Mr. DeLiberato is the Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau. Since 1975, he has served as counsel for the Bureau: preparing proposed legislation and regulatory material, classifying enacted law, rendering legal advice to executive and legislative officers and employees, annotating court decisions on constitutional law and statutory construction, and responding to public inquiries on statutory and regulatory materials. In private practice, he has done legal research, brief writing, and document drafting for attorneys in Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Additionally, Mr. DeLiberato is a member of Pennsylvania’s delegation to the Uniform Law Commission; teaches Legislation, Legislative Drafting, and State Constitutional Law at Widener University Commonwealth Law School and works with Widener’s Law and Government Institute; and serves on the Statutory Law Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He has authored and co-authored materials on statutory construction, legislative procedure, separation of powers, and judicial history. Mr. DeLiberato received a J.D. from Villanova University in 1975, an M.A. from Villanova University in 1976, and a B.A. from Saint Joseph’s University in 1971.

Anthony Holtzman is a
partner with K&L Gates, LLP. His practice is focused on
constitutional law, environmental law, appellate litigation, utilities law,
and commercial litigation. Anthony regularly represents private and public
sector clients, including legislative bodies and legislators, on issues of
Pennsylvania and federal constitutional law. He has significant experience
with the Pennsylvania Constitution’s Bill of Rights, along with its
provisions regarding the structure and powers of the Pennsylvania General
Assembly and requirements for the enactment of legislation. On the federal
side, he has represented clients with regard to First Amendment, Second
Amendment, Tenth Amendment, Eleventh Amendment, dormant Commerce Clause,
Takings Clause, Due Process Clause, Equal Protection Clause, and Speech or
Debate Clause issues, among others. In addition to his constitutional law
activities, Anthony regularly represents industry clients, including oil and
gas production companies, pipeline operators, power plant owners, and trade
associations, in litigation matters that involve agency enforcement
activities, challenges to statutes and regulations, allegations of water and
surface contamination, property rights disputes, contract interpretation issues,
challenges to permits, and issues that arise under freedom of information
laws. He also advises industry clients on a broad range of Pennsylvania and
federal environmental regulatory compliance issues. Anthony has argued cases
before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, various Pennsylvania
and federal trial courts, and the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board –
including en banc arguments before the Third Circuit, Commonwealth Court, and
EHB. Beyond practicing law, Anthony routinely lectures on principles of
constitutional law, environmental law, and statutory construction. And he has
authored or co-authored more than 70 scholarly articles and book chapters in
the past decade.

Eric S. Fillman, Esq. is a graduate LaSalle University (B.A. Political Science, 1984) and Widener Law Commonwealth (J.D., 1993). Now retired, he completed 36 years of public service with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1984-2020), including 1.3 years with the PA Department of Transportation, 2 years with the Office of the Governor as Deputy General Counsel, 29 years with the Pennsylvania General Assembly including 7 years as Counsel to the Bipartisan House Ethics Committee, and 3.7 years with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General as that Agency’s first Chief Integrity Officer. Fillman continues to serve as a volunteer Instructor with the Office of Attorney General, teaching Ethics at New Employee Orientation programs held monthly, and New Agent Ethics programs twice a year. He also teaches programs twice each year in both Ethics and in Bias & Procedural Justice for the Commonwealth Investigators’ Training Program (CITP).

Mr. Schwoyer serves as Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislation and Policy and Special Counsel to PA House Speaker Joanna McClinton.  He drafts legislation for, and provides advice and counsel to, the Speaker, and Members and staff of the House Democratic Caucus.  Before holding his current position, Mr. Schwoyer held similar positions with Democratic Leader Frank Dermody, Speaker Keith McCall, and Speaker Dennis O’Brien, and served as Chief Enforcement Counsel to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, Chief Counsel and Executive Director of the House Judiciary Committee and Chief Deputy District Attorney of Cumberland County.  Mr. Schwoyer also served as Chairman of the Cumberland County Victims of Crime Act Policy Board and in 2004 was honored for his efforts in support of crime victim services as the recipient of the Governor’s Victims Service Allied Professional Pathfinder’s Award and the Cumberland County Victim Advocacy Award.  Mr. Schwoyer is a Pennsylvania Uniform Law Commission Member where he currently serves on the ULC’s Criminal Justice Reform Monitoring Committee.  He received his B.A. in Political Science from The Pennsylvania State University and his J.D. from Penn State The Dickinson School of Law.

