Erin Lucas Hamilton was recently elected to serve as an Allegheny County Bar Association (ACBA) officer as President-Elect. Erin will serve a three-year term, first as President-Elect, then as President, and finally as Immediate Past President.
Katerina P. Vassil was also elected to serve on the Young Lawyers Division as a 2-Year Council member.
For more 2026 ACBA Results, click here.
Erin Lucas Hamilton
Babst Calland announces that five of the Firm’s practice areas and 13 attorneys have been recognized in the 2026 Chambers USA Guide, one of the legal profession’s most respected and independent ranking publications.
Published annually by Chambers and Partners, the Chambers USA Guide identifies the nation’s leading law firms and attorneys through an extensive research process that includes client interviews, peer feedback, and independent market analysis. Rankings are based on qualities including legal ability and knowledge, client service, commercial awareness, professional conduct, diligence, cost effectiveness, commitment to client success, and other qualities most valued by the client.
Firm Rankings:
Pennsylvania
West Virginia
Lawyer Rankings:
USA – Nationwide – Energy: PHMSA Specialists
Pennsylvania – Environment
Pennsylvania – Construction
Pennsylvania – Litigation: Mediators
District of Columbia – Environment
Oregon – Environment
West Virginia – Environment
West Virginia – Litigation: General Commercial
West Virginia – Energy & Natural Resources
To view Babst Calland’s 2026 Chambers USA rankings, click here.
Babst Calland is pleased to announce that 12 attorneys were selected to the 2026 Pennsylvania and West Virginia Super Lawyers® and the 2026 Pennsylvania and Washington, DC Rising Stars® lists. Only a few attorneys from each state are selected to receive the Super Lawyers® and Rising Stars® designation for any given year. The multi-factor selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and evaluations, as well as professional achievement in legal practice. Those selected include:
Pennsylvania Super Lawyers®
Kevin J. Garber – Shareholder, Environmental
West Virginia Super Lawyers®
Timothy M. Miller – Shareholder, Civil Litigation
Pennsylvania Rising Stars®
Devlin E. Carey – Associate, Business Litigation
Andrew C. DeGory – Associate, Business Litigation
Alexandra G. Farone – Shareholder, Employment & Labor
Angela M. Harrod – Associate, Construction Litigation
Anna R. Hosack – Associate, Land Use & Zoning
Anna Skipper Jewart – Associate, Land Use & Zoning
Morgan M. Madden – Associate, Energy & Natural Resources
James D. Mazzocco – Shareholder, Environmental Litigation
Joshua S. Snyder – Shareholder, Civil Litigation
Washington, D.C. Rising Stars®
Gina Falaschi Buchman – Shareholder, Environmental
For more information about Super Lawyers, go to SuperLawyers.com.
Peter J. Landau recently joined law firm Babst Calland’s Pittsburgh, Pa. office as an associate in the Corporate and Commercial and Emerging Technologies groups. He advises clients across a variety of industries on a broad range of corporate and commercial legal matters, including mergers and acquisitions, commercial contracts, corporate structuring and governance, and general corporate and business counseling.
Before joining the Firm, Mr. Landau was an associate with DLA Piper in Palo Alto, Calif., where he advised U.S.- and foreign-based companies on domestic and international tax matters, including international, M&A, state and local, and renewable energy tax credits. He is a 2022 graduate of Columbia Law School.
Babst Calland Attorney Anna Skipper Jewart was selected by The Legal Intelligencer as a “2026 Lawyer on the Fast Track, Small/Midsize Firms Winner” in Pennsylvania.
After reviewing the results of nominations for the annual The Legal Intelligencer awards, a judging panel composed of evaluators from all corners of the legal profession and the state selected 11 attorneys as the 2026 Lawyers on the Fast Track, Small/Midsize Firms Winners. This recognition is only given to attorneys under the age of 40 who have demonstrated excellence in four categories: development of the law; advocacy and community contributions; service to the bar; and peer and public recognition.
Ms. Jewart is an associate in the Firm’s Public Sector, Real Estate, Land Use and Zoning, Energy and Natural Resources, and Data Center Development groups. Her practice focuses on municipal and land use law in both the private and public sectors. Ms. Jewart assists private clients in navigating zoning and other land use processes across Pennsylvania. In particular, she specializes in renewable energy development, data center development, and similar industries. In addition, Ms. Jewart represents public clients in municipal solicitorship and special counsel roles. She is a 2019 graduate, cum laude, Boston College of Law.
Attorney Nicholas McDaniel received the annual Arthur S. Flemming Award for exceptional civil service in his former role with the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division. One of only 12 public servants from a number of federal agencies being honored for their exceptional service, Nick is being recognized for his outstanding performance for legal achievement. Nick is a shareholder in Babst Calland’s Washington, D.C. office and focuses his practice on energy and environmental law and litigation.
The Arthur S. Flemming Awards are the nation’s oldest and most prestigious award for government service given from outside the government. Flemming Award recipients are exceptional employees, with three to 15 years of federal service, who are nominated by their agencies and selected through a competitive judging process. The awards are presented by the Arthur S. Flemming Awards Commission, in partnership with the George Washington University Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration (TSPPPA) and the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA).
