WILLIAM J. LABOVITZ

Bill Labovitz practices in the area of commercial litigation, with more than 16 years of experience in contract, business torts, environmental, toxic tort, product liability, securities, media law and employment litigation. Bill is an experienced trial lawyer who has represented clients in state and federal courts in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, before environmental administrative agencies, and in mediations and arbitrations, including matters before FINRA and the American Arbitration Association. Bill’s clients have ranged from small and mid-size businesses to Fortune 500 companies. A veteran of both small and large law firms, Bill provides sophisticated legal services in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Prior to joining Lynch Weis LLC, Bill spent more than 6 years as an associate, and later a partner, at Lewis & Sargent LLC in Pittsburgh, beginning in 2001. While there, Bill took leadership roles in the prosecution and defense of a wide array of commercial litigation matters, including cases in state and federal courts involving breach of contract and fraud claims and adversary proceedings in U.S. bankruptcy court. Bill routinely represented companies of various sizes in connection with business and employment disputes and collection matters. In addition to his work as a seasoned civil litigator, Bill has counseled and assisted clients on matters that include the formation of business entities, including limited liability companies; reviews of commercial contracts; and reviews of employment agreements, including non-competition agreements.
Before joining Lewis & Sargent LLC, Bill served as a litigation associate at K&L Gates, one of Pittsburgh’s largest law firms, from 1995 to 2001. As a member of the firm's Environmental Practice Group, Appellate Practice Group and Media Law Practice Group, Bill was responsible for complex commercial, product liability, media law and environmental litigation in state and federal courts.

Bill graduated magna cum laude from Boston University School of Law in 1995, where he earned best brief honors in the Stone Moot Court Competition and where he participated in the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition. He graduated cum laude from Tufts University in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history.
A member of the American, Pennsylvania and Allegheny County Bar Associations, Bill has been admitted to practice in all Pennsylvania courts, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the United States Courts of Appeal for the Third and Sixth Circuits.

Bill has published various articles, including the following:

• co-author, Pennsylvania portion of Libel Defense Resource Center (LDRC) 50-State Survey, Media Privacy and Related Law, 1997-2000;

• co-author, “Attorney-Client Privilege in Individual Bankruptcy Cases . . . An Emerging Oxymoron?” Commercial Law Journal, Fall 1999; and

• “Innovation Over Regulation: Newspapers to Self-Police Racks in Pittsburgh,” Media Law Update, March 1999.

Bill has taught media law seminars to reporters and editors at area newspapers. He presently is an adjunct faculty member at Point Park University teaching a Communication Law and Regulation course. Prior to attending law school, Bill worked as a reporter at the Daily Item in Sunbury, Pennsylvania from 1990 to 1992.

Bill currently resides with his wife and three children in Mt. Lebanon. He is the member of the board of trustees of Temple Emanuel of South Hills in Mt. Lebanon. In addition, he is a former president of the Tufts University Lawyers Association and is the chairman of the Pittsburgh Committee of the Tufts University Alumni Admissions Program. Bill also coaches youth soccer and softball.