William H. Black, Jr., Partner at Post & Schell, P.C., Receives American Bar Association Andrew C. Hecker Award for Distinguished Service

LAS VEGAS, May 8 /PRNewswire/ -- William H. Black, Jr., Esq., the Post & Schell, P.C., partner whose dedication to trial and insurance practice and philosophy of community service were shaped largely by his mentor, the late Philadelphia attorney Andrew C. Hecker, has become the first Philadelphia lawyer to receive the American Bar Association's Andrew C. Hecker Memorial Award.

Black, a former Managing Partner at Hecker Brown Sherry and Johnson (which merged into the Philadelphia office of the Gibbons firm) for 15 years, practiced with Hecker. The ABA, through its Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (TIPS), created the Andrew C. Hecker Memorial Award in 1996 to pay tribute to the one lawyer out of its thousands of members across the U.S. whose outstanding lifetime achievement in the law and the community echo Hecker's remarkable career. The honor was presented at the section's spring meeting here over the weekend. He joins a legendary list of Hecker Award recipients, including Douglas G. Houser (the first honoree), William R. Levasseur, Jill B. Berkeley, and Hugh E. Reynolds, Jr.

"It was a complete surprise and a tremendous honor," said Black, an active member of TIPS for more than 20 years. "Andrew was not only my mentor, but my dear friend who was a lawyer's lawyer in every way. He was a truly extraordinary attorney who recognized the importance of service to individuals, to the community at large, and to the bar as part of the responsibility of every lawyer. He was singularly responsible for encouraging me to become active in TIPS and to be engaged in my own community, and I am forever grateful to him."

Black was part of the TIPS group that planned the Hecker Memorial honor and he selected the Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, glassmaker who fashioned the crystal award. "It is distinctive but understated," explained Black, "and it's a fitting tribute to Andrew."

Brian M. Peters, Esq., CEO of Post & Schell, said, "We are immensely proud of Bill Black on his receiving the Hecker Award, which he now shares with some of America's finest lawyers. He and they are a tribute to the profession in the tradition of Andrew Hecker."

Black, who joined Post & Schell last October, served as a TIPS Council Member from 2002-2005 and remains active in TIPS as an officer of the Section. At Post & Schell, he handles a wide variety of complex first-party and third- party insurance coverage and bad faith matters. He has successfully litigated numerous cases and provided advice to clients in a broad range of insurance contexts, including primary and excess coverages, surplus lines coverages, risk retention groups and captive insurers. Among other areas, his practice focuses on inter-insurer disputes and on representation of excess insurers in catastrophic injury and property damage matters.

He was selected by his peers as a 2007 Super Lawyer in the Insurance Coverage area. Also involved in civic affairs, Black served an unexpired term as a Radnor Township Commissioner, and as a member and Chair of the Board of Directors of Presbyterian Children's Village Services, a child welfare agency in the Philadelphia area. He also serves as a Trustee at the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church.

About Post & Schell, P.C.

Post & Schell, founded in 1968, has approximately 160 lawyers practicing nationally out of seven offices. The firm is routinely called upon to handle for its highly diverse clients their most complex and sensitive legal matters. It provides a full range of litigation, transactional, regulatory, compliance, consulting and educational services. Headquartered in "smart" offices in Center City, Philadelphia, the P&S team approach leverages leading-edge technologies to provide consistently favorable results in an efficient and timely manner. For more information, visit http://www.postschell.com/ .

About the Andrew C. Hecker Memorial Award and the TIPS

Created in 1996, The Award is to be made on the basis of an eligible person having consistently demonstrated, and continuing to demonstrate, the qualities of leadership, outreach, enthusiasm, professionalism and pride in TIPS and its accomplishments. Other characteristics of a potential Award recipient include dedication, persistence and the ability to motivate both groups and individuals to achieve goals in a volunteer organization.

The ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) unites plaintiff, defense, insurance, and corporate counsel to advance the civil justice system. It is a national source of expertise in tort, trial and insurance practice and brings lawyers together to share information and speak out on issues of importance. The section has more than 35,000 members and 34 general committees that focus on substantive and procedural matters in areas across the broad spectrum of civil law and practice. For more information, visit www.abanet.org/tips