Lehigh Valley, Pa. -- Thomas A. Wallitsch, a partner with Lehigh Valley law firm Tallman, Hudders & Sorrentino and a former Lehigh County judge, recently served as a featured presenter on a panel discussing rule of law activities in Afghanistan at the 2009 Judicial Conference of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C.
Judge Wallitsch previously held the post of Senior Judicial Advisor to the USAID’s Afghanistan Rule of Law Project. The Afghanistan Rule of Law Project is designed to develop the country’s justice sector, increase access to justice, particularly for women, and increase public demand for rule of law. While on Capitol Hill, Judge Wallitsch also discussed issues involving the future of Afghanistan’s justice sector with foreign policy staff of Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr.
Judge Wallitsch specializes in litigation and alternate dispute resolution including mediation, arbitration and case evaluation. He earned his degrees at Dickinson College and Duquesne University School of Law and also holds a Master of Governmental Administration degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Wallitsch served as a judge in the Court of Common Pleas for 15 years, and then spent seven months in Afghanistan where, as Senior Judicial Advisor for USAID, he worked with the Supreme Court on ways to develop its devastated legal system. Before assuming the bench, Wallitsch was an experienced trial attorney, certified as a civil trial specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, specializing in complex commercial, professional negligence, personal injury, and environmental litigation.
Judge Wallitsch serves as chair of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Appellate Court Procedural Rules Committee, and is an adjunct professor at Muhlenberg College teaching courses in the American Judiciary and Public Administration. He is a frequent lecturer and author on issues relating to civil litigation including the management of civil trials, medical malpractice, and the settlement of cases.
Tallman, Hudders & Sorrentino provides legal services for corporations, municipalities, not-for-profit organizations and individuals. With roots reaching back nearly a century, the full-service firm includes 35 attorneys with expertise in the fields of corporate, labor and employment, health-care, municipal, real estate, land use planning and tax law as well as estate planning, technology law and civil litigation.# # # # #