John Murphy served as Chair of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group from 2005 through 2012 and managed more than 70 attorneys in the firm’s seven offices. He is the founding partner and former partner-in-charge of the firm’s Cherry Hill, N.J. office. He also recently completed a three-year term as an elected member of the firm’s Board of Directors.
Over the last several years, Mr. Murphy has been representing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in its capacity as receiver for failed banking institutions in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida. Mr. Murphy leads a team of experienced Stradley partners and associates who have been engaged by the FDIC to investigate potential claims against former bank officers and directors for negligence, gross negligence and breach of fiduciary duties in connection with their administration and operation of their now defunct banks. Mr. Murphy and his team are also responsible for investigating potential professional negligence claims against accountants, attorneys, appraisers, brokers and others who provided services to the failed banks. Once Stradley’s investigative team completes it review, it makes appropriate recommendations to the FDIC, assists the FDIC in those instances where the FDIC engages in settlement discussions and vigorously represents the FDIC in those instances where litigation is pursued.
Mr. Murphy also regularly represents broker-dealers and their registered representatives in securities arbitrations, court proceedings and disciplinary proceedings. Over a span of more than 25 years, he has defended broker-dealers and their registered representatives in arbitration proceedings initiated by customers throughout the United States. Mr. Murphy has personally handled or supervised other attorneys in more than 200 cases for national and regional firms since joining Stradley in 1981. Representative firms include Merrill Lynch, Raymond James Financial Services, Prudential Equity Group and Smith Barney. He has also routinely litigated securities issues in the federal and state courts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. His successful argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in E.P. MedSystems vs. Echocath addressing the application of the “bespeaks caution” doctrine under the federal securities laws has subsequently been cited in nearly 600 federal and state court decisions and in multiple treatises and law review articles. A national publication subsequently ranked the decision as one of the ten most important securities law opinions in the United States in 2000.
Mr. Murphy also represents employers, company officers and employees in cases involving unfair competition, trade secrets, employment discrimination and restrictive covenants in the federal and state courts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Representative clients include Zymogenetics, Inc. of Seattle, Wash.; New Jersey American Water Company; the Knights of Columbus; and Primerica, Inc. of Duluth, Ga. Mr. Murphy has lectured on restrictive covenant issues for the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education.
For more than two decades, Mr. Murphy has represented both property owners and public agencies in eminent domain actions in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. His clients have included redevelopment authorities, religious institutions and billboard owners in condemnation actions arising out of redevelopment projects prompted by the expansion of the Philadelphia Convention Center, the construction of the “Blue Route” in suburban Philadelphia and the restoration of Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Camden, N.J. Mr. Murphy has represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in three cases arising out of the condemnation of three multimillion dollar commercial properties in connection with the expansion of the Philadelphia Convention Center. He is also a founding member of a recently formed committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association that is working with the President Judge of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and other court officials to reform and upgrade procedures for the management and trial of eminent domain cases in Philadelphia.
Mr. Murphy has also routinely represented both regional and national law firms and their attorneys in professional liability actions involving allegations of professional negligence and abuse of process. Recent clients have included Baker Botts, LLP of Washington, D.C. and Montgomery, McCracken Walker Rhoads, LLP. More recently, Mr. Murphy represented an estate in connection with the successful resolution of a legal malpractice claim against a major Philadelphia law firm alleging negligent estate planning. He was also appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to serve as a member of the District Ethics Committee for Camden and Gloucester Counties in New Jersey. The Committee is charged with investigating client complaints and allegations of unethical conduct against attorneys and recommending appropriate disciplinary action by the New Jersey courts.
PERSONAL
Mr. Murphy is a native of San Francisco, Calif. He is a frequent author and has contributed articles to the New Jersey Law Journal, the Legal Intelligencer and the Philadelphia Business Journal. He was an Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian during his undergraduate years at the University of Pennsylvania. He subsequently attended Rutgers Law School in Newark, New Jersey where he served as Projects Editor of the Rutgers Law Review. |
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