Duane Morris LLP - Best of the Bar: Philadelphia's Top Lawyers

Five Duane Morris attorneys have been honored as “Best of the Bar: Philadelphia’s Top Lawyers” by the Philadelphia Business Journal for their significant and recent achievements.

Below are excerpts of their profiles.

Christiane Schuman Campbell – Intellectual Property

Campbell represented the Popeyes restaurant chain in adopting a new visual identity, which was essentially a rebrand and modernization of its legacy brands. Additionally, the company underwent incredible growth in countries of operation and new countries of entry. Campbell worked with the company to develop and execute a global filing program that blended the international trademark system with national filings and filings to supplement existing coverage in countries of greatest interest. Campbell also negotiated a settlement in a trademark infringement suit she filed on behalf of her client, Lagos Inc. that resulted in a complete and total cease of the infringing activities.

If you could change one thing about the practice of law what would it be?

I would make practical training and experience (externships and the like) mandatory during the third year of law school.

How do you celebrate a big victory at work?

The first thing I do is report to the client and make sure they appreciate and understand the work my team put in. Then I send an email to key decision makers, practice or office group heads and marketing people in the firm, to let them know how great a job their respective attorneys did on whatever the project was. I also make sure I use our internal feedback tracking system to give positive but helpful feedback to those that worked with me. It’s incredibly important to recognize, appreciate, value, and reward team members that contribute to big victories because nobody can do this alone. Then we might get celebratory drinks.

Rebecca A. Guzman – Corporate

Guzman has counseled several life sciences companies through exciting inflection points over the last year, including the representation of Pennsylvania-based SIRPant Immunotherapeutics in a $25 million Series A preferred stock financing, Malvern-based medical device startup Early Bird Medical in its Series A preferred stock financing, Malvern-based Shifa Biomedical in its initial corporate structuring and capitalization, Malvern-based medical device startup Night Owl Medical in its initial corporate structuring and its Series A preferred stock financing, and Malvern-based Venatorx Pharmaceuticals in a Series C preferred stock financing.

If you could change one thing about the practice of law what would it be?

One thing I would change is the common perception (dating back to Shakespeare) that lawyers are the enemy. As lawyers, we help our clients find solutions to challenges that they face, and we often need to think outside the box and wear many hats. We need to find ways to reach resolution in difficult situations to find the zone of possible agreement and get a deal done. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that we are the peacemakers, but we are always working towards resolution.

How do you celebrate a big victory at work?

I like to celebrate big victories first and foremost with my deal team. One of the things I love about Duane Morris is the emphasis on providing a supportive environment where the firm celebrates victories together as a team. I always celebrate victories at home with my family as well. My family has always been my biggest supporter. When I have big wins at work, it’s due in large part to the support I receive at home from my husband and our two young sons. My sons always insist we celebrate with pizza and ice cream, which is fine by me!

Katharyn Ivera Christian McGee – Pro Bono

Following the fall of Kabul, Afghanistan, in August 2021, McGee led Duane Morris’ pro bono response efforts mobilizing more than 100 attorneys and staff across the country working 3,000 pro bono hours to assist over 400 Afghan nationals seeking F-1 visas, which are geared toward students. McGee led all of this work virtually via Zoom pro bono clinics permitting Duane Morris to muster volunteers from all of its offices to help hundreds of immigrants with ties to Philadelphia. She then joined HIAS Pennsylvania and Philadelphia AILA to convene meetings and roundtables with the U.S. congressional representatives for Philadelphia and South Jersey advocating for reforms to humanitarian parole and other avenues for relief for Afghans left behind. McGee continues to recruit lawyers from the firm and in-house legal departments to represent dozens of asylum seekers.

Who would you have on your Mount Rushmore of lawyers in the history of Greater Philadelphia?

As a female attorney focusing on women’s rights, I have to pick some of our local, trailblazers, including: Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a public interest attorney turned pro bono counsel who took her advocacy to the next level and became a U.S. congresswoman. Watching Rep. Scanlon run for/win elected office was like watching a superhero come to life! Co-Dean Kim Mutcherson, the first woman, first African-American and first LGBTQ law dean at Rutgers Law School, in addition to being a brilliant bioethics and reproductive justice scholar and a generous, humble, and funny human. Carol Tracey, who recently retired as executive director of the Women’s Law Project after fighting for women’s equality across Pennsylvania for 30-plus years. And Rev. Pauli Murray. They are not from Philly, but I have to add them because not enough people know about their groundbreaking scholarship, which paved the way for so many other people in the legal profession and Episcopal Church. As a fellow Episcopalian and lawyer, they inspire me daily.

If you could change one thing about the practice of law what would it be?

A legal right to counsel in matters involving human rights – shelter, sustenance, safety, health, and child custody. In my day to day world, mandatory reporting of pro bono hours in an attorney’s annual registration. I am not arguing for mandatory pro bono, but practicing law is a privilege and with it comes responsibility to render legal aid. As humans and lawyers, we appreciate that what gets measured gets done. Requiring attorneys to report their pro bono work hopefully would inspire (or cajole) individuals into action. Pro bono service is needed more than even before and “[e]very lawyer, regardless of professional prominence or professional workload, should find time to participate in or otherwise support the provision of legal services to the disadvantaged,” per the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board's Rules of Professional Conduct, Comment 3.

Brad A. Molotsky – Real Estate

Molotsky represented various subsidiaries of real estate investment and development company BG Capital in the $77 million purchase and refinancing of the Constitutional Plaza medical office complex in South Philadelphia in a joint venture with an affiliate of the Hampshire Cos., using funds from Hampshire and a Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund. An especially elaborate deal structure was necessary given that interest payments to a lender are not permitted under Sharia law. The 3.41-acre site contains a 295,000-square-foot medical office building and 425-spot on-site parking garage structure.

What should be the top priority for Philadelphia’s next mayor and City Council?

Making the streets safe for children and families and enforcing strict gun safety laws.

Who would you have on your Mount Rushmore of lawyers in the history of Greater Philadelphia?

Andrew Hamilton (1676-1741); Caroline Burham Kilgore (1838-1909); J. Austin Norris (1893-1976); John Graver Johnson (1841-1917); George Wharton Pepper (1867-1961); and Morris Wolf (1883-1978).