Eckert Seamans Attorneys Named Among 2026 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers & Rising Stars
May 26, 2026
18 attorneys from national law firm Eckert Seamans have been named to the 2026 Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists in Pennsylvania. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in each state are selected as Super Lawyers and no more than 2.5 percent are named as Rising Stars.
Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates, and peer reviews by practice area.
The recognized Eckert Seamans attorneys include:
SUPER LAWYERS
Scott D. Cessar (Pittsburgh)
Cessar serves as Chief Executive Officer of Eckert Seamans and maintains an active litigation and counseling practice representing several publicly traded companies and numerous privately held companies in litigation across the country. He handles all types of construction related issues on behalf of owners, contractors, equipment suppliers, and sureties, ranging from delay, impact, loss of productivity, defective work, and differing site conditions to architectural and engineering omissions, bid and procurement challenges, and overcharges.
Frank R. Emmerich Jr. (Philadelphia)
Emmerich focuses his practice in complex commercial litigation, specifically in matters involving trade secrets and unfair competition, restrictive covenants, and intellectual property. He has also developed an extensive injunctive practice, frequently appearing in federal and state courts.
RISING STARS
Mason S. Bailey V (Philadelphia)
Bailey counsels and defends clients in a variety of complex litigation matters, drawing on a background of representing businesses, construction companies, commercial transportation companies, and some of the nation’s largest retailers across various industries.
Andrew J. Bond (Philadelphia)
Bond advises on professional liability matters, with particular emphasis on the defense of health care providers, hospitals, and physicians in complex medical malpractice actions.
Sarah Boutros (Philadelphia)
Boutros focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation, including matters involving business, finance, real estate, and construction disputes.
Joshua A.M. Boyle (Philadelphia)
Boyle focuses his practice on intellectual property matters, including trademarks, copyrights, and patents. He assists clients with registering trademarks and copyrights and obtaining utility and design patent protection.
Jacob Hanley (Pittsburgh)
Hanley litigates complex disputes in state and federal trial courts, including at trial and on appeal, with a particular focus in the areas of commercial and construction litigation.
Ernest Holtzheimer (Philadelphia)
Holtzheimer is an experienced transactional attorney, assisting numerous U.S. and international clients in transformative mergers and acquisitions and complex commercial transactions valued more than $2.5 billion across multiple industries.
Gerard Hornby (Pittsburgh)
Hornby focuses his practice on construction law, representing general contractors, subcontractors, and owners in all stages of public and private construction projects.
Roger LaLonde (Philadelphia)
LaLonde concentrates his practice in the areas of intellectual property, unfair competition, data privacy, software and technology license agreements, and legal issues involving e-commerce and online advertising.
Cody Madison (Pittsburgh)
Madison concentrates his practice on patent litigation, prosecution, and strategic counseling in various technological areas, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences, inorganic and organic chemistry, computer software, mechanical engineering, medical devices, cosmetics, and industrial engineering.
Gregory P. Mazmanian (Philadelphia)
Mazmanian advises clients on the various aspects of the incident response process related to diverse data privacy matters, including active ransomware events, business email compromises, rogue employee incidents, third-party incidents, data collector matters, and inadvertent disclosures.
Mark Mazza (Pittsburgh)
Mazza focuses his practice on intellectual property portfolio procurement, management and development. With a strong technical background in biology and chemistry, he prepares and prosecutes trademark, copyright, and patent applications in the United States and abroad.
Gretchen Panchik (Pittsburgh)
Panchik serves as Co-Office-Chair of the firm’s Pittsburgh office, where she focuses her practice on a broad range of commercial litigation and insurance recovery matters.
James P. Quinn (Philadelphia)
Quinn concentrates his practice on commercial litigation. He previously served as an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia, where he managed an extensive caseload including all hearings, motions, pleas, and waiver and jury trials.
Benjamin P. Sheppard (Philadelphia)
Sheppard represents financial institutions and mortgage servicers in matters involving commercial and residential foreclosures, debt collection, lender liability, mortgage fraud/predatory lending, state and federal consumer protection statutes, and other alleged violations of law that lenders face.
Laura Cottington Walter (Pittsburgh)
Walter focuses her practice on a broad range of labor and employment matters, representing both public and private sector employers in employment issues, grievance arbitrations, and employment-related litigation in matters before federal and state courts as well as federal and state agencies.
Alaina Wartman (Philadelphia)
Wartman advises on corporate transactions within the hospitality and gaming industries. She works with real estate development companies, investors, and hotel management companies to draft and negotiate agreements related to the financing, development, management, and licensing of hotel assets.