Donna Walsh leads a highly respected practice with a focus on litigation, appeals, employment law, and white collar criminal defense. She represents individuals, corporations, and government officials and agencies in a broad range of commercial, regulatory, employment and other litigation matters in federal and state courts throughout Pennsylvania. In addition, her vast experience encompasses all aspects of the employment relationship including negotiating agreements (employment contracts; restrictive covenants; non-compete agreements; severance agreements; and protection of trade secrets); counseling on workplace and employee issues; representing clients before administrative agencies and the courts, where she handles claims of discrimination, harassment, civil rights abuse, and other employment-related issues; whistleblower claims; individual and class claims arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act; and claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Donna also represents businesses and their employees in connection with internal investigations as well as government and grand jury investigations, and regularly defends individuals and corporations charged with white collar criminal offenses.
Donna works at the cutting edge of the law, providing sensitive and zealous representation for her clients, and routinely handling high profile, complex and precedent-setting legal matters. Donna was a key member of the MBK team that successfully defended parallel state and federal constitutional challenges to provisions in the Pennsylvania Election Code which authorize no excuse mail-in voting. That 2020 Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision was highly publicized locally and nationally. Donna represented a minority group of trustees of The Pennsylvania State University in a claim related to the “Report of the Special Investigative Counsel Regarding Actions of the University Related to the Child Sexual Abuse Committed by Gerald A. Sandusky.” Together with MBK partners Dan Brier and Frank Brier, she successfully enforced the trustees’ right to access investigative material and work product developed during the university’s investigation and obtained an award requiring the university to reimburse the trustees’ legal fees. With Dan Brier, Donna prosecuted a civil claim against the Diocese of Scranton on behalf of a victim of sexual abuse by a member of the clergy, and obtained an eight-figure settlement against a public company on behalf of a client in a case involving theft of trade secrets and computer fraud. She has also successfully defended her employer clients in precedent-setting employment matters, including cases which clarified the standard for when business owners can bring claims as an “employee” under federal fair employment laws, and the standard for prevailing on a claim of constructive discharge under the fair employment laws.
Donna is described as “brilliant and passionate” by her clients and is esteemed amongst her peers. She has repeatedly been voted to the list of Pennsylvania Super Lawyers and was selected to the Top 50 Women Pennsylvania Super Lawyers for 2020.
