HARRISBURG – Gov. Edward G. Rendell nominated A. Michael Pratt, a partner in the law firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP, to a four-year term as a member of the five-person Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. The nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.
“Michael Pratt is extremely accomplished and well qualified to serve as a member of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission,” Rendell said. “He is widely respected for his expertise in dealing with such issues as complicated contracts and litigation, which will certainly benefit the work of the Turnpike Commission and its customers.”
Pratt, who has been affiliated with Pepper Hamilton LLP since 1986, represents clients in a number of complex commercial and product liability cases, including contracts. He has also served as chief deputy solicitor in charge of the City of Philadelphia’s commercial litigation unit, and the other from 2001 to 2003 when he served as a chief litigator for the Honeywell Corp. in Morristown, N.J.
Pratt was chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 2008 as well as chancellor-elect in 2007 and vice chancellor in 2006. He also has been active in the association’s board of governors and as chairman of the bar’s Young Lawyers Division, being the first African-American to hold that post.
Pratt earned a law degree from Harvard University in 1985 and served a one-year judicial clerkship with the Hon. Nathaniel R. Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and English from Washington and Jefferson College in 1981.
A native of Grindstone, Fayette County, Pratt is a member of the board of directors of Washington and Jefferson College and Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Inc. He also has been a big brother in Philadelphia’s Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization and a Philadelphia Futures mentor.
More information about the Turnpike Commission is available online.