Pittsburgh, PA — The law firm of Tucker Arensberg, P.C. announced that Neil E. Hendershot has joined the Harrisburg office of the firm as a Shareholder. Neil practices in the areas of elder law, personal and estate planning, family business succession, estate and trust administration, Orphans’ Court (PA probate court) litigation, real estate, and charitable organizations. Neil authors the "PA Elder, Estate & Fiduciary Law Blog", and also the "PA HealthCare DecisionMaking" website.
Neil participates actively in state and local bar association activities. Neil previously served as Chairman of the Real Property, Probate & Trust Law Section, of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and has served as an Editor of that Section’s bi-annual Newsletter continuously since 1983. He is currently (2007-09) that Section’s elected delegate to the PBA House of Delegates, and is serving a three-year term on the RPPT Section’s governing Council.
A frequent speaker, Neil formerly was a PBA spokesperson for its statewide publicity campaign regarding “living trusts,” and has also advocated for change in the laws regarding powers of attorney.
Neil has been a member of the Estate Planning Council of Central Pennsylvania since 1978 and formerly served as its President.
Neil provides input to the PA Legislature on laws affecting senior citizens and decedents matters. Since 1992, Neil has served as a member of the "Advisory Committee on Decedents’ Estate Laws", of the Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission, and has been active on its legislative drafting subcommittees, including those focused on alternative dispute resolution, powers of attorney, guardianship, trust administration, and disposition of remains.
Neil was appointed in 2008 to serve as a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s seven-member Orphans’ Court Procedural Rules Committee for a three-year term.
Neil teaches regularly and often. Since 1978, he has lectured annually for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute on topics of estate planning, document drafting, elder law, estate & trust administration, death taxation, personal planning for pet owners, and legal automation. He has also made presentations to numerous estate planning councils or local bar associations in Pennsylvania, including those in Carlisle, Chambersburg, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lebanon, Norristown, Selinsgrove, & York. In February, 2009, he made a presentation regarding “elder abuse” to Orphans’ Court judges assembled in Pittsburgh at the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges.
From 2000-06, he taught advanced estate planning and administration at Widener University School of Law (Harrisburg Campus) as an Adjunct Professor. Since 2006, and currently, he has taught "Elder Law" at WLS. He also serves on the Board of Visitors for WidenerLawSchool’s "Law & Government Institute", in Harrisburg.
Neil is an elected Fellow of the AmericanCollege of Trust and Estate Council (ACTEC), a national professional group of approximately 2,700 lawyers, with only approximately 100 Fellows in Pennsylvania. He was selected for "Best Lawyers in America" annual publications (2000-2009), and in annual Philadelphia Magazine "Super Lawyers" issues (2004-2009). He is an "AV"-rated lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell, and carries a 9.9 ("Superb") rating by Avvo.
Neil was educated at BucknellUniversity (B.A., English, 1973), and The Dickinson School of Law (J.D., 1976), which is now affiliated with PennsylvaniaStateUniversity.
Tucker Arensberg is a 70-attorney law firm headquartered in Pittsburgh with an office in Harrisburg and Moon. The firm concentrates in general business law practice, banking, insolvency and creditors’ rights, estates and trusts, health care, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, technology and intellectual property, employee benefits, environmental, labor and employment, real estate, workers’ compensation and school and municipal law. For more information on the firm, please visit www.tuckerlaw.com.
