David B. Spear

david@gss-law.net

Mr. Spear is a shareholder of Goldman Schafer & Spear P.C. in Pittsburgh and has been with the firm since 1998. Mr. Spear has a multi-faceted civil litigation practice, focusing on employment and civil rights cases. He represents mainly plaintiffs and some small businesses in employment disputes in federal and state courts, and before numerous administrative agencies. Mr. Spear has successfully pursued claims involving race, age, sex and disability discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation, as well as violations of the FMLA and LMRA. He also represents clients in employment contract disputes, wrongful discharge cases and other common law matters.

Mr. Spear has extensive courtroom experience, including jury and non-jury trials and arbitrations, and has participated in numerous mediations. Mr. Spear recently obtained a significant jury verdict for a plaintiff after a four day federal court trial in a section 1983 / Fourteenth Amendment due process case after his client was wrongfully imprisoned for ten days because of an unconstitutional county policy.

Mr. Spear has been a presenter at several Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s Employment Law seminars on topics such as retaliation and pregnancy discrimination, and he has made presentations on the applicability of the ADA and/or FMLA to patients with Crohn’s disease. Mr. Spear is a member of the local chapter of the National Employment Lawyers Association.

Mr. Spear received his B.A. in Economics from Emory University in 1988, where he was a member of the Economics Honors Society, and his J.D. in 1991 from the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned honors in Legal Research and Writing and Moot Court. He interned with the Honorable Carol Los Mansmann of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 1990, and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Patrick R. Tamilia of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania from 1991-1993, before entering private practice.

In his community, Mr. Spear regularly volunteers at the annual ACBA Homeless Children’s Christmas Party, and has served for numerous years as a volunteer counselor at a one week summer camp for children with Crohn’s disease. He also has served as chair of the United Jewish Federation Young Adult Division Annual Campaign, and served from 1993-2000 as a Big Brother for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh.