Home > Attorneys > William T. Hangley

Biography

 

Mr. Hangley, a trial lawyer, is a founder and Chairman of Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin, Philadelphia, PA.  His trial practice includes First Amendment, antitrust, intellectual property, estates, franchise, environmental, construction, employment, securities, attorney malpractice and general business cases.  Professional responsibility cases account for approximately 20% of Mr. Hangley’s cases.

He is a 1966 graduate cum laude of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was Comment Editor of the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.  He holds a B.S. in music from S.U.N.Y. College at Fredonia, and taught elementary school vocal music in another life.

By appointment of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Mr. Hangley is one of the two lawyers in private practice who serve on the United States Judicial Conference’s Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules.  He was recently appointed to the Lawyers’ Advisory Committee of the Third Circuit Judicial Council by Chief Judge Anthony Scirica. 

Mr. Hangley is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and served a two-year term as Chair of the College's Committee on the Federal Rules of Evidence.  For the past two years, he has served on the College’s Task Force on Discovery, which recently issued its report based on an empirical study of the rules and procedures in contemporary litigation and their impact on access to civil justice.  Over the years, he has served on various College committees and task forces including the Pennsylvania State Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee on the Importance of an Independent Judiciary.  In 2002, on behalf of the College, Mr. Hangley wrote and published the College’s attack on the appellate trend toward “unpublished,” “non-precedential,” or “uncitable” opinions (see Opinions Hidden, below), and later testified on behalf of the College before the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules in support of then-proposed Fed. R. App. P. 32.1.  The Standing Committee of the Judicial Conference cited and quoted Opinions Hidden in submitting the proposed new rule to the United States Supreme Court for consideration.  The new rule became effective on December 1, 2006.

Mr. Hangley is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a Member of the American Law Institute, and a member of the Lawyers Committee of the National Center for State Courts.  The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania recently appointed him to his second term as a member of the Pennsylvania IOLTA Board.

Mr. Hangley recently completed a three-year term as a member of the Council (the governing body) of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation.  During his long involvement in Section leadership he has chaired several committees and task forces (Civil Procedure, Merit Selection, Discovery, Training the New Lawyer and others) and presently Co-chairs the Task Force on the Independence of the Judiciary.

He is a Master of the Bench of The University of Pennsylvania Law School American Inn of Court.

By appointment of the Board of Judges of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Mr. Hangley served as a Judge Pro Tem of that court during a crash program to reduce docket backlog in that court, presiding over jury and non-jury trials.

He is a member of the Advisory Committee of Community Legal Services, has been a member of the Board of Advisors of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, and has served in the Pennsylvania Bar Association House of Delegates.

Education

University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1966
LL.B.
     Honors: cum laude, Order of the Coif
     Law Review: Comment Editor, University of Pennsylvania Law Review

State University of New York College, Fredonia, New York, 1963
B.S., Music

Honors and Awards

Law Review: Comment Editor, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 1964 - 1966

University of Pennsylvania Fellow, Salzburg Seminar in American Studies, Law, 1970

Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers, 1987 - Present

Fellow, American Bar Foundation

Named as One of Delaware Valley's preeminent commercial litigators, Philadelphia Magazine, 1994 - Present

Who's Who in America, Biographee, 1995 - Present

Beginning with its first edition, Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers has named Mr. Hangley as one of the five or six “Band One Commercial Trial Lawyers” in Pennsylvania.  He is also consistently recognized by The Best Lawyers in America as one of a handful of “Bet Your Company” Pennsylvania trial lawyers.  Mr. Hangley has been identified every year in Pennsylvania Super Lawyers – usually in the top 10, often the top 3.  He is also named annually in Who’s Who Legal, the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers, as one of Pennsylvania’s top five business trial lawyers. 

As a result of a recent statewide poll of lawyers and judges conducted by Law and Politics Media, and subsequent inquiries by “blue ribbon” panels of lawyers and judges, Mr. Hangley is being named one of the 10 outstanding lawyers in Pennsylvania.

