Lori L Mach

Lori Mach works for GPEFF as a Senior Associate in the Philadelphia office, where she brings twenty years of legal experience to the firm. Lori concentrates her practice in civil rights litigation, employment law, and criminal appeals. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar.

Lori, who grew up in small town Iowa, graduated from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History. She received her law degree from Yale Law School in 1995, where she co-founded the annual “Rebellious Lawyering for Social Change” national public interest law conference, which is now known as RebLaw, and is the largest student-run public interest conference in the country.

After graduating from Yale, Lori began working for the Defender Association of Philadelphia as an Assistant Public Defender. Lori is one of the rare attorneys who has experience both as a successful trial lawyer and a successful appellate attorney. Her first seven years at the Defender Association were spent as a trial attorney, handling thousands of criminal cases. For over five years she staffed a jury trial room and tried hundreds of serious felony cases. In 2003, Lori transferred to the appellate unit of the Defender Association where, over the next eleven years, she wrote and filed over 250 briefs and appeared in the appellate courts for oral argument approximately 40 times. Lori also became an expert on Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law statute and handled complex sexually violent predator hearings in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. In addition, Lori worked collaboratively with other trial attorneys, particularly the homicide unit. She wrote and argued motions in numerous homicide trials, including capital homicides. During her final two years at the Defender Association, Lori joined the Special Defense Unit, which is the elite trial unit that handles only the most complex and serious jury trial cases.

In addition to her trial and appellate work, Lori worked, at various points in time, as a rotating supervising attorney, helping to train and supervise less-experienced attorneys. For 13 years she served as the head of a hiring panel at the Defender Association, interviewing and recommending new attorneys for hire.

In 2011, Lori helped establish the first Criminal Law Inn of Court in Philadelphia, serving as an Organizing Committee Member. She was a member of the Executive Committee for three years and served as the Programming Chair for two years, where she collaborated with judges, district attorneys, and defense attorneys to provide CLE programming for the Inn of Court. Lori was is also one of thirteen members of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania’s of the Homicide Appointment System (HAS) Committee, The committee of seven lawyers and six judges established an application process and investigated and approved attorneys for homicide court appointments.

Throughout her legal career, Lori has also guest lectured at Temple, Widener, and Yale Law Schools on various topics including capital trial and appellate issues. She has presented at numerous CLE programs in a variety of areas, including appellate issues, criminal procedure, and scientific experts in the courtroom. Lori has also served as a faculty member for the Pennsylvania Defender Appellate Skills Program, where she taught appellate skills, writing and oral advocacy to attorneys throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Lori’s background, vast legal experience and knowledge makes her a wonderful addition to the firm.