Chip is one of the founders of Cohen & Grigsby and also a former President of the firm.  His practice focuses on complex business/commercial litigation and defense of accounting firms.  He is a Director and a member of the firm's Litigation and Securities Litigation Groups.

Experience

Chip's areas of emphasis include defense of accounting firms in financial statement and professional negligence litigation and defense of brokerage firms in customer complaint cases.

He also represents clients in securities litigation and class actions, as well as general commercial litigation, including complex contractual disputes.

Select Recent Representative Cases

• Carnegie International, et al v. Grant Thornton, LLP, et al., Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Md.
• McEwen v. Digitran Systems Inc., et al., D. Utah
• In Re: Chambers Securities Litigation, W.D. Pa.
• Bartlam v. Bank of America, W.D. Pa.
• Durango Corp. v. Grant Thornton, LLP., Middlesex County, N.J.

Additional Roles

Chip is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County

He was president of the Longue Vue Club from 2001 to 2003 and previously served as board president for the Arsenal Family and Children's Center.

Honors and Achievements

He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and in Pennsylvania Super Lawyers.  One of the class action cases he tried to a successful defense verdict was recognized by the National Law Journal as one of the biggest wins in a jury trial in the United States in 1996.

Throughout his career, Chip has been a frequent lecturer and author on a wide variety of topics, including, but not limited to, complex business/commercial litigation and defense of accounting firms.

He presented "Preparing the Expert Witness to Avoid or Defeat in the Daubert Challenge" at the Annual Federal Practice Program of the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County in 2004.  He has also given a lecture, entitled "Challenging the Use of Technology for Demonstrative Purposes in the Courtroom," for the Academy of Trial Lawyers.

He has been quoted in the Intelligencer Journal of Lancaster, Pa.; the Harrisburg Patriot; the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; the CPA Journal; and the Financial Trader among other publications.  He co-authored "The Threat of a Public Trial-Sexual Harassment Cases Aiming to Break the Quiet Arbitration" for the Financial Trader.

Education

• J.D., with honors, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1979
• B.A., summa cum laude, Political Science, Pennsylvania State University, 1976

Bar/Court Admissions

• Pennsylvania
• U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
• Supreme Court of the United States
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10^th Circuit, 2005