Mincey Fitzpatrick Ross, LLC

Focus and practice areas

The firm works across a wide span of legal matters, all from a base in Philadelphia. Its named areas include civil rights, criminal defense, and white-collar defense. It also handles personal injury, business law, employment law, civil litigation, and education law, and it counts family law among the work it takes on. The firm represents clients in both state and federal courts.

That range covers both sides of the courtroom. In criminal defense and white-collar defense, the firm defends people and companies facing charges or investigations. In personal injury and plaintiff-side employment cases, it brings claims for clients who say they were harmed. Civil rights work can sit on either side, and which side depends on who filed first.

In my opinion, the pairing of criminal defense and civil rights is the detail that tells you most about this firm. A lawyer who defends people against the state learns how charges get built and how evidence gets tested. That knowledge reads across into civil rights claims, where the conduct of police and other officials is often the whole case.

How the team is built

The firm's name comes from three of its attorneys: Kevin V. Mincey, Thomas O. Fitzpatrick, and Riley H. Ross III. Each took a different route into the law, and their listed backgrounds carry real detail.

Kevin V. Mincey studied at Howard University School of Law and graduated in 2002. His work covers criminal defense, civil rights, and personal injury on the plaintiff side. Thomas O. Fitzpatrick, a founding partner, earned a marketing degree from the Villanova University School of Business and a joint JD and MBA from the Villanova University School of Law. In law school he held an Albert Goldberg Scholarship and served as an extern on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals for the Honorable Dolores K. Sloviter.

Riley H. Ross III graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1999 and began practicing that same year. His work centers on civil rights, and he also handles white-collar criminal defense, plaintiff-side employment litigation, and general litigation. The firm names four more attorneys: Shawn K. Page, Zainab K. Shields, Jennifer A. Nearn, and Marquita Minkins. Shawn K. Page handles criminal defense, family law, and personal injury. His criminal work covers DUI and drug charges and traffic matters, and his family work covers custody and child support.

The firm states that some of its attorneys are former prosecutors. As a reviewer, I read that as a practical point about preparation. Someone who once decided which charges to file knows where a prosecution is strong and where it is thin. That vantage shapes how a defense lawyer gets ready for a case.

The civil rights and criminal defense core

Because civil rights and criminal defense run through so much of the firm's work, it helps to know how these matters usually move. Criminal cases in Pennsylvania and in federal court follow a set path, even as the details shift from one matter to the next.

A criminal matter tends to open at arraignment, where the court reads the charges and sets bail. Defense counsel then reviews the evidence, files pretrial motions, and argues points such as whether a search was lawful or whether a statement belongs in evidence. Many cases resolve through negotiation before trial. Others go to a judge or jury. White-collar defense adds an earlier stage, since these matters often begin as investigations by an agency or a grand jury, sometimes long before any charge lands.

Civil rights claims run on a different track. When a claim targets a government actor, it commonly lands in federal court under statutes that let a person sue officials who violated their rights. These cases lean on documents, sworn depositions, and expert analysis, and they can take years to reach a resolution. A firm that also defends criminal cases sees these disputes from a useful angle, since it knows how police reports and internal records come together.

The wider slate of work

Outside its central pairing, the firm keeps a set of practice areas that reach into daily life and business. Employment law covers disputes between workers and employers. The firm handles the plaintiff side, so it brings claims for employees who say an employer crossed a line.

Business law and civil litigation point to work for companies. That can mean drafting the contracts that set up a venture, and it can mean handling the disputes that follow when a deal breaks down. Education law is a narrower field that often involves students, families, and schools, and it can touch school discipline, special education services, and a student's rights on campus. Personal injury covers people hurt by the actions of others. Cases of that kind often turn on medical records and proof of fault, and many settle before a courtroom date. Family law rounds out the list, and it deals with custody, support, and the end of a marriage.

Where the firm practices

Mincey Fitzpatrick Ross runs three offices. The main office is in Philadelphia, with a second Pennsylvania location in Erie and a third in Washington, DC.

The Erie office gives the firm a base in the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania, a long drive from Philadelphia across the state. The Washington office puts it near the federal courts and agencies of the capital. For a firm that appears in both state and federal court, that spread lets it meet clients closer to where their cases sit. Three offices also give the firm room to take matters that cross state lines, which fits work in federal court and matches the reach of civil rights and white-collar cases.

Community work and standing

The firm's attorneys established The Bull Foundation, Inc., which supports educational programs for young people in Philadelphia and Erie. The two cities in that mission line up with two of the firm's own offices, so the giving follows the same map as the casework. The foundation's focus on education also sits close to the firm's own education law work.

Mincey Fitzpatrick Ross describes itself as a Certified Diverse Business. That label comes from an outside review of how a company is owned and controlled, and it measures ownership and management structure. Some corporate and public-sector clients weigh such certification when they choose outside counsel, so it can open doors to that kind of work. The firm holds that status alongside a roster of attorneys working in criminal, civil rights, and business matters.