Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett, P.c.

Area Practice

• Civil Litigation
• Trial Practice
• Insurance
• Workers' Compensation
• Bankruptcy
• Creditors' Rights
• Banking Law
• Corporate Law
• Taxation
• Securities
• Public Law
• Corporate Finance
• Estate Planning
• Probate
• Real Estate
• Management Labor Law
• Bond
• Underwriter's Counsel
• Family Law
• Agricultural Law
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Appellate Practice
• Business Law
• Civil Rights
• Commercial Law
• Constitutional Law
• Construction Law
• Contracts
• Debtor And Creditor
• Education Law
• Elder Law
• Eminent Domain
• Employee Benefits
• Energy
• Environmental Law
• Finance
• Government
• Government Contracts
• Health Care
• Intellectual Property
• International Law
• Labor And Employment
• Unemployment
• Legal Malpractice
• Litigation
• Medical Malpractice
• Mergers And Acquisitions
• Natural Resources
• Products Liability
• Professional Liability
• Technology Law
• Sciences
• Toxic Torts
• Transportation
• Trusts And Estates
• Wills
• Zoning Law
• Planning Law
• L Use

Additional Info

Serving businesses, governmental entities, nonprofit organizations, insurance companies, financial institutions, individuals and families with ingenuity, diligence and integrity for over 50 years.

Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett began in 1958 as a partnership among William W. Knox, Gerald J. Weber, Conrad A. Pearson and John M. McLaughlin. The new partnership, including Joseph F. MacKrell, opened an office on the third floor of the Meier Building at 23 West Tenth Street on July 1, 1958. Over the years, from 1958 to 1977, the office expanded from one to three floors as new attorneys joined the firm. The firm had a general civil practice with concentrations in both business and trial law.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Gerald J. Weber to the United States District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania. Judge Weber was the first of three members of the firm who became federal judges. In 1970, Judge William W. Knox joined him. Judge Sean McLaughlin was appointed to the same United States District Court in 1994.

William C. Sennett joined the firm in 1965. Two years later, he was named Pennsylvania Attorney General. In 1967, Mortimer E. Graham retired as general counsel of Hammer mill Paper Company and joined the firm. In 1971, Attorney Sennett rejoined the firm, which then became incorporated as Knox Graham Pearson McLaughlin & Sennett, Inc., one of the first law firms in Pennsylvania to become a professional corporation.

Jackson M. Magenau and M. Fletcher Gornall began practicing law together in 1950. In 1976, the Magenau and Gornall firm, which by then also included Jack M. Gornall and Michael A. Fetzner, merged with the Knox firm. The name then became Knox Graham McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett, Inc. With 17 lawyers now crowded into three floors at 23 West Tenth Street, the firm began construction of the first freestanding law office building in downtown Erie at 120 West Tenth Street. The attorneys and staff moved into their new offices in December 1977. Further building expansion was necessitated in the late 1980s.

Richard H. Zamboldi and Richard W. Perhaps joined the firm as shareholders in 1990. This added labor and employment law to the existing civil practice. A number of other experienced local attorneys have joined the firm on a lateral basis in subsequent years. In 2005, an affiliation was formed with James Meyer and Thomas Wagner of St. Mary's, Pennsylvania. This arrangement created a referral relationship between Knox attorneys and the Meyer and Wagner firm, helping to expand the regional presence of the firm. In 2009, the law office of James S. Bryan, a third-generation practice based in North East, Pennsylvania, merged with the Knox firm.

Several Knox firm attorneys are licensed to practice in the state of New York. A physical presence was established in Jamestown, NY, with the opening of an office there in 2007.

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