Christopher K. McNally

“The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience.” 

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was one of America’s most important and influential Supreme Court justices.  Holmes explained that the best way to understand American law was to take account of the historical background that led to judicial and legislative decisions.

I offer clients in the field of professional licensure the experience of making our laws as a legislator, board counsel, hearing examiner and prosecuting attorney.  In 1993 I was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and voted for the law that became known as Act 48 of 1993, the forerunner of Act 53 of 2020. I was also a member of the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee that issued the reports that led to re-enactment of the laws that govern the professions of real estate, occupational therapy, vehicle sales, funeral directing, accountancy, engineering, and optometry.

As a counsel who represented and advised licensing boards I provided board members and staff with legal advice, listened to board members discuss cases, and I wrote their decisions.  As a counsel to the Vehicle Board I developed a list of factors to analyze criminal convictions of licensees. Those factors are now in Act 53 and followed by all licensing boards. I was also the main writer of the regulations that govern appraisal management companies and crane operators and I drafted legislation for appraisal management companies.

As a hearing examiner I wrote proposed decisions for almost all of the 29 licensing boards in the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs.  And I also wrote proposed decisions for agencies in the Departments of Agriculture, Banking and Securities, Education, Health, Human Services, Labor and Industry, as well as the State Employees Retirement System and Public School Employees Retirement System. See this link for a complete list of other agencies.

As a prosecuting attorney I handled cases before the State Boards of Dentistry, Podiatry, Speech-Language Pathologists, Vehicle Dealers and Salespersons, and Veterinary Medicine.

Before I joined the Office of General Counsel in 2008 I had more than 20 years of experience as an advocate for people in personal injury cases, as well as state and local civil service commissions, Pittsburgh Fire Fighter trial boards, and I have appeared before more than 100 judges in more than 20 counties in Pennsylvania, as well as all three appellate courts, the federal courts of Pennsylvania, the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals. I am a member of the bar for the Supreme Court of the United States.