Pointers on Appellate Practice

Jonathan D. Koltash serves as deputy general counsel for the Governor’s Office of General Counsel (OGC). In this position, Mr. Koltash provides counsel to the Governor’s office regarding health-related matters, serves as a liaison to the health agencies, and litigates cases on behalf of the agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction. He is also an adjunct professor at Widener Commonwealth Law School and Central Penn College. Prior to serving as deputy general counsel, Mr. Koltash served as the inaugural chief counsel for the Pennsylvania Health Insurance Exchange Authority (Pennie®). He previously served as assistant chief counsel for the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH), where he provided counsel to the Secretary of Health, the Physician General, supervised DOH’s litigation, and handled legal matters related to the Bureau of Human Resources, the Bureau of Laboratories, and the Office of Medical Marijuana. Before serving as counsel for DOH, Mr. Koltash served as deputy attorney general with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, where he represented the Commonwealth in various matters before both the federal and state courts and served as assistant counsel for the Department of Labor and Industry.

Mr. Koltash is an active member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA). He is currently tri-chair of the Bar Leadership Institute; chair of the Legal Career Transitions Committee; co-chair of the Young Lawyers’ Division (YLD) State Mock Trial Competition; and the PBA Board of Governors’ parliamentarian. Mr. Koltash is the immediate past chair of the PBA’s House of Delegates and Administrative Law Section; and a past chair of the YLD and Government Lawyers’ Committee. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Foundation Board of Directors; is the Advancement Committee Chair and member of the New Birth of Freedom Scout Council Board of Directors; a member of the Board of Directors for the YMCA Youth and Government program; a member of the Commonwealth Court Historical Society Board of Directors; a member of Widener Commonwealth Law School’s Dean’s Board of Advisors; and a member of Widener’ Commonwealth’s Alumni Association Board of Directors. Mr. Koltash is the current treasurer of the James S. Bowman American Inns of Court; a member of the William W. Lipsitt American Inns of Court; and he serves on a national membership committee for the American Inns of Court. He was a member of PBA’s Bar Leadership Institute Class of 2012-2013; a past president of the Middle District of Pennsylvania Chapter of the Federal Bar Association; a past treasurer of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute; and the inaugural president of the Widener Commonwealth’s Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Mr. Koltash is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and the United States District Courts of the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Pennsylvania. He currently serves as a mediator for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, a hearing officer Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Disciplinary Board, and a volunteer at Widener Commonwealth’s Volunteer Income Tax Association clinic.

Mr. Koltash received a B.S. in Finance and a B.S. in Economics from the Pennsylvania State University and his J.D., cum laude, from Widener Commonwealth Law School. /span>

Casey Alan Coyle

Areas of Emphasis:

Casey Alan Coyle is the Managing Shareholder of Babst Calland’s Harrisburg Office and past Co-Chair of the firm’s Appellate and Litigation Practice groups. He concentrates his practice on complex commercial litigation and appellate law.

Mr. Coyle has significant first-chair trial experience and regularly represents businesses in high-stakes or bet-the-company litigation in state and federal trial courts throughout the country. He has worked on a variety of cases, including cases involving breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties, civil conspiracy, constitutional challenges, emergency injunctions, environmental litigation, non-competition/non-solicitation agreements, shareholder litigation, and theft of trade secrets. He also represents clients in matters brought before the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court as part of its original jurisdiction.

Beyond his extensive trial work, Mr. Coyle frequently represents businesses and trade associations in state and federal appellate courts. Over his career, he has represented either a party or an amicus curiae in over 15 appeals before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Mr. Coyle has successfully petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to grant review of an appeal—commonly known as “allocatur”—on six different occasions. In addition, he has presented oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, and Pennsylvania Superior Court. Mr. Coyle frequently serves as a commentator for The Legal Intelligencer and Law360 on appeals pending before the Pennsylvania appellate courts.

Background:

Prior to joining Babst Calland, Mr. Coyle was a partner at a national law firm with offices throughout the eastern United States. While there, he served as Chair of the firm’s Appellate Practice Working Group. Before entering private practice, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Thomas G. Saylor, Chief Justice Emeritus of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, for nearly two and a half years.

Mr. Coyle graduated from the Temple University Beasley School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Temple Journal of Science, Technology & Environmental Law. He earned his B.A. in Journalism, with distinction, from the Pennsylvania State University. During his time at Penn State, Mr. Coyle was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and spent a semester in Washington, D.C., interning for CNN’s Capital Gang.

Memberships and Affiliations

Mr. Coyle is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He is also admitted before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third and Sixth Circuits, and the United States District Courts for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, District of New Jersey, and Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Mr. Coyle is the Chair of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s Civil Procedural Rules Committee, which assists the Supreme Court in the preparation, revision, publication, and administration of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure. In 2024, he was selected by The Legal Intelligencer as one of only 13 “2024 Lawyers on the Fast Track, Small/Midsize Winners” statewide in Pennsylvania. This recognition is only given to attorneys under the age of 40 who have demonstrated excellence in four categories: development of the law; advocacy and community contributions; service to the bar; and peer and public recognition. In 2023, Mr. Coyle was invited to become a Fellow of the Foundation of the Federal Bar Association, an honor bestowed upon less than 300 lawyers nationwide that demonstrate commitment to and leadership within the FBA and the legal community.

Mr. Coyle is a past President of the Middle District of Pennsylvania Chapter of the FBA, currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Chapter’s CLE Committee and served on the Planning Committee for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania’s 2024 Bench/Bar Conference. He is a past member of the Third Circuit Lawyers Advisory Committee. He also previously served as the Vice President of the Capital Area Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association, Vice President of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association, and as the Sponsorship Chair for the Liberty Ball, an annual event held in Philadelphia to benefit the Four Diamonds Fund.

Mr. Coyle has been selected to the Pennsylvania Rising Stars list (Thomson Reuters) for Business Litigation for ten consecutive years (2015-2024).