owners, and also agreed that the trial court erred in imposing conditions on the Little League’s use of the lights. 

  • Represented Powder Springs Logistics, LLC, a joint venture between affiliates of Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. and Colonial Pipeline Company, in a “bet the company” case where the court held that Powder Springs is permitted to blend butane into gasoline shipped on the Colonial pipeline because shippers receive the quality of gasoline they were promised at delivery. The filed-rate doctrine barred the plaintiff’s claims because the plaintiff impermissibly sought to expand its rights as a shipper under Colonial’s tariff to receive only on-specification gasoline; the decision is the first to approve of the practice of butane blending by pipelines and will be an important precedent for regulated energy clients. George E. Warren LLC v. Colonial Pipeline Co., 50 F.4th 391 (3d Cir. 2022).

  • Represented the Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and state Senate in the development of is final reapportionment plan based upon the 2020 federal census, and in opposing the nine appeals brought in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which had presented various challenges under the United States and Pennsylvania constitutions and the federal Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania unanimously affirmed the plan-, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari after receiving the LRC’s opposition.

  • Represented Health Partners Plans, an intervenor aligned with the Department of Human Services, in four challenges under the Procurement Code to the Department’s decision to select Health Partners Plans for contract negotiations, as well as represented Health Partners Plans in appeals under the Right to Know Law, which sought to obtain Health Partners Plans’ confidential and protected information.

  • Represented Campbell Soup Co. in securing the dismissal of multiple lawsuits from a former contractor for the client; a Third Circuit panel, upholding the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey’s decision, found the plaintiff failed to show that Campbell Soup or the staffing agency he worked for were aware of his history of litigation and were retaliating when they fired him.

  • Submitted an amicus curiae brief in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry, National Federation of Independent Business, Pennsylvania Coalition for Civil Justice Reform, Pennsylvania Medical Society, Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association, UPMC, and Marcellus Shale Coalition, arguing that the Court should not adopt the “enterprise” or “single entity” theories of piercing the corporate veil. Mortimer v. McCool, 255 A.3d 261 (Pa. 2021).

  • Represented Sunoco Pipeline L.P. in successfully vacating preliminary injunction that halted construction of pipeline and obtaining dismissal of entire action based on the challenger’s lack of standing. Sunoco Pipeline L.P. v. Dinniman, 217 A.3d 1283 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2019).

  • Successfully defended Pennsylvania state governmental agency and officials against lawsuit concerning the legality and constitutionality of the agency’s toll structures. Owner Operator Indep. Drivers Ass’n, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Tpk. Comm’n, 934 F.3d 283 (3d Cir. 2019).

  • Successfully represented casino in appeal from district court order dismissing a plaintiff’s antitrust claims, in which the plaintiff claimed that defendants had conspired to exclude him from hosting events at their casinos and had unlawfully exercised monopoly power. Kerwin v. Parx Casino, 802 F. App’x 723 (3d Cir. 2020).

  • Represented Rose Acre Farms, one of the largest egg producers in the United States, in successfully defending a judgment in a class action that Rose Acre had not illegally conspired to reduce the national supply of eggs and inflate prices. In re Processed Egg Prod. Antitrust Litig., 962 F.3d 719 (3d Cir. 2020).