Attorney Profile
Robert L. Potter
Education: Cornell University (B.A., 1963); University of Pittsburgh (J.D., summa cum laude, 1972)
Admissions: Pennsylvania Bar, 1972; U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, 1974, Fifth Circuit, 1976, Sixth Circuit, 1994; U.S. Supreme Court, 1976; registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 1995.
Practice Areas: Professional Malpractice; Negligence
Bob was born in Pittsburgh on January 9, 1942. He spent most of his childhood in Salem, Ohio. After attending and graduating from prep school at Western Reserve Academy in 1959, Bob went to Cornell University and graduated with a B.A. in Chemistry in 1963. Bob was a pole-vaulter and high jumper on the track team and was captain of the Cornell track team in 1962-63.
After graduation, Bob served for six years as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. He graduated from Naval Flight Training in October, 1966 and flew, among other aircraft, the McDonnell-Douglas Phantom II fighter/attack aircraft.
Bob flew 350 missions during the war in Vietnam with Marine Fighter/Attack Squadron 323, the legendary "Death Rattlers." He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Naval Commendation Medal, and 23 Air Medals. Bob left the Marine Corps in fall, 1969 with the rank of Captain and transferred his commission to the United States Air Force Reserve. From 1970 through 1975, Bob was a member of the active reserve, flying transport aircraft (C124B Globemaster; C123K Provider; C130 Hercules) with the 758th Tactical Airlift Squadron at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport.
Upon returning from Vietnam, Bob enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh School of Law from which he graduated in 1972 first in his class, summa cum laude, and Order of the Coif. At Pitt, Bob was the Articles Editor of the Law Review. Immediately after graduation, he clerked for Mr. Justice Pomeroy of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court where he met fellow clerk Edwin J. Strassburger.
Bob then joined the firm of Reed Smith Shaw & McLeod two years before returning to the School of Law of the University of Pittsburgh as a faculty member. Bob was a professor of law for a total of five years, teaching torts, civil procedure and practice, evidence, trial advocacy and professional responsibility before returning to private practice in 1980. Since leaving full time law teaching, Bob has remained an Adjunct Professor and has taught trial advocacy on a part time basis for 17 years.
After leaving the law school faculty, Bob was a partner for six years with the Pittsburgh firm of Titus Marcus & Shapira. In 1986, he joined Strassburger McKenna where he is currently Of Counsel. His law practice covers a wide variety of subject matters including: personal injury; aviation related litigation and disputes; professional malpractice, (both medical and legal); patent infringement; intellectual property disputes and general commercial litigation; whistleblower representation; and criminal defense. Bob is admitted to patent practice in the United States Patent & Trademark Office.
Bob is a member of the American Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Allegheny County Bar Association, and the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County. He is a long time member of the Allegheny County Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics and served as chairman of that committee for a number of years. He served as a member for six years of a Hearing Committee of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Bob writes and speaks frequently for Pennsylvania Bar Institute CLE programs, usually on the topics of legal ethics or tort law.
