Dennis Whitaker, adjunct professor of law at Widener Law Commonwealth, and Melissa Chapaska ’14, a Widener Law Commonwealth graduate, were recently appointed pro bono counsel by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The appointment is part of a Court program that seeks to provide legal representation to indigent litigants from attorneys who can provide the Court with the particularly high-quality appellate advocacy necessary for a Court that decides issues that are of first impression or otherwise important to establishing or clarifying Pennsylvania law.

Whitaker and Chapaska, both of counsel at HMS Legal, LLP, will represent an appellant proceeding in forma pauperis, a Latin term that refers to a legal process where a person who cannot afford the usual court fees can do so without incurring the costs, in a matter regarding the timing and appealability of collateral orders, which are orders separate from the substantive issues of a case which involve important rights that would be lost if forced to wait until final judgment. 

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