William T. Hangley, a trial lawyer, is a founder and the former Chair of Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller. His trial practice includes First Amendment, antitrust, intellectual property, estates, franchise, environmental, construction, employment, securities, attorney malpractice, and general business cases. Attorney Malpractice defense accounts for approximately 20 percent of Mr. Hangley’s caseload.
A 1966 graduate cum laude of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Mr. Hangley was Comment Editor of the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He holds a BS in music from SUNY College at Fredonia and taught elementary school vocal music in another life.
By appointment of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Mr. Hangley served on the on the United States Judicial Conference’s Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules for six years, completing his service in 2012. He has also served as Chair of the Third Circuit Lawyers’ Advisory Committee, appointed Chief Judge Anthony Scirica.
Mr. Hangley is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and served a two-year term as Chair of the College’s Committee on the Federal Rules of Evidence. For the past several years, he has served on the College’s Task Force on Discovery and the Civil Justice System. Over the years, he has served on various College committees and task forces including the Pennsylvania State Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee on the Importance of an Independent Judiciary. In 2002, on behalf of the College, Mr. Hangley wrote and published the College’s attack on the appellate trend toward “unpublished,” “non-precedential,” or “uncitable” opinions (see "Opinions Hidden," below), and later testified on behalf of the College before the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules in support of then-proposed Fed. R. App. P. 32.1. The Standing Committee of the Judicial Conference cited and quoted "Opinions Hidden" in submitting the proposed new rule to the United States Supreme Court for consideration.
Mr. Hangley is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of the American Law Institute. He served two terms as a member and ultimately Chairman of the Pennsylvania Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts Board.
He is a Master of the Bench of the University of Pennsylvania Law School American Inn of Court. By appointment of the Board of Judges of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Mr. Hangley served as a Judge Pro Tem of that court during a crash program to reduce docket backlog in that court. He presided over jury and nonjury trials. Mr. Hangley is a member of the Advisory Committee of Community Legal Services, has been a member of the Board of Advisors of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, and has served in the Pennsylvania Bar Association House of Delegates.
Mr. Hangley served a three-year term as a member of the Council (the governing body) of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation. During his long involvement in Section leadership he has chaired several committees and task forces (Civil Procedure, Merit Selection, Discovery, Training the New Lawyer, and others). He is currently the Co-Chair of the Federal Practice Task Force of the Section.