Riding the Circuits: Practice in the Third Circuit

Karl is a leading Pennsylvania appellate lawyer with two decades of experience arguing and briefing a wide variety of high-profile, precedent-setting cases before the appellate courts of Pennsylvania and other jurisdictions. Throughout his career, clients have entrusted Karl with numerous high-risk appeals valued, in aggregate, at a half-billion dollars. He focuses on cases before the Pennsylvania Supreme, Commonwealth and Superior Courts, as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and has particular experience in the areas of:

• State and federal constitutional challenges
• State administrative agency disputes
• Original jurisdiction proceedings in Commonwealth Court
• Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law requests
• Government contracting and bid protest disputes
• Insurance insolvency and guaranty association matters
• Complex commercial actions

Karl has served as counsel of record in hundreds of cases before Pennsylvania’s appellate courts. Clients also engage him to author amicus curiae briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court and other appellate courts in cases of significance to trade, industry and other groups.
Because of the prominent nature of his appellate advocacy, Karl has frequently presented televised arguments on the Pennsylvania Cable Network and his arguments are often quoted in the Pennsylvania Law Weekly, The Legal Intelligencer, Law360 and other regional and national publications. As a thought leader in his area of law, he comments on notable issues before the appellate courts and often serves as a panelist and moderator for appellate practice presentations and seminars.
Karl also serves in prominent roles within the community of appellate practitioners. He is Co-Chair of the Appellate Advocacy Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and is a charter member of that Committee, having been a member since its formation in 2003. Karl serves on the Board of Directors and as Pennsylvania State Chair for the Council of Appellate Lawyers of the American Bar Association’s Appellate Judges Conference, the first and only national appellate bench-bar organization. Additionally, Karl is an active member of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Historical Society. Through his advocacy and professional activities, Karl has developed a strong rapport with the appellate bench.
Complementing his appellate practice, Karl also is an experienced trial court lawyer who has overseen disputes from inception through verdict, decision or resolution in hundreds of cases pending before state and federal courts. His litigation practice has touched virtually every type of civil matter, including insurance coverage and bad faith cases, commercial disputes, and contract, tort and personal injury matters.
Karl has been trained as a mediator by the American Arbitration Association and is certified as a state and a federal court arbitrator. He has assisted in the judicial selection process by serving three terms as a reviewer in the Investigative Division of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention.
Immediately after law school, Karl began to develop his appellate capabilities and experience while serving as a law clerk for the Hon. Russell M. Nigro of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He also served as a clerk for the Hon. John T.J. Kelly Jr. of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania while still in law school.
During his distinguished law school career, Karl was selected as a member of the Appellate Moot Court Board, Dickinson Law Review, and Woolsack Honor Society. At that time, he also served as a clerk for the Hon. Yvette Kane of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Karl began his legal career as an intern for the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.

Ilana H. Eisenstein is the DLA Piper's Chair of Litigation. As a former Assistant to the Solicitor General and a former federal prosecutor, she has seen cases through every stage of litigation – from investigation, trials, and appeals to the US Supreme Court.
With a flexible approach to multi-faceted disputes that include civil, criminal, administrative and regulatory components, Ilana helps clients solve their most complex and high-exposure problems.
She is noted for her ability to unravel the individual threads in complicated legal issues. She is particularly adept at developing and managing legal strategy for multi-district litigation and government-facing litigation; and she has deep experience in life sciences, consumer goods and technology sectors.
Ilana has argued five cases before the US Supreme Court, including cases involving novel questions of statutory interpretation and constitutional law and procedure. She has tried 12 federal jury trials to verdict and led more than 100 federal and state cases to resolution.
Ilana is a member of DLA Piper's Executive and Policy Committees.

L. Felipe Restrepo is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the United States Sentencing Commission.
After law school, Judge Restrepo served one year as a law clerk at the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project. He then spent the next seven years as a public defender, first for the Defender Association of Philadelphia from 1987 to 1990, and then for the Federal Community Defender for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 1990 to 1993. In 1993, Judge Restrepo started his own law firm, Krasner & Restrepo, which specialized in criminal defense and civil rights litigation. He remained there until 2006 when he was appointed U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Judge Restrepo was confirmed as U.S. District Judge in 2013.
Judge Restrepo has spent much of his legal career in public service and has extensive litigation experience as both a judge and advocate.
Finally, as both a Magistrate Judge and District Judge, Judge Restrepo has led the Eastern District’s reentry program. The program is a collaborative effort between the court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Federal Defender’s Office, the Office of Probation, and other community partners to help individuals recently released from federal custody, most with a violent or otherwise serious criminal history, reenter the community and live productive lives.

Chagares began his legal career as a law clerk for Judge Morton Ira Greenberg of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1987 to 1988. Chagares was in private practice the next two years before joining the United States Department of Justice as an assistant United States attorney in 1990. He rose to become chief of the Civil Division for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey in 1999, but left the Justice Department in 2004 to return to private practice in New Jersey.
Since 1991, Chagares has been an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University School of Law.
Chagares was nominated to the Third Circuit by President George W. Bush on January 25, 2006 to fill the seat vacated by Michael Chertoff, who resigned to become Secretary of Homeland Security. He was confirmed just over two months later on April 4, 2006 by a 98–0 vote. He received his commission on April 20, 2006. On November 17, 2021, it was announced that Chagares will become the next Chief Judge of the Third Circuit, effective on December 4, 2021.