Brittney Baker Shurr brings 13 years of government affairs experience to her role as government affairs specialist at McNees Government Relations. Based in Berks County, she works with local government officials, state legislators, and public agencies across the state to advance public policy objectives and build grassroots support for her clients.

Her bipartisan relationships span both chambers of the state General Assembly, municipal leadership in communities large and small, and influential voices in the private and nonprofit sectors. Baker Shurr represents clients on state legislative priorities, funding support, and strategic development opportunities.

The impact of her work, she says, is measured by the success of her clients: a new grassroots partner identified on an issue, an early trend spotted and adjusted for, funds secured for community improvements or infrastructure projects, or a small but critical legislative amendment. Often the wins are incremental and invisible from outside the statehouse.

She leads by building trust first — understanding competing interests, respecting institutional roles, and staying transparent and consistent so clients and public partners know where she stands.

Ernie Choquette runs the legal side of one of the country’s 250 largest law firms from its Reading base, where he has been chairman of Stevens & Lee and The Stevens & Lee Companies since 2020.

A member of the firm’s Corporate, Finance and Capital Markets Department, he has more than 30 years representing companies in acquisitions, divestitures, mergers and joint ventures, domestically and abroad, along with financing transactions, management buyouts and leveraged buyouts.

He chairs the firm’s finance and executive committees and serves as chairman, president and CEO of Griffin Holdings Group, its financial advisory affiliate.

Samuel E. Cohen is deputy managing partner and co-chair of the Litigation Practice Group at Gross McGinley, LLP in Allentown, where he has practiced law for 20 years. Since joining the firm in 2008, Cohen has helped guide its strategic direction while maintaining an active practice in commercial litigation, employment litigation, alternative dispute resolution and business disputes for individuals, businesses and municipalities. He oversees the firm’s Operations Committee, directing initiatives across IT, facilities and marketing.

Cohen recently was appointed solicitor for Lehigh County after serving as assistant solicitor for more than five years.

“This role allows me to support our local government in navigating complex legal challenges while strengthening the connection between the public and private sectors,” he said.

He also serves on community boards throughout the region.

Few attorneys in the region carry the dual distinction of leading a statewide bar association and serving on the state’s highest court disciplinary body.

Nancy Conrad, a partner at White and Williams LLP, is Immediate Past President of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and was appointed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to serve on its Disciplinary Board. As chair of the firm’s Higher Education Practice Group, she represents businesses, educational institutions and nonprofits in workplace disputes and advises colleges, universities and schools on matters involving faculty, staff and students.

Conrad has also led the firm’s partnership with The Rendell Center for Civics & Civic Engagement, culminating in White and Williams hosting the 20th Anniversary Virginia Barton Wallace Award and Reception to celebrate the Center, announce an ongoing partnership and advance civic education.

Adam L. Fenstermaker founded Hill Fenstermaker LLC and serves as its managing partner, overseeing day-to-day operations, strategic direction, and the overall management of the Bethlehem-based law firm. In effect, he is the CEO of the partnership — responsible for financial health, business development, and ensuring the firm runs profitably.

Fenstermaker’s own practice concentrates on defending hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers in complex medical malpractice matters, often involving catastrophic injury or death. In 12 years at the firm, he has taken numerous difficult cases to trial and prevailed.

Among the representative matters he counts as career highlights: a jury trial defending two gastroenterologists following a fatal colonoscopy complication, and a separate defense of a gastroenterology group after a 40-year-old patient suffered a catastrophic brain injury.

Trial work at that level, Fenstermaker says, requires both clinical fluency and the discipline to keep a firm running profitably. Leading Hill Fenstermaker means doing both at once.

Built on client trust and a commitment to meaningful results, Lahoud Law Group, P.C. has emerged as one of the Lehigh Valley’s fastest-growing law firms — and Raymond Lahoud has led it every step of the way.

As managing partner of the Allentown firm, he advises and represents individuals, families and businesses in matters carrying significant personal, financial and legal consequences.

Lahoud has worked to expand access to high-quality legal counsel across the region while contributing to its broader growth and stability. His leadership philosophy reflects the same values that drive his practice.

“I believe effective legal leadership requires the courage to make difficult decisions, the discipline to master the facts and the law, and the humility to understand the human impact behind every matter,” Lahoud said.

Uni Lopez is engagement director at The LIBRE Initiative, the Latino advocacy organization that describes its mission as empowering Hispanics to advance policy change expanding freedom and opportunity.

The group works on economic opportunity, healthcare, immigration and education.

Lopez is based out of the organization, whose national office is in Arlington, Virginia.

Jennifer L. Mann is president of JL Mann Consulting, LLC in Allentown, working at the intersection of government, business and strategy with 28 years of industry experience. She helps clients navigate regulations, secure support and position themselves for growth through relationship-building, advocacy and problem-solving.

“I try to lead by example — staying pragmatic, keeping commitments, and focusing on outcomes,” Mann said.

Her career includes a landmark achievement: in 2008, she was elected to the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus Leadership Team by a vote of her peers, becoming only the third woman in the chamber’s 300-plus-year history to hold that distinction.

Today, three women serve simultaneously in House Democratic Leadership, including the Speaker.

