The world's eyes are on Pennsylvania this summer, as America observes its 250th anniversary in the cradle of liberty while Philadelphia hosts six games of the World Cup and Major League Baseball's All-Star Game, and Duane Morris has played a key role in preparing for the birthday celebration.

The firm’s involvement in the festivities actually dates back to 2018, when Pennsylvania officials commissioned a nonpartisan body to oversee plans for the statewide commemoration of the country’s semiquincentennial anniversary.

Duane Morris chairman and CEO Matt Taylor joined past governors, legislators and leaders of the state's business community on the group's executive committee, tasked with helping to make the celebration an event to remember. And while Duane Morris isn’t the only law firm with representation on the commission, it is the sole member of the Am Law 100 on the list.

Additionally, partner W. Michael Gradisek, who chairs the firm’s employee benefits and executive compensation practice, and sits in the Philadelphia office, has served as counsel for the commission.

And while the tone this summer will be celebratory, it wasn’t all fun and games for those working behind the scenes.

“People think that America 250 PA is about fireworks and a big party on the Fourth of July, but they have really done a lot of work over the last seven years,” Gradisek said of the commission.

The law firm’s involvement included work around liability related to transportation issues during the upcoming festivities to internal legal work done on behalf of the commission itself. For the latter, Gradisek was one of the lead attorneys handling legal questions and concerns from commission members.

“Mike really deserves a lot of credit,” said Taylor. “Mike has been at our side every step of the way as counsel to the executive committee.”

Gradisek handled everything from employment issues to First Amendment issues, along with any other legal issues that came up along the way. And the work was done pro bono to boot, “which I think was important that we did that as a firm,” Taylor said.

“You would never think that, here’s this commission to celebrate the 250th and we’re worried about First Amendment rights related to that,” Gradisek said.

If ever there was a moment where Gradisek was unsure how to proceed on a certain legal matter, he had the full power of Duane Morris at his disposal.

“I would just call around the firm and get the right people involved to deal with a lot of issues that you wouldn’t really think you would have to deal with for an organization like this,” he said.

Some of what made offering legal judgment difficult was the fact that the bipartisan commission was created by state law, so some of the statutory wording was somewhat broad and ambiguous.

This mean lawyers were on their toes finding out the answers to some legal questions that might have otherwise gone unanswered.

“There were a lot of questions early on,” Gradisek said.

These included questions over whether or not members had to be reimbursed for their Philadelphia-to-Harrisburg travel, whether or not certain disclosure obligations were required, whether meals for committee members were covered and other lingering questions.

Gradisek said some of his work involved reaching back out to the bill’s original sponsors in the state House to see if a revised proposed measure was necessary to clarify some of the uncertainties.

“Both sides of the [legislature] and the governor’s office were really helpful,” he said.

The sponsors even ended up introducing a second, clarifying bill that was marked up with the Duane Morris legal team’s suggested language revisions. One of the primary difficulties with navigating the process during this time was that it was occurring during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, so many of the interactions were conducted via virtual meetings.

“We had to draft bylaws that addressed some of the concerns, a lot of which were driven by COVID and just driven by the statute,” Gradisek said.

When it came to the anniversary celebration itself, Gradisek turned to others in the firm.

“We got our entertainment lawyers involved,” Gradisek said, which started with a call to Duane Morris partner Rebekah K. Prince in the Los Angeles office.

Prince has significant experience negotiating celebrity endorsement transactions as well as joint ventures and license agreements in the sports, restaurant, hospitality, media, entertainment, health and fitness and consumer products industries.

With Prince’s help, Gradisek and the local team was able to handle vendor agreements, non-disclosure agreements, security matters and other issues pertaining to six concerts scheduled across the state.

“It’s kind of like stuff you would do for any other big concert that she knew how to do and put all these agreements in place, but then you have to deal with the fact that it’s a state (body), and you’ve got state funding and private funding, so that was interesting,” Gradisek said.

The Duane Morris team will continue to have plenty of work on its hands even after all the dust has cleared and the festivities have been put to bed, since under statute, the commission will continue to exist until the end of next year.

Employees will have to be let go, leases will have to be terminated, and other post-celebratory matters will continue to be addressed moving forward, and will likely keep the lawyers on their toes.

Duane Morris head Taylor said much of the work could not have been possible without the participation of Patrick Burns, a Philadelphia businessman who serves as board chair of the America250PA committee. Burns is also known for his ownership of The Fresh Grocer supermarket chain and for being president and CEO of Metro Philly Management, which provides everything from human resources, finance, marketing and project management to loss prevention solutions.

Taylor also gave a shout-out to Cassandra Coleman, who serves as the executive director of America250PA, who Taylor called a “tour de force.”

On the America250PA website, Coleman notes that the bipartisan commission was not just focused on Philadelphia, but rather it engaged in outreach from folks across all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

“We have been hard at work over the last four years, and it is truly amazing to watch the organic growth of this commission as more and more Pennsylvanians learn about the work and want to be involved,” Coleman states on the website. “Pennsylvania is THE birthplace of democracy, and no other state should be leading the national efforts.”

Reprinted with permission from The Legal Intelligencer, © ALM Media Properties LLC. All rights reserved.