An ugly court battle has erupted between two of the city�s top personal injury firms in the wake of attorney Andrew J. Stern�s decision to leave The Beasley Firm and to join Kline & Specter.
After a three-hour hearing yesterday, Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Albert W. Sheppard issued an emergency injunction that temporarily forbids Stern, a star litigator with a string of large verdicts, from working for any firm other than Beasley.
Sheppard also prohibited Kline & Specter from soliciting any Beasley firm clients. (Kline & Specter was formed in 1995 by two lawyers who had been stars at the Beasley firm -- Thomas R. Kline and Shanin Specter.)
The dispute over Stern�s decision to jump ship has already spawned three lawsuits and is expected to return to Sheppard�s courtroom on Friday for a preliminary injunction hearing.
Details here from The Legal Intelligencer.