Publications

Opinions Hidden, Citations Forbidden: Report And Recommendations Of the American College of Trial Lawyers On The Publication And Citation Of Nonbinding Federal Circuit Court Opinions, 208 F.R.D. 645 (2002)

Teaching Through Experts: Changing the Obscure to the Obvious, Litigation, Spring, 2001

Direct and the Director: Writing, Staging and Telling The Story, Litigation, Fall, 1998

The Fourth Estate and the Second Front: Winning and Losing in the Press, Litigation, Spring, 1997

The Strike Zone, the Trial Judge and Other Moving Targets, California Litigation (Cal. Bar Ass'n. Section of Litigation), Spring, 1995

Representative Cases

McNeil v. Jordan, 814 A.2d 234 (Pa. Super. 2002): The successful defense of heirs against claims of interference with testamentary expectancy.

Barrett v. West Chester University, 2003 WL 22803477 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 4, 2003): A Title IX case successfully seeking to require a college to reinstate its women’s gymnastics team.

Lewis v. Pennsylvania Bar Association, 549 Pa. 471, 701 A.2d 551 (Pa. 1997): The successful defense against attempts to frustrate of Pennsylvania’s independent process for evaluating judicial candidates.

Gentzler v. Atlee, 443 Pa. Super. 128, 660 A.2d 1378 (Pa. Super. 1995): Successful suit against lawyer for prosecuting malpractice claims against physician without probable cause.

Arachnid Inc. v. Merit Industries, Inc., 939 F.2d 1574 (Fed. Cir. 1991). Successful defense of patent infringement claims.

Thompson v. Glenmede Trust Co., 1996 WL 635682 (E.D. Pa. 1996). Successful representation of law firm accused of violating fiduciary duties to bank-client’s customers in a $1 Billion buyback of stock.

Hamburger Color Co. v. Landers-Segal Color Co., Inc.; Hamburger Color Co. and Pan Chemical Co.: 1996 WL 370562 (E.D. Pa. 1996). Successful prosecution of patent infringement and common law claims involving technology for coloring concrete. Permanent injunction and counsel fees awarded.

United States v. Nippon Sanso, KK, et al., 1991 WL 57955 (E.D. Pa. 1991): Successful defense against government antitrust claims involving technology for manufacture of computer chips.

GMIS v. HPR (E.D. Pa. (unreported, 1995): Successful prosecution (leading to settlement at trial) of patent infringement counterclaims and defense of validity of patent.

Larami Corp. v. Lanard, Inc.

Professional Associations and Memberships

Pennsylvania Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Board, 2005 - Present

American Law Institute, 1998 - Present
Member

University of Pennsylvania Inn of Court, 1993 - Present
Master of the Bench

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, 1990 - Present
Judge Pro Tem

American College of Trial Lawyers, 2001 - Present
Chair, Committee on Federal Rules of Evidence

American College of Trial Lawyers, 2001 - 2002
Member, Pennsylvania State Committee

ABA Section of Litigation, 2009 - Present
Member, Research Fund Task Force

ABA Section of Litigation, 2009 - Present
Co-Chair, Federal Practice Task Force

ABA Section of Litigation, 1998 - Present
Member, Task Force on the Judiciary

ABA Section of Litigation, 1997 - 2000
Member, Task Force on Discovery

ABA Section of Litigation, 1995 - 1997
Co-Chair, Merit Selection of Judges Task Force

ABA Section of Litigation, 1990 - 1995
Co-Chair, Federal Procedure Committee

Teaching / Lecturing

Mr. Hangley lectures or serves on panels dealing with a range of topics including intellectual property litigation, professional ethics and attorney responsibility, and general trial techniques.  During 2006, his more recent activities included being the guest speaker at the annual dinner of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, a cross-examination demonstration at the American Bar Association’s National Legal Malpractice Conference in New York, and a lecture on recent developments in the law at the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania College of Trial Judges.

Bar Admissions

Pennsylvania
United States Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit
United States Court of Appeals Federal Circuit
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
United States District Court for the District of Maryland