David Kline
dkline@villarilaw.com

David leads the firm's pre-litigation department and successfully represents its clients in protecting the special education rights of children under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

David, an equity partner at Villari, Brandes & Kline, graduated from Widener University School of Law in 1990. He began his legal career while actually in law school. For two years, he served as "head law clerk" of a 125-attorney insurance defense firm in Philadelphia. He worked there for two more years as an attorney before being recruited to work in plaintiff's personal injury litigation in 1993.

Since 1993, Dave has worked exclusively as a plaintiff's litigation attorney, with a "specialty" in emotional distress claims, as well as insurance policy interpretation issues and bad faith insurance practices law. David is also the co-author of two books on the law. The first was a national treatise on emotional distress law, published by West Group in 1998, entitled "Emotional Injuries: Law and Practice." This book has been sold to plaintiffs' personal injury and defense lawyers across the country. Indeed, David is considered by at least two former Pennsylvania judges as the "foremost authority in Pennsylvania" on emotional distress law, and he has lectured to other lawyers on that subject. David's second book, published in 2003, and entitled "Pennsylvania Premises Liability: Law and Forms," is primarily for the benefit of Pennsylvania personal injury lawyers.

David is also in charge of VB&K's special education practice. As a parent to children who have special education needs, David is committed to helping other parents and children who are not getting access to the appropriate education they are entitled to. David seeks to ensure that school districts provide appropriate educations for children who have problems learning compared to their peers, even if it means fighting to require the school district to pay for the child to attend a school outside of the district. David seeks to ensure that "No Child Left Behind" really means no child is left behind.

Dave is admitted to practice law in the state courts of Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York, as well as in the Federal Courts, including the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States."

David is a distinguished member of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association, the Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York Bar Associations and the Montgomery County Bar Association. David has served as a chairperson in some of these Associations.

Academically, in addition to his law degree, David obtained a Masters Degree in Trial Advocacy from the Temple University School of Law in 2000. He is also an instructor of paralegals and has been teaching legal research and civil litigation skills for the past ten years.