Michael J. Needleman

Michael J. Needleman is a Partner in the Firm’s Philadelphia Office and member of the Litigation, Insurance, Employment Practices, Franchise & Distribution and Corporate & Business Services Groups. Mr. Needleman has extensive experience handling insurance defense, insurance coverage, employment litigation, and complex commercial litigation matters, including litigating franchise dispute matters. He practices in the United States District Courts for the Middle and Eastern Districts of Pennsylvania; the District of New Jersey; and, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Mr. Needleman also practices in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the State of New Jersey and the District of Columbia, and has extensive trial experience.

Mr. Needleman has delivered lectures to the insurance industry on various topics, and has taught several CLE classes on a variety of litigation-related subjects. Mr. Needleman has also conducted training seminars for employers on maintaining harassment-free workplaces and minimizing claims.

Mr. Needleman sits on the Special Advisory Board to the Board of Directors of the Charcot-Marie Tooth Association, is a Co-chair of the New Jersey Defense Association. He is also a member of the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, and is occasionally appointed by the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to assist in civil rights cases.

Mr. Needleman is a 1998 graduate of American University, and a 2001 graduate of Widener University School of Law, where he was a member of the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law. Upon graduation, he served a one-year clerkship for the Honorable Theodore Z. Davis, P.J.Ch., Superior Court of New Jersey, Camden County, Law Division, General Equity Part.

Some of Mr. Needleman’s more notable experience includes:

• Efficiently obtained a full dismissal on behalf of our client, an excavation and site work contractor, before extensive discovery was conducted on a multi-million dollar motor vehicle accident claim, saving the client a significant amount of money in litigation fees. 
• Obtained a defense verdict in a premises liability case in Philadelphia
• Successfully represented a mid-size manufacturer in discrimination litigation in Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas
• Won summary judgment on behalf of a large insurer in bad faith litigation in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
• Successfully represented a large manufacturer and supplier in Title VII and related litigation in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• Won a defense verdict at trial in the Superior Court of New Jersey in bad faith litigation
• Won a defense verdict on behalf of a homeowner at trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania