Aaron D. Rosengarten

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Written by Melissa A. Chapaska Melissa A. Chapaska

Category: Lawyers Lawyers

Published: 21 October 2022 21 October 2022

Created: 21 October 2022 21 October 2022

Aaron D. Rosengarten

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Associate

Aaron joined Hawke McKeon & Sniscak LLP as an Associate in September 2022. Aaron represents clients in various energy and utility sectors including petroleum, natural gas, water and wastewater, and electricity.

Aaron also represents clients in the cannabis industry and assists with litigation and appeals before state courts and administrative agencies.

Prior to joining HMS Aaron served as a judicial law clerk to President Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer of the Commonwealth Court where he assisted in the drafting of opinions on complex administrative issues.  Aaron also served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Craig A. Dally assisting with the drafting of opinions in complex civil and criminal issues. Aaron has also interned for two federal magistrate judges, a private criminal defense firm in Virginia, a private business firm in Harrisburg, and as a certified legal intern with the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office while in law school.  Additionally, Aaron was a member of Widener’s Moot Court Honor Society and Law Review.

Representative Matters

• Represents clients in state trial and appellate courts
  
  
• Represents clients before administrative agencies
  
  
• Represents cannabis clients in challenging PA DOH Regulations in an original jurisdiction proceeding in the Commonwealth Court

Professional Affiliations

• Pennsylvania Bar Association
  
  
• Dauphin County Bar Association
  
  
• James S. Bowman Inn of Court, Associate Group Leader

Honors and Distinctions

• Moot Court Honor Society, Vice President of Internal Competition
  
  
• Widener Commonwealth Law Review, Business/External Managing Editor
  
  
• Outstanding Service Award, 2020
  
  
• All USA Community College Academic Team Scholarship, 2015 (1 out of 1700 students in the United States)

Publications

• Access to Bus Surveillance: Exempted or Disclosable Under the Right to Know Law? An Analysis of Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law in Easton Area School District v. Miller, 29 Widener Commw. L. Rev. 375 (2020).
  
  
• 2022 Election: Maryland and Missouri Legalize Adult Use Cannabis, Cannabis Law PA Blog (2022).
  
  
• Senators’ Amendments to Legalize Weed for Military Veterans, Cannabis Law PA Blog (2022).

Government Service

• Judicial Law Clerk to President Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer, Commonwealth Court, 2021-2022
  
  
• Judicial Law Clerk to the Hon. Craig A. Dally, Northampton County Court of Common Pleas, 2020-2021
  
  
• Certified Legal Intern, Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office, 2019

Judicial Internships

• Intern to the Honorable Martin C. Carlson, United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, 2019
  
  
• Intern to the Honorable Joseph F. Saporito, Jr., United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, 2020

Micah R. Bucy

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Written by Jennifer Deitch Jennifer Deitch

Category: Lawyers Lawyers

Published: 16 July 2015 16 July 2015

Created: 16 July 2015 16 July 2015

Micah R. Bucy 

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Associate

Micah’s practice is focused on assisting companies in administrative, commercial, and land use matters. He regularly represents companies in licensing, compliance, and litigation needs before administrative agencies, zoning and other municipal boards, and state and federal courts. Micah also works with clients in highly regulated industries to ensure that they remain compliant with all applicable regulatory requirements.

Micah has worked with companies engaged in electric, petroleum, natural gas, renewable energies, and cannabis.

Representative Matters

• Represents clients before state and federal trial courts
• Represents clients in state and federal appellate courts
• Represents clients before state administrative tribunals
• Represents clients before various zoning hearing boards
• Represents clients in licensing matters
• Represents clients in regulatory compliance matters
• Represents clients contract reviewing and drafting
• Represents clients in transactional matters

Professional Affiliations

• Pennsylvania Bar Association
• Maryland Bar Association
• North Carolina Bar Association
• James S. Bowman American Inn of Court

Honors and Distinctions

• 2021 City and State 40 Under 40

Education

• J.D., University of Maryland, School of Law
• B.A., Coastal Carolina University

Bar and Court Admissions

• Pennsylvania
• Maryland
• North Carolina

 

Dennis Whitaker

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Written by Melissa A. Chapaska Melissa A. Chapaska

