Pittsburgh — Spilman Thomas & Battle (Spilman) announced that partner Bryan S. Neft was elected president of the Allegheny County Bar Association (ACBA). His term as the 110^th president of the organization will begin Sunday, July 1 and end June 30, 2019.

Neft said that a primary goal as president of the ACBA is to promote diversity within the legal profession overall and, in particular, to expand the ACBA’s minority law student Summer Clerkship Program.
 
“For more than a decade, the ACBA’s minority law student Summer Clerkship Program has been a successful initiative, helping to place minority first-year law students in internships at law firms, corporate legal departments and government agencies so they can get crucial legal experience,” Neft said.
                                                                                                                           
“We recently expanded the program to also include LGBT law students and those with disabilities, and now we hope to increase the number of employers who participate in the program to create more opportunities for these students," he continued. "There’s a gap between the number of applicants we receive and the number of positions available, and I’d like to help close that gap.”
 
Since the beginning of his legal career, Neft has been extensively involved in numerous facets of the ACBA and the Allegheny County Bar Foundation. Most recently, he was elected President-Elect of the 6,000-member ACBA in 2017 and has served in that capacity for the past year.
 
At Spilman, Neft focuses his practice on commercial litigation and toxic tort defense. He spends a large portion of his time assisting clients in a general counsel capacity and assisting clients in the health care industry.

In addition to his legal work, Neft has been involved in an array of community and charitable endeavors. He previously served on the Board of Directors of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh and the Board of Trustees for Beth El Congregation of South Hills.

A Fox Chapel native and a current resident Mount Lebanon, Neft earned his undergraduate degree in 1986 from the University of Pennsylvania and his law degree in 1989 from the Boston University School of Law.

About Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC
Spilman Thomas & Battle is a full-service, super-regional law firm serving local, regional, national and international businesses. Founded in 1864, Spilman has offices in Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Charleston, Morgantown and Wheeling, West Virginia; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Roanoke, Virginia.