It is well past time for me to take a moment to get to know our current law clerks, so I was happy to join them for lunch at the Falafel Shack recently and pepper them with questions about their lives.

 

 

Brian Boyce is the law clerk for Judge Van Horn. Brian was actually planning to leave this August but asked if he could stick around until her retirement, to which he reports Judge Van Horn happily agreed. Brian comes to us from the Philadelphia area, born in northeast Philly and raised in Exton. Brian graduated from Bishop Shanahan High School in 1989, making him the eldest (and wisest?) of the law clerks. During high school, he worked at a pizza shop and played soccer. From there, he attended George Washington University in D.C. He graduated in 1993 with a B.A. in International Relations. He took 6 semesters of French and a year of Korean. He was also involved in the ROTC.

 

After graduating college, Brian entered the U.S. Marine Corps where he remained for the next twenty years. He told me that he had three primary jobs: first, he was an Infantry Officer, then a Tactical Jet Pilot, and finally a Foreign Area Officer for Eastern Europe and Russia. For those of you, like me, who may not know, a Foreign Area Officer is an officer who is a regionally focused-expert in political-military affairs. He was serving as a military attaché in Georgia when for the Russian invasion in 2008. Brian's military career also included fighting in the Iraq War during the high intensity phase in 2003. Brian retired from the Marine Corps in 2013.

 

One day while working out in the basement gym at the Pentagon a few years before his military retirement, Brian thought to himself that he didn't have any marketable skills and that he could go to law school for free. A friend talked him out of it, so Brian spent a few years doing a bit of this and that (including teaching English as a Second Language, becoming qualified as a commercial pilot, and doing charity work in Israel for a few months) after retirement before he talked himself back into law school. He enrolled in Dickinson School of Law, starting in 2015.

 

Brian graduated from Dickinson in 2018. He learned that there were two clerkships available in Franklin County. He was thrilled to get a legal job. As noted, Brian will be staying with Judge Van Horn until her retirement at which time he is moving to The Hague, Netherlands. He is getting married in June 2020 to a Dutch woman who he met doing charity work in Israel prior to law school. He will be going to help her plan the wedding and will return to find work after the wedding. His soon-to-be-wife is currently in an art program in the Netherlands but he is excited to have her join him in the United States and they plan to get a dog! For fun, Brian still likes to fly planes (Pipers and Cessnas these days).

 

 

Lake n Lynch is currently clerking for Judge Meyers. Laken was born and raised in M ercersburg. She was a proud recipient of a scholarship to Mercersburg Academy where she was a day student for three years and boarded for her final year. She found she had more freedom when she was a boarding student and that it eased her transition to college. Not being athletic but having a requirement to participate in a sport or activity, Laken chose to do community service work, primarily at nursing homes and animal shelters.

 

Laken went off to college at Boston College where she majored in Political Science and Sociology, earning her B.A. degree in 2015. She notes that she finds Sociology much more relevant to her work. Laken always knew that she wanted to go to law school. She accepted a spot at Dickinson School of Law, beginning in the fall of 2015. During the summer of 2015, she was excited to intern for Judge Meyers. Her family was well acquainted with Judge Meyers as he presided over the adoption of Laken's sister during Laken's college years. Her sister mentioned that Laken wanted to go to law school and Judge Meyers passed along his contact information and the rest is history!

 

Laken completed her law degree in 2018, graduating with Brian. After completing the Bar exam, Laken spent three weeks in Jamaica with her fiancé, Triston (known as Chase) O'Savio. Chase's family is from Jamaica so they were able to stay with a family friend for their visit. Upon returning to the States, she began her clerkship with Judge Meyers. She will be with Judge Meyers until the end of August, after which she is opening her own practice. Her office will be right in town, located at 522 S. Main Street, and she hopes to be open at the beginning of September. Laken's primary interest is child advocacy. She hopes to have about half of her practice be representing children as Guardian ad Litem or Attorney for the Child in custody and dependency actions, with the remaining half of her practice being private custody cases with a focus on mediation and keeping families out of court. Laken plans to become certified as a mediator and is interested in expanding into a collaborative law divorce practice in the future.