Category: Lawyers Lawyers

Published: 07 June 2018 07 June 2018

Created: 07 June 2018 07 June 2018

Dennis Whitaker

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Partner

Dennis combines expertise in administrative law with extensive litigation, trial and appellate experience. He is the only person to have been appointed chief counsel to both Pennsylvania resource agencies, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. During his nearly 28 years of Commonwealth service, he litigated and argued complex cases at trial and on appeal before administrative tribunals and state and federal courts, prosecuted selected criminal matters as a Special Deputy Attorney General, and developed expertise in the defense of Section 1983 actions and in regulatory takings. He currently focuses on appellate and original jurisdiction practice in Pennsylvania and in selected federal courts, using his extensive knowledge of government and the courts to offer sound advice, creative solutions and effective strategies. Dennis has been lead counsel in many notable appeals and has authored amicus briefs before the Third Circuit, the Sixth Circuit, the Pennsylvania Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth Courts and the courts of common pleas.  With HMS partner Kevin McKeon and others, he is a founder of and regular contributor to Pennsylvania Appellate Advocate, a blog that provides timely coverage and analysis of notable appellate decisions, allocatur grants, upcoming arguments, proposed and adopted rule changes, and other information of interest to lawyers, litigants, and others involved in or affected by issues presented in appeals in Pennsylvania’s appellate courts. Dennis is a past President of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and a past chair of PBA’s Administrative Law Section, and frequently serves as a planner and faculty member in CLE programs related to administrative law and appellate practice. He was law clerk to Joseph T. Doyle, President Judge of the Commonwealth Court, as well as Commonwealth Court Judges Bonnie Leadbetter and Renee Cohn Jubelirer. He received his J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law and his B.S. from the Pennsylvania State University.

Publications and CLE Materials

• Interdisciplinary Aspects of Seminole Tribe v. Florida: Environmental Law, 23 Ohio N.Univ.L. Rev. 1441 (1997)
• CLE materials on: Administrative Warrants under the Fourth Amendment and the PA Constitution; Hearsay and the Legal Residuum Rule; Administrative Finality; Commonwealth Court Original Jurisdiction Practice; Practice Before Administrative Tribunals; Mining Law; Attorney’s Fees in Litigation with Government Agencies; Right to Know Law; Navigability and Commonwealth Submerged Lands; Preemption of Local Ordinances by State Statutes; Development of Agency Appeals Process and, Scope and Standard of Review/Deference on Appeal.

Notable Decisions

• Pennsylvania Professional Liability Joint Underwriting Assoc. v. Wolf, 2018 WL 2263549 (M.D. Pa. 2018) (granting preliminary and permanent injunctive relief barring taking of JUA funds by the Commonwealth)
• AES Compassionate Care, et al. v. Levine, No. 233 M.D. 2018, (Pa. Cmwlth. 2018) (unreported) (granting preliminary injunctive relief enjoining implementation of medical marijuana research regulations where they fail to track the implementing act and unlawfully delegate duty to issue permits to private entities in violation of PA. Const. art. 1, §2,)
• Adams Sanitation Co., Inc. v. Dep’t of Env. Prot., 715 A.2d 390 (Pa. 1998) (strict liability applies to landowners and occupiers under The Clean Streams Law)
• Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs v. Hess, 297 F.3d 210 (3^rd 2002) (grant of primacy to state over surface coal mining divests federal government of direct regulatory authority; federal court claims against state regulator for alleged failure to properly administer state program barred by Eleventh Amendment)
• Westinghouse Elec. Corp. v. Dep’t of Env. Prot., 705 A.2d 1349 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1998) (first decision applying discovery rule to Clean Streams Law matters); 745 A.2d 1277 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2000) (affirming $3,200,000 civil penalty for Clean Streams Law violations)
• Commonwealth, DEP, DCNR and PFBC v. Espy et al. 4 D&C 5^th25 (Pa.Com.pl. 2007); 4 D&C 5^th 225 (Pa.Com.pl. 2007) (declaration that portion of the Little Juniata River is navigable at law and the entire river is navigable in fact, and injunction against interfering with public access prevents privatization of the river by fishing club)
• Huntley & Huntley, Inc. v. Borough of Oakmont, 964 A.2d 855 (Pa. 2009) (Amicus) (municipal zoning ordinance governing gas well location not preempted by Oil and Gas Act)
• Citizens Coal Council v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, 447 F.3d 879 (6^th 2006) (Amicus) (EPA rule amending effluent limitations for coal remining was valid; establishment of effluent guidelines for remining did not violate Chevron)
• Commonwealth v. Marks Contr., Ltd., 850 A.2d 873 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2004) (DEP inspectors are “law enforcement officers” for purposes of initiating summary criminal prosecutions for violations of the Blasting Act, reversing common pleas court dismissal of charges)