“I take great pride in knowing I helped crack that glass ceiling,” she said.

Heidi B. Masano is managing partner of Masano Bradley in Wyomissing, where she has practiced law for 45 years. Masano oversees all aspects of firm operations while maintaining an active practice in commercial and real estate matters, including acquisitions, banking, corporate formation, municipal and land development law, planned communities and estate planning.

Since the firm’s founding in 1979, Masano Bradley has built a culture of service to clients, the organized bar and community organizations — a tradition Masano has helped sustain. She provides pro bono legal support, serves on nonprofit boards and counsels family-owned businesses on succession planning, helping preserve livelihoods and reduce conflict through complex transitions.

Service to state and local bar associations further reflects her commitment to ethical practice, access to justice and public trust in the legal system.

Michael J. Perrucci runs a litigation practice and a construction company at the same time, building one alongside the other for three decades.

He co-founded the law firm now bearing his name in 1996 with former New Jersey Gov. James Florio, and he has spent 35 years trying corporate, commercial and personal injury cases in federal and state court.

He owns Peron Construction Inc., a real estate development company, and his practice extends into land use, zoning, municipal, environmental and banking law.

When Florio died in 2022, Perrucci said in a company statement that his late partner “cared deeply about people and the issues that impacted them.”

Erich J. Schock is managing shareholder of Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba, P.C. in Allentown, bringing 34 years of industry experience to the firm’s overall leadership and strategic direction. He works alongside the Executive Committee and COO on daily operations while chairing the firm’s Real Estate, Land Use & Development Group and maintaining an active zoning and land development practice.

Schock holds the distinction of being FLB’s first non-founder managing shareholder, carrying forward a legacy built since 1988 that has grown to more than 40 attorneys and nearly 100 employees.

“I focus on fact-based decisions that serve the firm as a whole,” Schock said.

He added that balancing operational efficiency with a culture where people feel valued remains central to sustaining the high standards FLB’s clients expect.

Melissa Shafer is assistant vice president of government relations at St. Luke’s University Health Network in Bethlehem, where she has advocated for healthcare policy at the state and federal level for eight years. Shafer educates lawmakers on community healthcare needs, working to ensure legislation promotes safety, quality, accessibility and affordability.

At St. Luke’s, she and her colleagues expanded behavioral health access by opening the region’s first in-hospital detox unit, an inpatient adolescent behavioral health unit and one of Pennsylvania’s first Walk-In Crisis Centers, while partnering with legislators to update behavioral health regulations.

She also helped establish Star Community Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center serving uninsured and underinsured residents, and served on its board for six years.

“Everyone who needs healthcare should be able to have it, regardless of their geographic location or socioeconomic status,” Shafer said.

Shaughnessy runs a solo personal injury practice in Easton, handling auto crashes, medical malpractice, products liability and brain injury cases across the Lehigh Valley.

He has practiced for himself for more than 35 years, working without the layered staffing of a large firm so clients deal with him directly. He also serves as president of the Greater Easton Development Partnership and works on the city’s farmers’ markets, main street initiatives and the Children’s Home of Easton.

“For more than 35 years, the Law Offices of Edward P. Shaughnessy has assisted injured individuals in Easton and throughout the Lehigh Valley,” he says in a firm statement.

Matthew T. Tranter is deputy managing partner of KingSpry in Bethlehem, bringing 20 years of legal experience to clients and the firm. Leading the Real Estate and Business Law Practice Groups, he advises on business transactions, real estate development, regulatory compliance and privacy matters while working with KingSpry’s managing partner and executive committee on firm growth, human resources and technology.

The past year brought significant milestones — a modernized office, upgraded technology, a merger and a second location.

“Our ambition is to build on that momentum with intention: to shape the future of our firm by investing in innovation and cultivating the next generation of legal leaders,” Tranter said.

That commitment extends into the community, where he serves as Board President of the Boys & Girls Club of Bethlehem.

Joseph Uliana runs one of the Lehigh Valley’s homegrown lobbying shops out of Hanover Township, Northampton County. He founded JM Uliana & Associates in 2009 after nearly two decades in Pennsylvania government, including terms in the state House and Senate.

The firm represents Fortune 500 companies, universities, health care entities, cultural institutions and trade associations before Harrisburg.

“We work with our clients to define their Pennsylvania government affairs goals and develop and execute strategies that help them achieve those goals,” Uliana said in a previous LVB profile.

Much of his client base is local.

Gladys E. Wiles is president and attorney of Snyder & Wiles, PC, a boutique law firm she has led in Fogelsville for more than 26 years. As the firm’s sole attorney and shareholder, she oversees all legal matters and operations, with a practice spanning estate planning, wills and trusts, asset protection, probate administration and real estate.

Building and sustaining a woman-owned firm in fields historically dominated by men — while securing multimillion-dollar results for clients — stands as a defining accomplishment, recognized in 2015 when fellow licensed attorneys named her a Lehigh Valley Select Lawyer.

Wiles views artificial intelligence as an emerging threat to the profession, arguing that no tool can replicate the ethical judgment an experienced attorney brings to each client.

“I am grateful to my clients for putting their trust in me,” she said. “I truly love what I do.”