John’s years of experience in representing management covers employer/employee disputes, equal employment arguments, unions, labor contracts, negotiations, and worker’s compensation.

After considering architecture, marine biology, and teaching as professions, he wound up in a corporate human relations department, which led quite naturally into the legal field. Being a labor and employment attorney yields satisfaction “in achieving goals for employers and doing what I can to keep them in business.” “After all,” he says, “that’s what keeps us in business.”

John’s “other life” is anything but dull. He’s a vintage sports car enthusiast, and has raced competitively for over twenty years (his wife races as well). He has been the Chair of the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Competition Committee and has served as the Competition Director for the PVGP’s race in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park. He has just finished his unprecedented third term as President of the VMC and he continues to serve that organization as an officer.

He also enjoys traveling and boating with his wife and other couples. “I try to have fun working,” he says, “and I try to have fun when I’m not.”

Core Strengths

  • Employment Law
  • Labor Law
  • Workers’ Compensation Law

Professional Affiliations & Honors

  • Listed in the 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 editions of The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Workers' Compensation Law-Employers and Litigation-Labor & Employment
  • Allegheny County Bar Association, Member, Finance Committee
  • Recognized as an AV® rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell peer review
  • Recognized as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer (2014-2015, and 2016)

Background

  • 2008: Metz Lewis Brodman Must O'Keefe LLC Chairman, Employment and Labor Group
  • 1992: Bechtol and Lee, P.C.
  • 1979: Partner, Reed Smith Shaw & McClay
  • 1974: Director-Industrial Relations, Levinson Steel Company
  • 1980-1992: Adjunct Professor of Industrial Relations, St. Francis University
  • 1980-1992: Adjunct Professor, La Roche College

Education

  • 1979  J.D., Duquesne University
  • 1969  B.A., Slippery Rock University

Admissions

  • Pennsylvania
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania