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Attorney & Staff Profiles
MIKE HEALEY | JOSEPH S. (“JAY”) HORNACK
GLEN S. DOWNEY | JULES LOBEL | ERICA CAPPABIANCO
Mike Healey 
Mike is listed in “Best Lawyers in America” (Woodward/White, Inc.) for labor and employment law, has been named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer (Philadelphia Magazine), and has been named one of the best lawyers in Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Magazine). He has also received Martindale Hubbell’s highest rating (AV) for legal competency and ethics.
He concentrates his work representing labor unions and in civil liberties litigation. The labor union work focuses on court litigation, before agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board, and in collective bargaining. The civil liberties litigation is focused on first amendment and election protection issues. Mike also represents individuals in employment matters and in criminal law matters.
He is a member of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee and serves on its board of directors. Other memberships include the Allegheny County Bar Association Labor and Employment Committee and the Legal Committee of the American Civil Liberties Union. He also serves on the Board of Directors and/or represents a number of non-profit organizations, including the UE Research and Education Fund and the Battle of Homestead Foundation. He was a Commissioner on the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission from August 2001 through December 2004. Previously he served for several years as a hearing officer for the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board.
He was recipient of the Thomas Merton Center’s New Person Award for peace and social justice work (2007 and 2010), the 2005 ACLU Marjorie Matson Award recognizing civil liberties work, and in 2005 a proclamation from Pittsburgh City Council honoring him for his civil liberties work. In September of 2010 the Pennsylvania Labor History Society will be presenting him with the “Mother Jones” award recognizing his work on behalf of unions and working people.
Mike is a frequent speaker on labor and employment and civil liberties issues to Continuing Legal Education Programs for lawyers, to labor unions, and college programs. He is often interviewed by the media on labor union and civil liberties issues. He seeks to practice law from the premise that human rights and the dignity of work and workers shall be regarded as more important than property rights.
Education:
- J.D., Antioch School of Law (1976)
- B.A., Political Science, Hobart College (1970)
Bar Admissions:
- Pennsylvania
- Massachusetts
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Practice Areas:
- Union-side Labor Law
- Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Litigation
- Criminal Defense
- Individual Employment Law
FIRM NEWS:
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Since November 2010 Jay Hornack has written a weekly column called “Panic Street Lawyer” for Ipso Facto, the online legal blog for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The column can be found here.
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Mike Healey was named to the Board of Directors of Action United.
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Mike Healey was named to the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Pennsylvania.
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Jules Lobel was named President of the Board of Directors of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
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AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka appointed Mike Healey to the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee Board of Directors in May of 2010.
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The PA labor History Society presented Mike Healey with its Mother Jones Award at its annual dinner on September 9, 2010, for his work on behalf of working people but particularly on behalf of the United Mine Workers.
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In 2010, Jay Hornack was appointed to be on the initial Board of Directors for StartUptown, a nonprofit corporation created to function as an urban incubator for technology and social innovation in the Hill/Uptown area of Pittsburgh.
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On September 23, 2010, Glen Downey co-hosted a panel discussion at the National Lawyer’s Guild Conference in New Orleans with attorney David Milton of Boston. The topic of the discussion was “Strategies and Risk Assessment in Documenting Police Abuse: Video and Audio Taping Police Misconduct.”
OUR FIRM IN THE NEWS:
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Pitt OKs Settlement in Lawsuit Over Arrest: The University of Pittsburgh will pay $48,500 in damages because one of its police officers arrested Elijah David Matheny, 29, of the Hill District for recording the incident. Read More.
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Rainelli Case Transferred: A false reports criminal case against a nephew of Blair County District Attorney Richard A. Consiglio has been transferred to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office. Read More.
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Judge to Decide if DA has a Conflict: A Blair County judge must decide if it is a conflict of interest for Blair County District Attorney Richard A. Consiglio's office to prosecute criminal charges against one of his nephews. Read More.
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Probation given to 1 in G-20 protest: A Mt. Washington woman who gained Internet notoriety because of video footage that appeared to show her throwing a bike at a police officer during the G-20 summit demonstrations will spend nine months on probation, an Allegheny County judge ordered Friday. Read More.
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Global Village of the Damned: It's hard to remember now, but in the weeks leading up to last September's G-20 summit, officials warned that as many as 10,000 protesters might descend on Pittsburgh. Any number of them, breathless media accounts fretted, might come with feces to fling at police, or worse. Read More.
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ACLU Sues City Of Pittsburgh Over G-20 Mass Arrests: The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a federal lawsuit today on behalf of 25 people who were swept up in a mass arrest of demonstrators, observers, and passersby in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh hours after the G-20 Summit ended on September 25, 2009. Read More.
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City sued over G-20 arrests: The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal suit against the city of Pittsburgh, Police Chief Nate Harper and more than 15 other police officers for allegedly violating the First Amendment rights of 25 people arrested on the final day of last year's G-20 summit. Read More.
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ACLU Sues Pittsburgh Over G-20 Police Conduct: The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit alleging police wrongly arrested and mistreated people during peaceful demonstrations at the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh last year. Read More.
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Chartiers Valley board OKs Whitfield settlement: A divided Chartiers Valley school board has approved a $205,000 settlement agreement with former assistant superintendent Tammy Whitfield, who is now superintendent of the Blairsville-Saltsburg School District in Indiana County. Read More.
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