After amassing nearly a decade of medical malpractice defense and risk management litigation experience, Maraleen D. Shields joined the Firm in 2014. She works to understand her client’s case, expectations, and needs. She recognizes the importance of exploring all options to achieve a favorable result whether it be through mediation, arbitration, or trial. Her clients have come to know her for her responsiveness and candor.

She is a shareholder of the Firm’s Litigation & Trial Practice and Healthcare Groups. As a member of the Firm’s Litigation & Trial Practice Group, she has handled a wide array of matters including healthcare business disputes, municipal liability, class action litigation, personal injury matters, contract disputes and general complex litigation. She handles all phases of litigation and appellate practice. As a member of the Firm’s Healthcare Group, her practice focuses on peer review and credentialing matters, licensing and professional board disputes, Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology and Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) compliance, the OIG exclusion program, and risk mitigation and event management. She prepares medical staff bylaws, rules and regulations, and policies for hospitals and other healthcare facilities in compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and accreditation standards. She represents healthcare professionals engaged in the fair hearing and appellate review process, contract disputes and before state licensing boards. She is a frequent speaker regarding diversity, equity and inclusion, litigation, and healthcare matters.

Active in the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA), Ms. Shields serves as Chair of the Minority Bar Committee’s Rising Star Program Subcommittee, Co-Chair of the Women in the Profession Commission’s Diversity Committee, and Co-Chair of the Health Care Committee. In 2016, she was invited to serve on the PBA’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Membership Engagement which focused on engagement of mothers, millennials, and minorities. For this work, she was honored with the PBA President’s Award in 2018. Ms. Shields was invited to join the PBA’s Joint Task Force on Continuity of Delivery of Legal Services, which is currently focused on creating recommendations to ensure continuity and consistency of legal services from one jurisdiction to another in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, she was honored to receive the prestigious Lynette Norton Award. This award recognizes a female attorney who excels in litigation and is devoted to the mentorship of women in the profession.

Ms. Shields is originally from the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA. Over the last nearly fifteen years, she has developed deep connections to the Lehigh Valley. She was the President of the Parents’ Association of Cetronia Elementary School, where her son is in the fifth grade. She was a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Hillside School; a member of the Board of Directors of Lehigh Valley Children’s Centers; and a Member of the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council of Lehigh Valley Inter-regional Networking & Connecting (LINC). She was recently invited to participate in Parkland School District’s Equity and Inclusion Committee, which will guide the district in developing a sustainable pathway towards equity, inclusion, cultural relevance/responsiveness, and social emotional learning.

She currently resides in South Whitehall Township with her husband and their two children.