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Attorney McShane has earned the reputation in the Pennsylvania legal community as a fierce and uncompromising advocate for the citizen accused. Attorney McShane is highly regarded by his peers all over the country as a DUI Expert.
For more information on DUI, please visit my DUI blog
Attorney McShane (Chairman/CEO) of The McShane Firm, LLC, is a graduate of the prestigious Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Maryland. He matriculated at Franklin & Marshall College and was named a Marshall Scholar which is Franklin and Marshall’s highest academic scholarship. With that award and scholarship, Attorney McShane studied European Criminal Law and Procedure at the University of Limerick in the Republic of Ireland in 1997. After graduating from Franklin and Marshall College, he attended the Pennsylvania State University – Dickinson School of Law. Attorney McShane is now the Chairman/CEO of The McShane Firm, LLC. Prior to forming The McShane Firm, LLC, he was the Managing Partner of McShane & Hitchings, LLC (2004-2008). Before McShane & Hitchings, LLC in 2003-4, he was a solo practitioner. Prior to that, he was employed by the County of Dauphin where he defended several high profile cases including a death penalty case and several other homicides. He has tried a variety of cases ranging from relatively simple speeding infractions to large scale multi-million dollar drug tracking and multiple homicide cases and everything in between including single offense misdemeanor cases, serial rapist cases and, of course, DUI. Attorney McShane has handled thousands of criminal cases. He has even handled several homicides including a triple homicide. He has argued twice before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He has frequently argued before the Pennsylvania Superior Court. In fact, in Commonwealth v. Jones, 845 A.2d 821, Attorney McShane successfully argued to substantially change Pennsylvania law with respect to anonymous tipsters and vehicle stops to the benefit of all motorists. Attorney McShane’s practice is exclusively limited to DUI and criminal law. He does not practice anything else. Click here to see the certificates and training that Attorney McShane has accumulated in the specialized field of DUI. Attorney McShane is an attorney who specializes in using forensic science in defending the citizen accused among us who has been alleged by the Government to be in violation of the law. He is nationally known and well-regarded for being an skilled and fierce litigator, but is also well known for his strong understanding and in-depth knowledge in all forms of forensic science.
He has attended the new “Capital Cases Seminar” and has continuing legal education credits allowing him to handle capital homicide cases. He has attended the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) 1st Annual “Making Sense of Science Seminar” which instructs attorneys on various diverse fields of forensic science from:
* Computer Forensic Evidence,
* DNA Collection and Analysis,
* Sexual Abuse cases,
* Forensics of Firearms,
* Arson Investigation,
* Crime Lab Errors,
* Crime Scene Analysis,
* Child Sexual Abuse,
* Defending Child Pornography and criminal solicitation for sexual related cases involving children (like Dateline’s “How to Catch a Child Predator” style cases),
* Homicide Investigations,
* Time of Death and Pathology, and
* Understanding Police Interrogations and Challenging False Confessions.
He also attended the 1st annual Defending Drug Cases Seminar. He is licensed to practice law in all Pennsylvania State Courts, the United States District Court-Middle District of Pennsylvania and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Court and the United States Supreme Court. Once a year, he moderates and instructs at a Continuing Legal Education seminar entitled “Traffic Law-DUI” where Judges of Courts of Common Pleas, District Justices, prosecutors and other lawyers attend. He also lectures at seminars where other attorneys from as far away as Maine come to get the very latest in training. He was elected to membership in the National College for DUI Defense (NCDD). He is one of thirteen (13) attorneys [four of which are in his office] in all of Pennsylvania elected to the college. He is one of five attorneys in the entire state [3 of them work in the McShane Firm, LLC] who currently holds a certificate as a “Breath Alcohol Technician” certified by the US Department of Transportation. He is a certified Instructor in Standard Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs). He holds a certificate in NHTSA/IACP approved courses such as Standard Field Sobriety Testing and Drugs that Impair Driving. All members of his firm hold both an instructor rating in SFSTs, is a certified Breath Alcohol Technician, received training in Drugs that Impair Driving. Attorney McShane also holds a certificate in Phlebotomy (blood drawing). Only one other attorney in Pennsylvania has this training. Attorney McShane has attended the National College for DUI Defense and their Summer Session taught at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has also attended many other national NCDD conferences including the annual Winter Session and the “DWI means Defends With Integrity” seminars. Attorney McShane attended and successfully passed the very rigorous proficiency based training at the 2008 Forensic Blood and Urine Seminar where the world’s foremost experts like Dr. A.W. Jones (click here to see McShane with Dr. Jones), Dr. Albert Staubus, Dr. Fran Gengo, Dr. Joseph Citron and Ron Moore lectured for over forty-six (46) hours on a host of subjects including:
* hospital blood testing,
* legal blood alcohol testing,
* urinalysis testing,
* crime lab errors,
* hospital lab errors,
* hospital blood analysis for ETOH and drugs
* ELISA, FPIA, CEDIA, KIMS, RIA, EMIT, Vacu-Elute, Headspace Gas Chromatography, Liquid Gas Chromatography, Thin-layer Chromatography, GC-FTIR, Mass Spectrometry, Photo-eclectic analysis,
* pre-collection errors,
* collection errors,
* analysis errors,
* chain of custody, storage, transportation and delivery related issues,
* phramacokinetics,
* phramacodynamics,
* solid dose sample drug analysis,
* post-mortem analysis,
* endogenous versus exogenous alcohol production,
* intake, absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (elimination) of alcohol and drugs,
* medical conditions that mimic intoxication,
* elimination kinetics (half lives, Michaelis-Menten kinetics),
* and various analytical laboratory issues.