Professional and Community Activities

• Board of Directors, Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI) (2010-April 2018)
  • President (2017-April 2018) Vice President (2016-2017) Treasurer (2014-2016),
• Introduced and provided summary of Commonwealth Court en banc arguments for Pennsylvania Cable Network broadcasts
• PBA Member (Administrative Law Section; Appellate Advocacy, Statutory Law and Shale Energy Law Committees)
• Pennsylvania Bar Foundation Life Fellow
• Chair, Administrative Law Section Council (2007-2008)
• Section Delegate to PBA House of Delegates (2008-2010)
• Member, Environment and Energy Law Section Council (2011-2015)
• Master Emeritus, James S. Bowman American Inn of Court (Administrative Law)
• CLE planner and presenter for PBI, PBA, OGC and Bowman Inn of Courts
• Volunteer Judge at National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition
• Instructor for U.S. Office of Surface Mining’s Technical Training Program
• Instructor-Northeast Environmental Enforcement Project Civil Attorney Training Program
• Instructor for PA Minor Judiciary on Access and Entry Issues
• Volunteer reader to print impaired for Harrisburg Area Radio Reading Service

Whitney Snyder

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Category: Lawyers Lawyers

Published: 11 September 2013 11 September 2013

Created: 11 September 2013 11 September 2013

Whitney Snyder

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Partner

Whitney focuses her practice on administrative litigation in the public utility, pipeline safety, natural gas, electricity and municipal and private water and wastewater sectors, practicing predominantly before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission for the past ten years.

Whitney has substantial experience in assisting:

• public utilities with utility regulatory compliance and administrative litigation including rate cases, service complaints, procurement planning, mergers and acquisitions, tariff interpretation and changes, comment proceedings regarding policy and regulation proposals
• pipeline operators with compliance and litigation involving Act 127 Pipeline Safety matters and application of PHMSA regulations
• utility customers and property developers with disputes with public utilities and natural gas and electricity suppliers
• unregulated entities with questions of PUC oversight and compliance
• municipalities with disputes with public utilities

Whitney also practices in the areas of appellate litigation and argues appeals before the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court. She contributes to the Pennsylvania Appellate Advocate blog.

Whitney is a past Chair of the Public Utility Law Section, currently serves on the Administrative Law Section Council, and is a member of the Commission on Women in the Profession of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

Whitney joined HMS in 2013 after graduating from Widener Commonwealth School of Law.  Prior to working at HMS, Whitney interned at the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Whitney also interned as a Law Clerk in the PUC's Law Bureau.

Representative Matters

• Energy Transfer and Sunoco Pipeline L.P. Present PA counsel in PA PUC matters involving service, facilities extension and construction litigation, rulemaking, and regulatory compliance matters. (2017-present)
• Pike County Light & Power Company. Counsel in stock acquisition of electric and gas utilities and present PA counsel for electric and gas utility. (2016-present)
• Columbia Water Company, Present counsel in PA PUC matters (2018-present).
• City of Pittsburgh counsel in PA PUC matters (2020-present)
• The Pennsylvania State University counsel in Columbia Gas and First Energy rate or regulatory proceedings on rate structure and rate design issues, natural gas transportation service, Default service proceedings; 1307(f) gas supply and access proceedings; Alternative Regulation proceedings; rulemakings; Power Purchase Gas and Electric Agreements; utility siting and agreements or advice for extensions of water, sewer, electric and gas utility facilities; Hydro Power Purchase Agreements; Solar transactions; (2017-present)
• Leatherstocking Gas Company LLC. Present counsel before PA PUC (2017-present).
• Herman Oil and Gas and Reimer Natural Gas.  Lead counsel for natural gas utility.
• Merger and Acquisition Matters before the PA PUC
• Counsel in PA PUC matters, to Community Utilities of PA Inc., Audubon Water Company, and Emporium Water Company (Present)
• Attorney General in electricity Complaint proceedings before FERC and Ninth Circuit

Professional Affiliations

• Pennsylvania Bar Association
• Dauphin County Bar Association
• Bowman Inn of Court
• Dauphin County Lawyers for the Arts
• Women’s Council on Energy & the Environment (WCEE)
• Energy Bar Association
• Public Utility Law Conference, Faculty

Honors and Distinctions

• Past Chair, Public Utility Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association
• American Bankruptcy Institute Medal of Excellence 2012-13
• Super Lawyers® Rising Star 2019-2023
• Legal Intelligencer, Lawyers on the Fast Track Award, 2019 

Judicial Internship

• Intern Clerk to the Honorable J. Michael Eakin, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2013

Government Service

• Law Clerk, Pa P.U.C., Law Bureau, 2012