Areas of Practice
Commercial Litigation
Construction
Creditors Rights
Labor & Employment
Real Estate/Business Law
Education
The Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University, J.D.
Bloomsburg University, B.A.
Bar Admissions
Pennsylvania
Court Admissions
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court

Steven M. Williams
Partner
Harrisburg
717.234.5530
SWilliams@cohenseglias.com
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STEVEN M. WILLIAMS is a partner in the Firm’s Harrisburg office. Prior to joining Cohen Seglias, Mr. Williams was a shareholder in another Harrisburg firm.  In addition, Mr. Williams has served as a court-appointed arbitrator for the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas, and has served as an arbitrator at the request of parties in private disputes.

Mr. Williams concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial and civil litigation, real estate, landlord and tenant law, employment law, business and corporate law, construction law, and election law. He practices regularly in the Pennsylvania and Federal Courts, and has represented clients in mediation and arbitration proceedings before the American Arbitration Association and in proceedings before various administrative boards, including the Pennsylvania Board of Claims and Ethics Commission.

Mr. Williams is a member of the Dauphin County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations, the National Apartment Association, the Apartment Association of Central Pennsylvania, the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors, Pennsylvania Association of Realtors, the International Facilities Managers Association (IFMA) IFMA of Central Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Manufactured Housing Association. He serves on the Government Relations Committees of the Greater Harrisburg Realtors Association and of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber of Commerce and serves as a Pennsylvania delegate to the National Apartment Association.  Additionally, Mr. Williams is a volunteer on the Fund Distribution/Evaluation committee for the United Way of the Capital Region.

Mr. Williams lectures regularly, and is a frequent writer, on such topics as landlord and tenant law, debt collection, employment law, and miscellaneous business issues and has taught a course on Legal Aspects and Responsibilities as part of the National Apartment Association's Certified Apartment Manager designation.  He is active with Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region, and has served on its Board of Directors.  Mr. Williams participated regularly in the Appellate Moot Court program at The Dickinson School of Law (Penn State), and has served as the attorney advisor to Dickinson’s American Trial Lawyers' Association Moot Court Trial teams.

Mr. Williams' recent engagements include:

  • Was successful in having a contractor's complaint, in which it sought fees for work it performed on an owner's property, dismissed based on a provision in the owner's property insurance policy that required that all disputes over the amount of a loss be submitted to an appraisal, as opposed to being litigated in court. The Court held that even though the contractor was not a party to the insurance policy and that appraisal provisions are usually reserved for disputes between an insured and an insurer, the contractor was nevertheless bound to submit its claim to an appraisal, due to a provision in the contractor's contract that its fees for the work were subject to the owner's insurance policy "which sets the scope and price of the work based on industry standards."
  • In a case of first impression, was successful in obtaining a decision from the Pennsylvania Superior Court awarding interest, penalties and attorney's fees pursuant to the Contractor and Subcontractor Payment Act during the post-trial/execution proceedings in the case;
  • Successfully mediated a substantial construction dispute involving the collapse of part of a building's HVAC system, defending the case on behalf of the HVAC contractor;
  • Successfully tried to verdict, on behalf of a restoration contractor, a breach of contract case in the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas in which the jury completely rejected the defendants' claims of defective and unfinished work on the project;
  • Was successful in a Superior Court appeal involving a dispute between a client and its supplier over amounts claimed to be owed to the supplier on a supply contract;
  • Served as local counsel in a successful anti-trust case involving price discrimination against a national food manufacturer and a national food distributor;
  • Successfully defended against a lis pendens filed against an industrial property by a buyer who had an expired agreement of sale for the property;
  • Successfully settled a real estate purchase dispute involving three parties that had been in litigation for over ten years;
  • Successfully represented the seller of a restaurant in a dispute that initially caused the buyer to seek to terminate the sale, but who ultimately agreed to purchase on substantially the original terms;
  • Obtained the dismissal of three counts of a federal fair housing case in a case of first impression in the Middle District of Pennsylvania;
  • Successfully tired to verdict on behalf of a construction client a race discrimination case involving allegations that workers were hanging nooses from the building being constructed;
  • Successfully represented a mechanical contractor in an age discrimination case before the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission;
  • Obtained summary judgment in favor of a small business client who was being sued by a vendor for amounts allegedly due under a supply contract;
  • Successfully mediated a commercial disparagement/defamation of credit case involving two national mortgage brokers;
  • Was successful in a mortgage foreclosure action on behalf of a property owner that stripped the property of a substantial second mortgage, allowing the property owner to develop and sell the property;
  • Was successful in negotiating the settlement of a bad faith insurance claim that resulted in the client receiving 100% of his claim.

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