The Flemming induction ceremony will take place on Sunday, November 2, 2025, at the National Academy of Sciences Building in downtown Washington, D.C., as part of the National Academy of Public Administration’s Annual National Conference.
For more information about the Arthur S. Fleming Awards, click here.
On Friday, October 10, 2025, Attorney Moore Capito was sworn in as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia by the Honorable Chief United States District Judge Frank W. Volk in a private ceremony. President Donald J. Trump nominated Moore on June 30, 2025, and the United States Senate confirmed his nomination on October 7, 2025.
Prior to this appointment, Moore was a shareholder in Babst Calland’s Charleston, W.Va. office. Moore represented publicly traded and privately held clients in corporate mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures as well as business structuring, governance, commercial contracts, and real estate transactions. Moore also advised and counseled companies in navigating the complex legal landscape of emerging technologies, including data center development.
Attorney James Chen was inducted into the Case Western Reserve University – School of Law’s Society of Benchers. Established in 1962, each year the Society inducts new alumni members, as well as a faculty member and public member, on the basis of extraordinary achievement and dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession.
Jim is a shareholder in Babst Calland’s Washington, D.C. office and focuses his practice on emerging technologies, environmental, and transportation technology and energy. He is a 1991 graduate of Case Western Reserve University – School of Law.
Melanie S. Lampton recently joined law firm Babst Calland’s Washington, D.C. office as a shareholder in the Pipeline and HazMat Safety practice group.
Ms. Lampton comes to Babst Calland after nearly a decade of working on energy-related matters for the Federal government. She most recently worked as an attorney advisor in the Office of General Counsel at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), where she provided counsel on legislative issues and rulemakings across the department.
Prior to this role, Ms. Lampton was an attorney advisor at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). She advised the Office of Pipeline Safety on rulemakings, regulatory enforcement, litigation, and policy development. She served as counsel to PHMSA regional offices around the country, representing the agency at administrative hearings, as well as serving as an adjudicator for pipeline safety enforcement cases. Ms. Lampton was also PHMSA’s primary counsel on liquefied natural gas matters.
Ms. Lampton is a 2012 graduate of University of Maryland School of Law.
Litigation Attorney Austin Rogers was named 2025 Young Lawyer of the Year by the Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia at its Annual Meeting. This award is given to a member of the DTCWV who has practiced five years or less (or is under the age of 36) and has, by his or her ethical, personal, and professional conduct, shown exemplary achievement in the legal profession, and/or who has contributed time and expertise to the DTCWV.
Babst Calland is pleased to announce that Sean M. McGovern has been elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation (ABF). Membership is limited to just one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction. Members are nominated by their peers and selected by the ABF Board.
The ABF Fellows is a global honorary society that recognizes attorneys, judges, law faculty and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and the welfare of their communities. ABF Fellows hail from nearly 40 countries and hold a wide variety of influential roles.
Sean McGovern is a shareholder in the Environmental practice and co-chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources practice of Babst Calland. Mr. McGovern’s practice involves counseling clients on a variety of federal, state, and local regulatory and compliance issues related to mining, renewable, oil and natural gas well development, production, midstream, storage, plugging and restoration in the Appalachian Basin. He counsels these clients on a wide range of environmental regulatory and enforcement matters, including water withdrawal, erosion and sediment controls, various permitting requirements, seismic and acoustic assessments, the transportation and disposal of wastes generated by industry, in addition to other issues related to pooling, unitization, and spacing and setback requirements under Pennsylvania’s Conservation Law. Mr. McGovern regularly handles storage tank issues, stray gas investigations, as well as site reclamation and remediation matters. He also has experience with environmental transactions, including due diligence activities; environmental justice considerations and requirements; and river basin commissions. In addition, Mr. McGovern has counseled clients pertaining to investigations by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Mr. McGovern was recognized in The Best Lawyers in The Best Lawyers in America© in the Environmental Law Section for 2025 by BL Rankings. He is a 2022-23 alumnus of Leadership Pittsburgh XXXIX alumnus. In 2012, Mr. McGovern was selected by The Legal Intelligencer as one of only 35 “Lawyers on the Fast Track” in Pennsylvania. This recognition is given to attorneys under the age of 40 who have demonstrated excellence in four categories: development of the law, advocacy and community contributions, service to the bar and peer/public recognition. He was also selected to the 2012-2013 and 2015-2016 Pennsylvania Rising Stars lists (Thomson Reuters).
Mr. McGovern graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law at Chapel Hill in 2006.
About the ABF Fellows
Notable Fellows include Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, Former United States Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton.
The ABF Fellows serve as stewards of the American Bar Foundation, an independent, nonprofit research organization that conducts short- and long-term socio-legal research projects. The ABF’s mission is to serve the legal profession, the public, and the academy through empirical research, publications, and programs that advance justice and the understanding of law. The ABF’s research falls under one of three categories: learning and practicing law; protecting rights and accessing justice; and making and implementing law. The Foundation is committed to broad dissemination of research findings to the organized bar, scholars, and the general public.
