Background
Jim Pocius contributes articles on workers
compensation issues to IRMI.com.
As a shareholder in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, office of Marshall,
Dennehey, Warner, Coleman and Goggin, and a member of the firm’s workers
compensation department, Mr. Pocius supervises the workers compensation
attorneys in the firm’s Scranton, Allentown and Harrisburg offices. His
practice is dedicated to the full-time litigation of workers compensation,
federal black lung, and employers liability claims. He exclusively represents
insurance companies and self-insureds. His experience includes full file
development and litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District
of Pennsylvania, Court of Common Pleas, Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Federal
Black Lung Administrative Law Judges, Workers’ Compensation Judges, and
Appellate Courts in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Prior to joining his current firm, Mr. Pocius was in private practice,
specializing in defense of civil litigation, workers compensation, and federal
black lung. He was associate solicitor of the City of Scranton from 1988 until
1990, and associate professor at Marywood College, teaching workers
compensation in the American Bar Association (ABA)-approved legal program from
1987 until 1997. Mr. Pocius has also served as an associate attorney with
Lenahan & Dempsey, P.C., in Scranton; as a legal clerk to the Honorable
Judge James J. Walsh, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County;
and as a member of the legal staff of Dollar Savings Bank in Pittsburgh.
In addition to numerous in-service presentations dealing with workers
compensation and federal black lung issues for various employers, insurance
companies, and self-insured administrators, Mr. Pocius has addressed the
Pennsylvania Bar Institute and the CPCU Society on several occasions. He has
been a speaker for the ABA, the National Workers Compensation and Disability
Conference, and the National Business Institute and Lorman Business Institute.
He has also been a speaker for Pennsylvania Education Systems. He has written
articles for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, the Pennsylvania Bar Association
Quarterly, and the Pennsylvania Defense Institute. Mr. Pocius was coauthor of
"Analysis of the Federal Coal Mine Safety Act," in IRMI
Workers Comp: Coverage, Laws and Cost Containment; "Defining
the ADA," for the Pennsylvanian magazine, and "Litigation in Workers’
Compensation Claims," for the ABA national magazine, Compleat Lawyer. He is also responsible for multiple
articles published in the Defense Digest
on behalf of Marshall, Dennehey concerning various workers compensation issues.
Recently, Mr. Pocius was elected as a Super Lawyer in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania in the area of workers' compensation defense.
Mr. Pocius earned his JD degree from the Dusquesne University School of Law
in Pittsburgh in 1978, and his BA degree in pre-law from Pennsylvania State
University in State College in 1974. He was selected for the Dusquesne Law
Review, was a student representative from Dusquesne Law School to the ABA, and
was news editor for the law school magazine, Jurist. Mr. Pocius is a member of the American Bar
Association and the bar associations of Pennsylvania and Lackawanna County, and
the Pennsylvania Defense Institute.