On January 1, 2000, ushering in the new millennium, Steve Kunkle and Tom Sennett opened their West Chester, PA law firm, seeking to provide individuals and small businesses with seasoned legal counsel resulting from their prior extensive large law firm experience.
Steve has a long history of representing clients in employment matters and mass tort litigation, litigating many cases in Federal and Pennsylvania trial and appellate courts. Tom has extensive experience in the field of workers’ compensation and personal injury matters, litigating numerous cases before Pennsylvania trial courts and workers’ compensation judges. Tom felt it helpful to be able to offer his clients who had workers’ compensation problems Steve’s expertise in employment matters.
The combined expertise of Steve’s and Tom’s many years of legal practice offered their clients enhanced personal service and legal representation. Steve and Tom have been together for nearly 20 years and are proud of the service they have rendered to their many clients since forming their partnership. They continue in their commitment to unmatched personal service as attorneys in West Chester, PA.
Steve Kunkle
Steve Kunkle graduated from Dartmouth College in 1979 and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law in 1982. His primary areas of practice have been in the fields of employment and civil rights litigation, veterans’ benefits, personal injury litigation, and more recently, transactional and employment risk management matters for his business clients. In the employment area, Steve handles a broad range of compensation and benefit matters, long-term disability, pension, retention bonus, and change in control matters, severance agreements, FMLA and other statutory employment claims, wrongful termination, sexual harassment, wage and hour disputes, and discrimination matters.
He represents primarily individuals these days, but throughout his career, he has represented a variety of manufacturing corporations, banking and other financial institutions, and institutions of higher education, as well as pro-bono clients. He has been admitted to practice before all Pennsylvania courts, federal district courts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Ohio, and federal appellate courts in the Third and Sixth Circuits, and the U.S. Court of Veterans Appeals.
Steve has been selected several times by his peers as a “Top Employment Lawyer” in the annual Main Line Today Top Lawyers issues. When not practicing law, Steve has served as a board member and volunteer for Safe Harbor of Greater West Chester, the Volunteer English Program of Chester County, and Calvary Lutheran Church of West Chester.
Tom Sennett
Tom Sennett has been handling workers’ compensation cases (and other matters) for more than 25 years. When he first began practicing, most of his work was on behalf of employers and insurance companies, so he knows how they think. He has special insight on how insurance companies approach workers’ compensation claims, the tactics they use to try to defeat valid claims, and the methods they use to intimidate injured workers. He now handles cases on behalf of injured workers and uses his inside knowledge and experience to win cases for his workers’ compensation clients.
He graduated from Cornell University in 1978 where he studied history, played rugby, and worked his way through school tending bar, where he would dispense not just drinks but advice. His studies included courses on the history of our great nation, and he was moved by the noble role our courts could play in protecting the rights of the less fortunate. He earned his law degree from Villanova University in 1982, where he was a member of the Moot Court Board and a proud member of the Garey Hall Rugby Club.
Tom has handled cases in Pennsylvania as far west as Pittsburgh, and still handles matters in State College, Harrisburg, Scranton, Allentown, Reading, and Lancaster, although most of his cases are in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties.
Tom is well known for his “house call” policy. Don’t worry if you can’t get to his office, he will come to you. Tom knows that any time you need to engage a lawyer, that alone is stressful, but on top of that, Tom often finds that the work injury makes it hard for the client to travel, and the client does not need the additional hardship of coming to an office when dealing with the already stressful issues of being out of work and in pain.
Tom no longer plays rugby, having hung up his cleats long ago.
My experience working with Steve Kunkle was a very positive one at a very stressful period in my career. He was referred to me through a friend of a friend who knew of his excellent reputation for obtaining results for executives such as myself. He represented me in transitioning through the acquisition of my employer by a major regional financial institution, and ultimately ended up obtaining a very favorable result when it became clear that the new employer was not a good fit for my position as a senior executive there.
I'm not a litigious person, but found myself in a situation that I couldn't understand, and knew I needed professional help working through it.
I felt comfortable working with him almost immediately. We didn't spend a lot of time (and my money) talking about things that weren't relevant to my situation. It was very clear that he knew the laws and my rights.
While being supportive the whole time we worked together, he also wasn't going to back down on issues that he knew were being mishandled. He was able to go toe-to-toe with my employer and its legal counsel, a partner with a much larger regional firm, in representing me with regard to several very difficult issues. He knew what questions I needed to be asking as the situation progressed. By having these answers in writing, it was clear that my concerns were well founded. While it appeared that we might have to go to court, once that became obvious to my employer, they quickly recognized the issues and agreed with his position.
I would recommend Steve to anyone seeking help with their employment issues and to any employer who wants to be sure they are following the letter of the law. With the complicated laws and regulations we all must follow today, it makes sense to have a knowledgeable, friendly face in a difficult situation.
- Lynn M.