Babst Calland Attorneys Susanna Bagdasarova and Joseph V. Schaeffer were selected by The Legal Intelligencer as a “2025 Lawyer on the Fast Track, Small/Midsize Winner” in Pennsylvania.
After reviewing the results of nominations for the annual The Legal Intelligencer awards, a judging panel composed of evaluators from all corners of the legal profession and the state selected 12 attorneys as the 2025 Lawyers on the Fast Track, Small/Midsize Winners. This recognition is only given to attorneys under the age of 40 who have demonstrated excellence in four categories: development of the law; advocacy and community contributions; service to the bar; and peer and public recognition.
Susanna Bagdasarova is an associate in the Firm’s Corporate and Commercial and Emerging Technologies groups. Ms. Bagdasarova represents business clients in connection with a broad range of general corporate and commercial law matters, including entity formation, corporate structuring, corporate governance, commercial contracts, and mergers and acquisitions, with a focus on the technology sector. She is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Aeronautical and Space Law Section Council and Commission on Women in the Profession. Ms. Bagdasarova is also a member of the board of the Dickinson Law Alumni Society, GlobalPittsburgh, and Radiant Hall. She frequently writes and presents on the Corporate Transparency Act and artificial intelligence. Ms. Bagdasarova is a 2015 graduate, summa cum laude, of The Pennsylvania State University, The Dickinson School of Law.
Joseph Schaeffer is a shareholder in the Firm’s Litigation Group and Co-Chair of the Appellate Practice Group. He focuses his practice on environmental, energy, and complex commercial litigation and has tried these cases before environmental hearings boards, courts, and juries. Mr. Schaeffer also has an active appellate practice and has served as co-counsel or lead counsel in appellate matters before in Pennsylvania and West Virginia State Courts, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third and Fourth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. He currently serves as the co-chair of the ABA Litigation Section’s Pretrial Practice & Discovery Committee and is the secretary of the Western District of Pennsylvania Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. Mr. Schaeffer volunteers with Neighborhood Legal Services’ Protection from Abuse Program in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and has provided pro bono representation to individuals and organizations, including a national voluntary bar association in amicus curiae filings in the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a 2012 graduate, cum laude, of the University of Pittsburgh Law School.
Francesca C. (Cella) Iovino recently joined Babst Calland as an associate in the Litigation Group. Ms. Iovino’s experience encompasses all phases of litigation from initial pleadings through trial and appeal in the state and federal courts. She has handled a variety of complex commercial disputes, involving breach of contract, breach of warranty, shareholder disputes and oppression claims and business torts. Ms. Iovino also has represented clients in financial servicing issues, debt collection and lender liability matters, trade secret misappropriation and restrictive covenants. In addition, her experience includes handling estates and trusts litigation, real estate matters, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, and domestic and international arbitrations. Ms. Iovino also has a background representing clients in complex employment disputes related to discrimination claims, harassment claims, wrongful termination, wage and hour violations, and unionization.
Prior to joining the Firm, Ms. Iovino was an associate at Jackson Lewis P.C. and formerly an associate in the commercial litigation group with Metz Lewis Brodman Must O’Keefe. She is a 2017 graduate of Duquesne University School of Law.
Ethan F. Johnson recently joined Babst Calland as an associate in the Environmental Group. His practice involves counseling clients on federal and state environmental regulatory compliance matters, representing clients involved in complex Superfund and other environmental remediations, and advising on environmental aspects of corporate transactions.
Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Johnson practiced at a law firm in Maine where he gained substantial environmental regulatory and litigation experience, including litigating one of the largest Superfund cleanups in the country. In addition, he advised businesses and municipalities on PFAS regulations, assisted a solar development company with construction law, and advised clients on land use, permitting, and environmental compliance.
Mr. Johnson is a 2020 graduate of Vermont Law and Graduate School.
Law firm Babst Calland recently named James D. (JD) Mazzocco a shareholder in the Firm.
JD Mazzocco is a member of the Litigation and Environmental groups. His practice focuses on environmental and complex commercial litigation. His environmental litigation experience includes representing clients in environmental cost recovery cases and federal, state, and local environmental regulatory matters, including large-scale citizen suits and environmental class actions. Mr. Mazzocco has extensive experience representing clients in trials and hearings in federal and state courts, as well as before administrative bodies and arbitration panels.
His complex commercial litigation experience includes representing clients in a wide variety of matters, including toxic tort actions, contract and lease disputes, and premises liability actions.
Mr. Mazzocco is a 2014 graduate of Duquesne University School of Law. Mr. Mazzocco is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and before the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association. In addition, Mr. Mazzocco is a member of the Junior Advisory Council of Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh.
Mr. Mazzocco has received a Best Lawyers®: Ones to Watch recognition from BL Rankings for Litigation – Environmental since 2021, Transportation Law since 2022, and Construction Law since 2024. He has also been selected to the Pennsylvania Rising Stars list (Thomson Reuters) since 2018.