Mr. Hoffman serves as co-chairman of Blank Rome LLP, following his service as Litigation Department head from 1996 to 2008, and chair of the Firm's Lateral Recruiting Committee.

In addition to serving as co-chairman of the Firm, Mr. Hoffman's practice consists of handling complex corporate and criminal litigation.  He has extensive trial and appellate experience in both the federal and state courts.

Mr. Hoffman began his career as a federal prosecutor with the United States Department of Justice, having been recruited to serve as part of the Attorney General's Honors Program.  As a result of his trial achievements, he received the prestigious Attorney General’s Special Commendation Award. 

He has particular experience representing both corporations and individuals in commercial disputes, government contract litigation, civil and criminal environmental matters, securities cases, intellectual property, and banking cases.  Mr. Hoffman also serves as national lead trial counsel in the defense of over 150 environmental pollution and product liability cases on behalf of a multi-national chemical company.

In addition to his trial experience, Mr. Hoffman devotes significant time to preventive counseling on behalf of clients, presents seminars to corporate managers on current developments in the law, and conducts corporate internal investigations.  Mr. Hoffman has recently been involved in numerous alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and mediation cases in assisting clients to avoid high litigation expenses.

He has received the highest possible rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• National lead trial counsel for a multi-national chemical company in the defense of over 150 environmental pollution and product liability cases in multi-district litigation involving water contamination in cities within 17 U.S. states; To date, the company’s share of settlements has been less than one-half of one percent.
• Successful representation of Westinghouse Lighting in a major trademark case that garnered widespread press recognition.  After a six-day arbitration, Westinghouse Lighting Corp. was awarded $7.5 million in damages from PolyBrite International Inc., which failed to pay royalties for using the Westinghouse brand.  The arbitrator also denied PolyBrite’s breach-of-distribution counterclaim in the amount of $700,000.
• Represented large national mortgage company in a breach-of-contract and RICO action where damages were sought in excess of $20 million.  Seven-day trial resulted in verdict for the mortgage company and success on its cross-claim in the amount of $1.6 million.
• Represented large national bank in a breach of contract action involving the sale of twelve bank branches following a Department of Justice-mandated divestiture of bank branches; damages sought in excess of $15 million, won summary judgment, and prevailed in counterclaim resulting in award to our client of  $2 million.
• Counsel to defendants in a patent infringement action in federal court with damages in excess of $10 million relating to intellectual property involved in oil refinery business.
• Breach of contract action and other claims sought against defendant bank; damages sought in excess of $5 million; five day arbitration trial resulted in verdict for defendant.
• Represented plaintiffs in a breach of contract case involving international sales of a Food and Drug Administration-regulated product; favorable confidential settlement resulted.
• Represented plaintiff in a securities fraud and breach of contract action; obtained injunctive relief against defendants; case resulted in a multi-million dollar confidential settlement.

COMMUNITY SERVICE & AFFILIATIONS

Mr. Hoffman is one of the founders of the J. Willard O’Brien Villanova Inn of Court, where he served as president.  He has written extensively on MTBE and Class Action Litigation, and co-authored two journals on Audit Committees.

He is a lecturer at the CPA Club for Continuing Professional Experience, where he speaks on developments in the law as it impacts certified public accountants and other accounting professionals.

Since 2008, Mr. Hoffman has served as a Board member of the Greater Philadelphia Federation of Jewish Agencies.