Sean McLaughlin, the chief district judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, will begin the next phase of his career as executive vice president, secretary, and general counsel at Erie Indemnity Company and the affiliated companies of the Erie Insurance Group, starting August 26.
McLaughlin served as a federal judge from his appointment by President Bill Clinton in 1994 until this year. He was the only full-time district judge for the region. Prior to his judgeship, McLaughlin was an attorney specializing in civil litigation at Erie-based Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett.
The new GC will receive a performance incentive package of up to 9,280 shares of Erie Indemnity stock. The Associated Press reported, based on last week’s closing price of $80 per share, that’s valued at about $742,000—considerably more than McLaughlin’s former annual salary of $174,000.
The company’s outgoing general counsel, James Tanous, retired in June.
McLaughlin earned his B.A. and J.D. from Georgetown University. He is active in the Northwest Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Inns of Court where he serves as a Master of a Pupilage Group. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the Erie County Bar Association where he formerly served on the executive committee.
This article first appeared in Corporate Counsel, a Legal affiliate based in New York.