Drew Crompton, former Commonwealth Court judge, is a member of McNees’ Public Finance & Government Services Practice Group who leverages nearly 30 years of experience in all three branches of Pennsylvania government to assist clients across multiple areas of law and government relations.  Crompton joined McNees after serving on the Commonwealth Court, where he heard administrative and civil public law cases and wrote more than 150 published and unpublished opinions that are straightforward, thoughtful and objective. He was confirmed to the position by a strong bipartisan Senate vote.  Previously, Crompton spent 26 years serving the Pennsylvania Senate. Named one of the 10 Titans in Pennsylvania by City and State Magazine, he began in the Senate Republicans’ policy office in his early 20s, quickly became former Senate President Pro Tempore Robert C. Jubelirer’s chief counsel and departed as general counsel to the Senate Majority Caucus and chief-of-staff to former President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati in 2019. Crompton managed dozens of high profile and extensive civil and criminal litigation cases in front of the Commonwealth and Supreme Courts — including redistricting cases, the NCAA matter, budget disputes and separation of power cases, to name a few — and drafted hundreds of state statutes affecting local and state tax laws, state agencies, education, health care, transportation and business development.  He also served as chief-of-staff and counsel to Scarnati when he assumed the role of Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor in 2008.  Over the course of his career, Crompton delivered speeches at hundreds of public and private forums and spoke to a large variety of media outlets on behalf of the Pennsylvania Senate – he has been quoted in over 500 news reports over the past decade. Crompton has also established extensive contacts with individuals and organizations across the Commonwealth during his career.  When he is not practicing law, the Montgomery County native coaches the Cumberland Valley Youth Basketball Association’s girls’ team and plays on the West Shore Country Club mens’ tennis team.

Crystal Clark is General Counsel for the Pennsylvania Senate Republican Caucus, having been appointed to that post in February 2020. In her capacity as General Counsel, Crystal handles the legal aspects of personnel matters, contracting, government ethics and transparency, and all manner of general legal business of the Caucus, its members and staff. Crystal oversees all litigation in which the Caucus or its members are involved in their official capacities. Prior to joining the Senate, Crystal was Of Counsel with McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC in its Lancaster office, where she focused on the areas of Employment and Public Sector Law. Crystal has a particular interest and background in the unique legal issues facing Pennsylvania counties, having served for a period of time as the General Counsel for the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania while at McNees, and also having been the full-time in-house Solicitor for Lancaster County prior to joining McNees. She began her career at Thomas, Thomas and Hafer LLP as defense counsel for municipalities in a wide variety of employment and constitutional litigation. Crystal is a 2003 graduate of the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University, and a 2000 graduate of the University of Michigan, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science.

Mr. Whitaker combines expertise in administrative and regulatory law with extensive litigation, trial and appellate experience. In addition to his practice at Hawke, McKeon & Sniscak in Harrisburg, Mr. Whitaker also serves as an adjunct professor of law at Widener University Commonwealth Law School and is a founder of Pennsylvania Appellate Advocate, a blog on issues of interest to appellate practitioners and particularly those issues in or on their way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He recently represented clients in matters involving the constitutionality of legislation and regulations, public water suppliers and the interplay between the Pa. PUC and Pa. DEP jurisdiction, water allocations by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, medical marijuana, defamation, insurance licensing and 5th Amendment takings. Mr. Whitaker is the only person to have been appointed as chief counsel to both the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. During his nearly 28 years of Commonwealth service, he litigated and argued complex cases at trial and on appeal before administrative tribunals and state and federal courts, prosecuted selected criminal matters as a Special Deputy Attorney General, and authored amicus briefs before the Third Circuit, the Sixth Circuit, the Pennsylvania Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth Courts and the courts of common pleas. In addition to advice and counsel on administrative/regulatory law matters, Mr. Whitaker focuses on appellate and original jurisdiction practice in Pennsylvania and in selected federal courts, using his extensive knowledge of government and the courts to offer sound advice, creative solutions and effective strategies. He was recently appointed to the PBA Amicus Curiae Brief Committee, is a past President of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and a past chair of PBA’s Administrative Law Section, was a member of the Environment and Energy Law Section Council, and frequently serves as a planner and faculty member in CLE programs. Mr. Whitaker clerked for Commonwealth Court Judges Joseph T. Doyle, Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter and Renee Cohn Jubelirer. He received his J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law and his B.S. in Man-Environment Relations/planning from the Pennsylvania State University, and he holds a certificate in Regulatory Analysis and Decision-Making from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

Stephen B. Edwards is an associate at Black & Gerngross, P.C., where his practice focuses on insurance receivership matters. Before that, he worked in a number of roles centered around civil rights litigation, appellate advocacy, and administrative law. He is a past contributor to the Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly, The Pennsylvania Lawyer, and other publications. He lives in Philadelphia.