Thomas C. Petropoulos will become the new Executive Director of the Allegheny County Bar Association and Allegheny County Bar Foundation on July 1. He will replace David A. Blaner, who retires on June 30, concluding a historic 35-year career with the ACBA and ACBF. For the full news release on this transition, see below.

ACBA members can receive discounts on IT services and solutions through Plummer Slade, the ACBA’s endorsed provider for these services. Plummer Slade offers computer networking, managed services, cloud backup and storage, cyber security, IP telephone services and more. For more on Plummer Slade, click the button below.

The ACBA Knowledge Center is the premier resource library for legal professionals. Explore this library of content and resources from the ACBA, as well as experts and providers across the legal industry. These resources include timely, actionable research from the ACBA as well as third-party resources that are designed to be helpful to your organization. Please note that the ACBA does not endorse third-party content.

ACBA members are invited to “Paws and Pints” – a feel-good happy hour featuring some special service animals (aka “therapets” from Animal Friends) – which will be held on Wednesday, June 3 beginning at 5:30 p.m. at Southern Tier Brewery.

The Chair Project of outgoing YLD Chair Rebeca Himena Sekinger, this is a “meet-and-greet” style event, so there will be no on-site adoptions, but Animal Friends will be on site with plenty of info on adoptable pets and how to apply. ACBA members are invited to bring approved pet supply donations (donations will be accepted at ACBA Offices headquartered on the 4th floor of the Koppers Building until June 2 and on site at Southern Tier on the day of events) to support the cause. Please note that the ACBA cannot accept or process financial donations for Animal Friends or any third-party organization.

In the below video message, ACBF President Bryan Neft recaps the May 6 Board of Trustees meeting. He covers the approval of the Foundation’s $5.3 million operating budget, the conclusion of the second-largest Attorneys Against Hunger campaign in history, the ACBF’s summer law student programing, the upcoming golf outing, which now also features a pickleball tournament, and more.

If you are considering making a career move this spring, now is the time to start your search. Be sure to check out the ACBA Job Board at jobs.acba.org, the Pittsburgh Legal Community’s top resource for legal job postings that gets more than 3,000 pageviews each month, the vast majority from Pittsburgh-area legal professionals looking for jobs. For more information, contact Jennifer Pulice, the ACBA’s Director of Legal Employment Services, at jpulice@acba.org.

Volunteers are needed for the Wills for Heroes event scheduled for Saturday, May 30, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Mt. Lebanon Fire Department, 555 Washington Rd. in Mt. Lebanon.

Attorney drafters, witnesses, and notaries are needed to prepare basic estate documents including wills, durable financial powers of attorney, and healthcare powers of attorney for the community’s current and former first responders and veterans. Attorneys volunteering to draft documents must have malpractice insurance. Training on the software used for drafting will be provided in advance of the event. Interested in volunteering? Contact Alyssa Zottola at azottola@williamscoulson.com, Paige Tamecki at ptamecki@gmail.com, or Erika Dowd at end@qrlegal.com. Thank you to K&L Gates and Westinghouse for sponsoring the event.

In May 2025, the FBI warned law firms that they were being targeted by the Silent Ransomware Group with fake tech support scams using phone calls (vishing) and targeted emails (spearphishing).

Bypassing encryption and ransom, SRG steals data and threatens to publish it if a payment is not made. These attacks are continuing. Last month, SRG published the names of 38 law firms that it claims to have compromised and refused to pay. It claims that more law firms, which it has not identified, have paid.

Beware of phone calls and emails that appear from law firm IT or service providers. Don’t click on a link or give access to your computer without verifying the legitimacy through a trusted communication channel.

The ACBA Partners at 8am LawPay help attorneys get paid faster. The legal industry’s leading credit card processing service, 8am LawPay helps firm collect credit card, debit card, eCheck and other forms of payments. It integrates with QuickBooks and all major practice management platforms, and automatically keeps you in IOLTA compliance. ACBA members get three free months.

The Pittsburgh Legal Journal – the official legal journal of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas containing trial lists, legal notices, sheriff sales and more – is published five days per week and is available only to subscribers. It is delivered via email as an easy-to-print, 8.5x11-inch pdf. For an informational video on the PLJ, click here.