Pennsylvania Powerhouse: Cohen Seglias
By: James Boyle
Attorneys at Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC have spent the last 34 years cultivating a reputation as one of the top construction law firms in the Pennsylvania region.
Demand for the firm’s expertise has put Cohen Seglias attorneys in front of state and federal courts throughout the country representing clients against opposing parties with deep pockets. The development of its deep roster of transactional and litigation practices and its stature as a top construction firm helped Cohen Seglias become one of Law360’s 2022 Pennsylvania Powerhouses.
Solid Foundation
Cohen Seglias was launched in 1988 as a solo construction law firm by Roy Cohen. Over the next few years, he added John Greenhall, George Pallas and Ed Seglias to the team. The firm’s main foundation was established in 1994 and renamed in 1998. Marc Furman was the last piece of the leadership puzzle, bringing his labor practice into the fold in 2001.
“We have a good camaraderie and a good positive outlook,” said Seglias, partner and co-CEO of Cohen Seglias. “We have the ability to disagree without being disagreeable. Everybody places the firm’s best interests before their own. We’ve been able to cultivate that way of thinking over the past 30-plus years or so. We try to find those same characteristics in the people we bring over laterally.”
Cohen Seglias has grown the last 22 years into a mid-sized firm with 80 attorneys in eight offices spread out across New York, Delaware, Washington, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. The firm counts 58 attorneys at its three Pennsylvania locations, in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Pennsylvania’s steady construction market has helped the firm keep a firm foothold in the state, Seglias said.
“The construction industry in Pennsylvania has never been as high as it can get in places like New York,” Seglias said. “It also never finds the lows in places like Florida.”
Building Out
The firm’s work in the construction sector includes nearly all aspects of the industry, representing clients including general contractors and mechanical, electrical, and utilities contractors regarding matters such as contracts, labor disputes and corporate governance.
The firm’s victories over the years have made deeper impacts for the construction industry in Pennsylvania, not just for its clients.
In April, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed an earlier ruling by the Commonwealth Court that the state’s use tax does not cover the supporting hardware of a traffic signal. The opinion supports an argument Cohen Seglias attorneys made on behalf of Kuharchik Construction, saying the poles, mast arms and pedestal bases of a traffic signal should have the same exemption from the use tax as the signal itself.
The affirmation by the state Supreme Court means heavy highway electrical contractors do not have to pay the use tax for those items and can keep those expenses off of bids for public work projects.
Construction is the bulk of Cohen Seglias’ legal work, but the firm has successfully diversified its services as it grew, Seglias said. The most active practices in Pennsylvania include federal government, labor and employment, general commercial litigation, white collar defense and Title IX defense.
“Our scientific misconduct practice has been pretty active lately,” Seglias said. “That usually involves a client in a grant situation with the government who is facing allegations of plagiarism or misrepresentation. The government is basically accusing scientists or companies who receive grants of not delivering in the way they expected.”
Finishing Touches
Pallas, managing partner of Cohen Seglias’ Philadelphia office, shared what made the firm so attractive to long-term clients.
“We have a business philosophy of providing quality legal service for reasonable rates,” Pallas said. “We are able to match the legal expertise of the top 100 law firms, but at a much-reduced rate. Our clients stay with us for the long term because we are an attractive mid-size firm with quality, sophisticated talent.”
One of the more recent examples of that sophisticated talent came from a November verdict in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Pallas represented general contractor D.A. Nolt Inc. in a payment dispute against the city of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Municipal Authority, claiming the city failed to pay the company a $1 million balance for extra work on a project. The judge found in favor of D.A. Nolt and awarded more than $2 million in damages, plus attorney fees.
“It’s always extra-difficult going against a municipality because of its resources, but our client was in the right,” Pallas said. “The city directed them to do a tremendous amount of extra work, and they didn’t want to pay for it. It’s a good feeling to prevail on behalf of the client, especially in cases like this.”
