PA Auto Law Update - including UM/UIM and Bad Faith

Mr. Cooper is a partner at the Harrisburg-based personal injury law firm of Schmidt Kramer P.C. where he specializes in personal injury law with an emphasis on motor vehicle accident and insurance cases. An active member of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice (PAJ), Mr. Cooper served as its 2012-13 President. He is also past Chairman of its Legislative Policy Committee and has served on both the Executive Committee and Board of Governors. He is also the Treasurer of LAWPAC, the Association’s PAC. Mr. Cooper is also active in the Pennsylvania Bar Association where he serves as co-Chair of its Political Action Committee (PAC). Mr. Cooper has an AV Preeminent Martindale-Hubbell rating. This is the highest rating that Martindale-Hubbell gives.

In November 2014, Mr. Cooper was appointed by then-Pennsylvania Governor-elect Tom Wolf to act as a co-chair for the transition team committee overseeing the Department of the Commonwealth/State. In 2012, Mr. Cooper was appointed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to its Appellate Court Rules Committee. He has also been appointed as a Hearing Officer with the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board. In 2020, Mr. Cooper was appointed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to its Civil Procedure Rules Committee. In July 2021, he was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Wolf to the Pennsylvania Judicial Conduct Board where he was a member of until July 2025 and he served for a period of time as its Chair. In April 2025 he eas appointed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to be a member of the 12 person Pennsylvania Disciplinary Bard.

Mr. Cooper has been named by Pennsylvania Super Lawyers® as one of the top 100 lawyers in the Commonwealth every year since 2011. In 2008, Mr. Cooper was honored by PAJ and awarded its prestigious Milton D. Rosenberg Award for leadership and efforts for victims’ rights. In 2005, Mr. Cooper received the Association’s prestigious George F. Douglas Amicus Curiae Award for outstanding appellate advocacy. In addition, Mr. Cooper has been selected for inclusion as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer® every year from 2006 to the present, and in 2005 was a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer Rising Star. He has also been named to the Best Lawyers In America each year since 2012.

Mr. Cooper has been actively involved in many important appellate cases in the Pennsylvania Supreme and Superior Courts and United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, including Donovan v. State Farm, Gallagher v. GEICO, Rush v. Erie Ins. Exch., Rancosky v. Washington National, Allstate v. Wolfe, Ayers v. Geico, Heller v. League of Cities, Bumbarger v. Peerless, State Farm v. Rosenthal, Sackett v. Nationwide, and Smith v. Rohrbaugh.

Mr. Cooper is also a past member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) and the Pennsylvania and Dauphin County Bar Associations. He is a member of the Dauphin County Bar Association where he served as its President in 2022-23 and is currently a member of its Board of Directors. In 2021 he was named to the Board of Directors of the Joe Allegrini Children’s Hero Fund Board.

Mr. Cooper is an editor for the leading treatise on Pennsylvania Auto Insurance released in December 2012, the Third Edition of the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law, Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Insurance: An Analysis of the Financial Responsibility Law. He is also an editor of all supplements for the Third Edition and was also a contributing editor on the Second Edition of the treatise. He is also the author of The A to Z of Civil Depositions in Pennsylvania published by PBI Press in February 2013. The text is a manual for attorneys who need assistance and ideas with handling various types of civil depositions in the Pennsylvania state and federal courts.

Mr. Cooper received his J.D. from Widener University School of Law (1993) and his B.A. from the University at Albany (1990). He is a frequent lecturer and author, who is also involved with the community through the Harrisburg Jewish Community Center and as an Adjunct Professor at Widener Law Commonwealth.

Grace G. Mills grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania and attended Wilson High School. For undergrad, she attended the University of Delaware where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences with a minor in Genetic Counseling. Before attending law school, Grace worked as an application scientist for a global chemical company. She also worked as a legal assistant at an estate law firm in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, and discovered her love for the law shadowing her father, who is an attorney in Reading, Pennsylvania. Grace attended Widener Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and earned her law degree in 2025, graduating magna cum laude and receiving a certificate in Advocacy.

Grace was a member of the Widener Commonwealth Law Review, Appellate Advocacy Honor Society, and Trial Advocacy Honor Society. She participated in the 49th Annual Robert F. Wagner National Labor and Employment Law Moot Court competition where the issue surrounded whether the Americans with Disabilities Act requires an adverse employment action and whether the FTC had the authority to bar covenants not to compete. She also competed annually in the Hugh B. Pearce internal trial advocacy competition, and in her third year, she and her co-counsel made it to the final round and won, defeating the Widener Delaware Law school team. Grace earned the CALI Award, which signifies the best grade in the course, in Torts I, Torts II, Property I, Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, and Secured Transactions, and was involved as an academic success fellow for Criminal Law and Property I. She was also granted membership to the Order of the Barristers, an honor society for law school graduates who demonstrate exceptional skills in trial advocacy, oral advocacy, and brief writing.

During law school, Grace interned at the Governor’s Office of General Counsel in the Department of State where she handled professional licensure cases. She and her classmate were also the first law students in Dauphin County Bar Association history to participate as Astonishing Advocates, raising money for We Care About Children, a charity that supports MidPenn Legal Services with helping local families in need.

Since 2024, Grace has worked at Schmidt Kramer as a law clerk, learning and gaining experience in personal injury law. At Schmidt Kramer, Grace will continue to represent injured victims in personal injury matters as an Attorney. Outside of work, Grace enjoys spending time with her friends and family, traveling, and attending Philadelphia sports games GO BIRDS. She is also a huge Swiftie.

Grace is admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since 2025.

Admitted to Practice: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (2025) | US District Court of the Eastern District of PA | US District Court of the Middle District of PA

Bar memberships: Pennsylvania Bar Association | Dauphin County Bar Association

Organizations & Committees: Pennsylvania Association for Justice

Education: University of Delaware (2021) | Widener Commonwealth Law School Harrisburg PA (2025)