Stefanie Pitcavage Mekilo

Area of Emphasis
Stefanie Pitcavage Mekilo is a civil litigator who concentrates her practice in state and federal trial courts, with particular emphasis on cases before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Ms. Mekilo draws on more than a decade of trial-court experience in the federal judiciary to guide her clients through all aspects of the litigation process. She focuses her practice on complex commercial disputes involving theft of trade secrets; breach of noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements and other restrictive covenants; breach of fiduciary duties, tortious interference, and related business tort claims; labor and employment; and emergency injunction litigation. Ms. Mekilo also has experience in antitrust, securities, trademark infringement, product liability, class action, and multidistrict litigation.

Background
Prior to joining Babst Calland, Ms. Mekilo served as a judicial law clerk in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania for 12 years—first as a term law clerk to Judge John E. Jones III, then as the managing law clerk to Judge Christopher C. Conner. Ms. Mekilo managed a substantial caseload in both roles, conducting daily legal research and drafting more than 200 opinions for the judges on matters ranging from complex commercial disputes to employment-discrimination cases to novel questions of constitutional law and statutory interpretation. Ms. Mekilo participated in more than two dozen jury and bench trials and countless emergency injunction proceedings during her tenure with the Court. She gained extensive knowledge of the inner workings of not only the Middle District of Pennsylvania, but also the Eastern and Western Districts of Pennsylvania, the District of Delaware, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals when Judge Jones and Judge Conner sat by designation with those courts.

Ms. Mekilo received her J.D. from Widener University Commonwealth Law School in 2011, graduating summa cum laude at the top of her class and serving as the Executive Managing Editor of the Widener Law Journal. She earned her B.A. in Business Administration from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in 2008.

Memberships and Affiliations
Ms. Mekilo is licensed to practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. She is also admitted before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States District Courts for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Ms. Mekilo is the Secretary of the Middle District of Pennsylvania Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and also serves as the Co-Chair of the Chapter’s CLE Committee. In addition, she serves as Vice President and President-Elect of the Junior Board of the YWCA Greater Harrisburg. Ms. Mekilo teaches legal writing as an adjunct professor of law at her alma mater, Widener University Commonwealth Law School.

Publications/Presentations

  • Co-Author, “Hangey v. Husqvarna Professional Products: Pennsylvania Supreme Court Closes Another Off-Ramp for Corporate Defendants Sued in Pennsylvania,” Babst Calland Litigation Alert, December 5, 2023.
  • Co-Author, “Court’s Venue Ruling Is Likely to Worsen Forum Shopping,” Law360 Expert Analysis, December 4, 2023.
  • Co-Author, “To Infinity and Beyond? Pennsylvania Supreme Court Casts Doubt Upon Presumptive Constitutional Limit for Punitive Damages,” The Legal Intelligencer, November 2, 2023.
  • Guest Lecturer, “Writing Tips for Young Lawyers,” Penn State Dickinson School of Law, April 7, 2022.
  • Panelist, “Writing Tips for Litigators: Insights from Both Sides of the Bench,” M.D. Pa. Chapter of the Federal Bar Association Virtual CLE, November 4, 2021.
  • Co-Author, COMMITTEE ON CODES OF CONDUCT, ETHICS DESKBOOK FOR UNITED STATES JUDGES (1st ed. 2020) (principal coauthor with Judge Christopher C. Conner).
  • Panelist, “A View from the Bench, A Judge’s Panel and Law Clerk Insights,” Widener Commonwealth Law School Federal Courts Day, October 15, 2019.
  • Panelist, “A View from the Bench, A Judge’s Panel and Law Clerk Insights,” Widener Commonwealth Law School Federal Courts Day, October 23, 2018.
  • Guest Lecturer, “Brief Writing Do’s and Don’ts,” Widener University Commonwealth Law School, March 18, 2015.
  • Guest Lecturer, “The Value of Judicial Clerkships,” Penn State Dickinson School of Law, September 26, 2014.
  • Author, “Mind Your Own Business? Not an Option for Pennsylvania’s Public Officials Following Rendell v. Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission,” 20 WIDENER L.J. 497 (2011).
  • Co-Author, “Auto No-Fault in Malaysia: The Proper Relationship with Tort,” INT’L CONF. ON ‘EMERGING ISSUES IN PUB. LAW: CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES’ (2011).