 

Laken and her fiancé, Chase, are planning on a fall 2020 wedding, with more formal plans being worked out after her law practice is opened and established. Chase is currently clerking for a federal judge in Scranton. In her free time, Laken enjoys hiking and spending time with her "lap dog" - a redbone hound/pitbull mix.

 

 

Allison Muck is Judge Krom's law clerk. Allison was born and raised in the Pittsburgh area. She attended Upper St. Clair High School where she participated in soccer and track. She graduated in 2011. Allison knew she wanted to major in history in college; to assuage her parents' fears of what she would do with a history degree, she told them that she could use it to go to law school. Allison went on to college at Penn State where she was part of the Honors College and did, in fact, major in history. She also had minors in Business and Spanish; she reports that she can speak Spanish with varying degrees of proficiency depending on how often she is using it. She earned her B.A. in 2015. During her time at PSU, she played intramural sports and was a member of the cross-country club.

 

After college, Allison went to Penn State Law in University Park. During her law school career, she interned with the Pennsylvania Superior Court. Allison graduated from Penn State Law in 2018.

 

After taking the Bar exam, Allison went to Maine to the beach for a family vacation where she started to feel ill with a sore throat. She was originally told that it was mono but it progressed further and she eventually ended up in the emergency room with an abscess in her throat. She thought she might have been delirious because she noticed that the hospital staff looked like they all belonged on a television show, but her grandmother who had accompanied her confirmed that, in fact, her doctor and the staff were all just extremely attractive people! According to Allison, her doctor indicated that he had been practicing medicine for ten years, while she thought he looked like he was barely 25. (So if anyone is looking for the fountain of youth, it may be in the basement of a Maine beach hospital!) While her vacation was ruined, Allison was thankfully able to recover and get better just in time to come to Franklin County and begin her clerkship!

 

Allison chose to pursue a clerkship since she wasn't sure what substantive area of law she wanted to pursue and wanted the broad experience. Allison will be with Judge Krom until mid-August at which point she will be moving to Connecticut where she will be clerking in a federal district for a bankruptcy judge. Allison enjoyed bankruptcy, tax, and corporations classes in law school and has a definite interest in bankruptcy work in the future.

 

Allison's boyfriend is a Marine Corps JAG Officer who is currently stationed in Virginia. With his future station unknown, Allison is happy to be moving on to another clerkship to see where he may end up. In the meantime, Allison lives with her cat that she describes as super clingy. Allison enjoys reading, hiking, running, and paying attention to current events.

 

 

And last but not least, Daniel Madonna is the law clerk for Judge Sponseller. Dan was born and raised initially in northeast Philly and then moved to Upper Moreland. Dan graduated from Upper Moreland High School in 2009 where he participated in track and field.

 

After graduating high school, Dan moved on to college at La Salle University in Philadelphia. He had an interest in teaching and education so he completed his B.A. in Elementary Education and Special Education. During his time at college, he also met his wife Corina, who was attending Temple University at the time. After college, Dan put his degree to use and taught for a year. Although he was teaching, Dan had always had an interest in law as well. He had the idea of pursuing education law and began the process of enrolling in law school.

 

In 2015, Dan enrolled in the J.D. program at Villanova. While in law school, Dan had an internship at the Delaware County District Attorney's Office and also worked at two workers compensation firms. Upon graduating in 2018, Dan wanted the experience that a clerkship had to offer. Dan learned of the clerkship opportunities in Franklin County and was happy to travel here, as him and his wife often came to the Franklin County area to rent a cabin and go hiking.

 

At this time, he doesn't have any definite plans post-clerkship but expects to return to the Philly area. He has an interest in family law and criminal law.

 

Dan and his wife were married in 2017. They are the proud parents of a daughter named Savannah who is about a year and a half old. Savannah currently loves the book "Muddy Paws, Busy Day" and hates water! Dan's wife, Corina, works at the Eagles Nest Child Care Center where Savannah goes to daycare. Dan and his wife enjoys hiking, though they have little time for it these days. They also have a cat that Dan reports is essentially feeling the "big sibling syndrome" of lessened attention.