This seminar is the most comprehensive seminar that lawyers can attend on the subject. It is given once every ten (10) years. It included a crime lab tour. (See AW Jones autograph of McShane’s Garriott’s textbook) Attorney McShane has received specialized training in Trucking Litigation and D.O.T. Regulations in Pennsylvania including issues surrounding Log Book violations, Motor Carrier Safety Administration Hours of Service Regulations, Hazardous Materials Transport, mechanical failure cases, and EDR/ECM data (black box). Attorney McShane has authored several legal treatises including:
* “Pennsylvania Vehicle Code and the ‘New’ Driving After Imbibing Law: A Practioner’s Guide to Successfully Defending Against the Commonwealth and PENNDOT License Suspension”,
* his commercially available book “Driving After Imbibing: THE Authoritative Guide to Defending Motorists Accused of Alcohol/Controlled Substance Impaired Driving in Pennsylvania, Traffic Law Practices in Pennsylvania”,
* “The Preliminary Hearing: A Primer for the Inexperienced”, and
* “A Practioner’s Guide to Federal and Pennsylvania State Drug Defense” (in final editing). Always looking to expand his knowledge base, Attorney McShane is an active member of the American Bar Association, the Dauphin County Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the National Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the Pennsylvania Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers as well as the National College for DUI Defense. In January of 2009, Attorney McShane will be sitting for his Board certification as both a Board Certified Practioner in Criminal Law, and also in DUI defense. Recently, Attorney McShane was elected and appointed as co-chairman of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (PACDL) Rising Stars Section. As of December 2008, he has attended well over one hundred and twenty hours (120) hours of Continuing Legal Education, which is nearly ten (10) times the required amount. This year alone he is scheduled to attend eight seminars [7 national and 1 Pennsylvania focused], all devoted to criminal law, DUI law and forensic sciences. These seminars are conducted by the leading experts in the field of criminal law and DUI law. They are held at places such as Harvard Law School and provide a strong basis to build a defense for his clients and help Attorney McShane keep abreast of all current changes and future trends in the law. Attorney McShane was a featured speaker for several past graduating platoons of the Pennsylvania State Police Academy. He has acted as an invited advocacy small group instructor at the Pennsylvania State University-Dickinson School of Law as well as at Central Penn College. He has been invited to give and has, in fact, presented speeches, seminars and lectures to numerous academic institutions and to bodies of attorneys from across the United States. He also stands admitted pro hoc vice by the Bar of California in order to handle a criminal case. Attorney McShane enjoys the reputation of being an extremely zealous and skilled trial advocate fighting for his client’s liberty and rights within the ethical confines of his oath as an attorney. Noted for working very long hours and his no-nonsense attitude as well as his willingness to do whatever it takes to maximize the chances of his clients achieving the result that they most want, Attorney McShane has represented people from all walks of life from politicians and rock stars, CDL license holders, licensed professionals to the homeless. He understands how important each case is to his clients regardless of their occupation, their finances or their past. Attorney McShane donates his time to worthy causes such as the Special Olympics, PAWS and the Boy Scouts of America. He is an Eagle Scout who always believes in the Boy Scout Motto of “Be Prepared.” He is an elected member of the Central Dauphin School Board. |
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