Sandra L. Knapp Elected Management Committee Chair at Gawthrop Greenwood, PC

Sandra L. Knapp has been elected Chair of the Management Committee at Gawthrop Greenwood, PC, a full-service law firm with offices in West Chester, PA and Wilmington, DE.

It’s a role Knapp first took on in 2011, when she blazed a trail for female attorneys across the region by becoming the first woman in Chester County to be elected to manage a mid-sized law firm. Knapp leads a five-person management committee that also includes Stephen R. McDonnell, Patrick M. McKenna, Michael F. Merlie and Stephen G. Rhoads.

Knapp is part of a select group of women from across the country serving as the head of large and mid-sized law firms, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal. The publication reports that while more than 50 percent of U.S. law graduates over the past two decades have been women, men still comprise more than 80 percent of all partners. The number of women in management roles is even smaller. At Gawthrop Greenwood, women comprise 30 percent of partners with projected growth.

In her renewed leadership role, Knapp says, “The legal world is more fluid than ever, with clients requiring attorneys who are focused in increasingly diverse areas of the law. Our ability to immediately provide that heightened level of comprehensive service, in-house, is critical and has long been a hallmark of our firm. With the recruitment of the region’s top talent, we continue to expand these services.”

Knapp succeeds Walter P. Eells, who led the firm as Chair of the Management Committee for the last three years.

“This is an exciting time for Gawthrop Greenwood, PC as our Delaware office celebrates its five-year anniversary with strategic growth, and our Pennsylvania office continues to thrive after more than a century,” says Eells. “Sandy’s leadership paves the way for continued growth across the region, while maintaining our focus on personal service and supporting the communities in which we live and work.”

Practicing in the Philadelphia area for more than 30 years, Knapp is a nationally recognized leader in transportation law and a respected legal innovator in the maritime industry. She also concentrates her practice in business law, commercial transactions, finance, banking and real estate law, all of which are expanding to the firm’s Wilmington office due to client demand. She joined the firm in 2009, after being a partner at Fox Rothschild LLP as well as managing partner at Knapp McConomy Merlie LLP.

Knapp is a member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, a member of the Chester County Bar Association and is admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States. Active in her community, Knapp is on the Board of the YMCA of Greater Brandywine and a member of the International Business Council of the Chester County Economic Development Council.

About Gawthrop Greenwood

Gawthrop Greenwood, PC, with offices in West Chester, PA and Wilmington, DE, serves clients throughout the greater mid-Atlantic region and nation. For more than a century, the firm has stood behind its core principle of providing high-quality legal services with personal attention. Gawthrop Greenwood’s diverse portfolio of clients comprises entrepreneurs, businesses, and governmental entities that entrust the firm with their representation in a wide range of matters including business and real estate matters, commercial litigation, estate and tax planning, land use and development and domestic relations. A complete listing of the firm’s practice areas and attorneys, as well as legal resources, can be found at https://gawthrop.com/.

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Media Contact: Kristen Stewart, NouSoma Communications, Inc., 610-658-5889, kristen@nousoma.com