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Gene Pratter

Gene E. K. Pratter

Adjunct Professor of Law

Judge Pratter became a federal district court judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on June 18, 2004. Before serving on the court Judge Pratter was a partner in and General Counsel of the law firm of Duane Morris LLP, having started her career there in 1975. In practice she frequently represented clients in commercial litigation, ethics matters and professional liability and licensing disputes.

A 1975 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and a graduate of Stanford University, she is a member of the American Bar Association’s Litigation Section and the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Committees on Professional Responsibility and Professional Guidance, and she was chair of the Philadelphia Bar’s Professional Guidance Committee from 2000 through 2001. She is a member of the National Association of Women Judges and serves on various committees within the federal judiciary. Judge Pratter served as the co-chair of the ABA Litigation Section’s Committee on Ethics and Professionalism and as the co-chair of the Section’s Task Force on the Independent Lawyer.

A member and current President of the University of Pennsylvania’s American Inns of Court, she is the author of a number of articles concerning ethics and professional conduct and has presented many programs for practitioners on those and other subjects, including litigation practice and procedures. Prior to becoming a federal judge, she served as a mediator and arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association as well as in ADR programs of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Judge Pratter was an Overseer of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School from 1993 to 1999. She has been and remains active in a host of community and educational activities and is the recipient of various professional organizations awards and honors.