Michael D. Dankanich is an American lawyer and shareholder at Zarwin, Baum, DeVito, Kaplan, Schaer & Toddy, P.C., a Philadelphia-based firm, where he works as an insurance defense litigator. He was admitted to the bar of Pennsylvania in 1984 and of New Jersey in 1985, and he has tried cases in the courts of both states.
Background
Dankanich's documented education began at Temple University in Philadelphia, where he completed a bachelor's degree in 1981. Temple was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Herman Conwell as a night school offering study to working people, and it later grew into a large urban university.
He then studied law at Temple University School of Law, completing the Juris Doctor in 1984. That legal training prepared him for admission to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where his later career has been based.
Education
Dankanich received a Bachelor of Arts from Temple University in 1981. Temple's origins as a night school for working people in Philadelphia shaped its commitment to accessible urban higher education in the decades that followed.
He graduated from Temple University School of Law in 1984 with a Juris Doctor. The law school's student-edited Temple Law Review was founded in 1927 as the Temple Law Quarterly and was renamed in 1988, so Dankanich's studies coincided with the journal under its earlier title. While at the law school, he served as a research editor on the Law Review, an experience that combined legal scholarship with student editorial work. The school is known today as the James E. Beasley School of Law.
Career
Dankanich was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1984 and to the New Jersey bar in 1985. Records of his practice also list admission in 1995 to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and to the United States Supreme Court, which reflects practice in federal as well as state courts.
He is a shareholder at Zarwin, Baum, DeVito, Kaplan, Schaer & Toddy, P.C., a full-service law firm based in Philadelphia with more than sixty years of practice across financial services, commercial litigation, real estate, and labor law. Within the firm's insurance defense litigation group, he handles premises liability, professional malpractice, construction and products liability, and professional liability matters involving architects and engineers. His work also covers automobile insurance coverage and liability.
His trial experience extends across the courts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the firm describes approximately twenty jury trials along with numerous bench trials, arbitrations, and mediations. In one reported matter, he secured the dismissal of a personal injury claim against a client company responsible for cleaning services at a shopping center, relying on a summary judgment motion.
Achievements
Secured dismissal by way of summary judgment for a client company in a personal injury claim arising from a fall in a shopping center, by showing that the company's cleaning duties were limited to specific times and that the owner had accepted that schedule over many years.
Membership
Bar associations are voluntary professional organizations of lawyers that address legal practice, professional standards, and the interests of the bar in their jurisdictions. Dankanich is listed among the members of the Philadelphia Bar Association and the Camden County Bar Association, reflecting his practice in the Philadelphia area and southern New Jersey.
Philadelphia Bar Association
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United States
Camden County Bar Association
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United States
References
Zarwin, Baum, DeVito, Kaplan, Schaer & Toddy, P.C. attorney profile
The firm's profile describes Dankanich as a shareholder and experienced litigator focusing on insurance defense actions, and it summarizes his Temple University education and his service as a research editor on the Temple Law Review.
