Michael J. Parker earned his undergraduate degree in history from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2001 and went on to receive his J.D. from The Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University in 2004. Mr. Parker has focused his practice on advocating for the disabled for almost fifteen years. He is a board-certified Social Security Disability Advocate by the National Board of Legal Specialty Certification, an American Bar Association accredited organization. Mr. Parker has been recognized for his legal expertise as a Super Lawyers® Rising Star, which represents the top 2.5 percent of all attorneys under the age of 40 in 2010-2017. In January of 2018, Mr. Parker spearheaded the formation of our Pond Lehocky’s Long-Term Disability Department. Mr. Parker has taken his passion for representing disabled individual and applied to helping disabled individuals who are wrongfully denied insurance benefits. He is very involved in the legal community and is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Lackawanna County Bar Association, the Pike County Bar Association and the National Organization of Social Security Claimant’s Representatives. Mr. Parker is admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Affairs and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Kajal Alemo is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She is a member of both the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association and American Association for Justice, where she serves on the Social Security Executive Council. Before joining Pond Lehocky, Ms. Alemo practiced for a large Philadelphia law firm, where she assisted senior counsel with the coding of potentially discoverable corporate documents, including privilege determinations for a high profile merger. She was also co-editor of a legal textbook regarding law and business enterprise. A graduate of Villanova University School of Law, Ms. Alemo was the Villanova Law student director of Face to Face Legal Clinic for the Pro Bono Society. She interned at Face to Face during all three years of law school. She was also a student attorney at the Villanova Civil Justice Clinic where she handled her first Social Security case. Prior to law school, Ms. Alemo obtained a B.A. in Psychology from George Washington University, graduating in 2008 on the Dean’s List. She is also a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity International. Under her leadership as President/Justice, Phi Alpha Delta’s King Chapter was awarded most improved chapter in its district.

David F. Stern, Esquire is the President and Partner at the Law Firm, Stern & Cohen, PC. Dave was born and raised in Northern Virginia just off the Beltway outside Washington D.C. Dave’s father was a Federal Judge. His understanding of how to be an advocate began at an early age as he had the opportunity to travel with his father on occasions and observe Federal trials. Many disputes were resolved at the kitchen table with a good, courtroom-like debate. Dave excelled early on in academics and also on the baseball field. Dave played in the athletic conference with the largest high schools in the state of Virginia. This area is a hotbed for baseball talent. His senior season, Dave’s high school team lost in the state championship, but local papers wrote articles about how this would likely be the best team in program history. Dave then took his academic and athletic prowess to the University of Delaware. Dave earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, a concentration that he knew would serve him well in business after he went to Law School. He was also a four-year letterman for the University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens Division One baseball program. College baseball is not heralded like football and basketball, so it was a well-kept secret that Delaware’s baseball program was one of the best in the country. From 1994-1997, Delaware won over 40 games every season while Dave was there. He ended his career with double-digit wins, including a sparkling senior season when he went 8-3 on the mound. The team was nationally-ranked many weeks in the Top 25. Perhaps Dave’s finest achievements during these seasons was his consistent placement on the Academic Dean’s List. Dave was able to maintain exemplary grades while playing a vigorous schedule with 6-7 games per week. While his classmates had plenty of time to study, play video games, and socialize, Dave went from classroom to weight room to practice to library with no time to ever spare. It was these experiences that Dave credits as the foundation for the lawyer and business-owner that he has become today. Intangibles of hard work, dedication, time management, being a team player, and managing pressure scenarios were developed through these valuable life experiences. Following college, Dave reluctantly hung up his spikes and attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. While in law school, Dave took a course in Workers’ Compensation Law and earned an “A” in the class. This was his first exposure to this line of law and it instantly intrigued him. Dave graduated from Pitt in 2000 and immediately passed the Pennsylvania Bar Examination. Following his success of the Pennsylvania Bar Examination, he was hired that fall by a large, reputable insurance defense firm and was conveniently placed in their workers’ compensation defense department. He defended workers’ compensation cases on behalf of local employers and insurance carriers. Dave cut his teeth in this area of law and began to learn the nuances of the laws. Dave still credits this four-year experience at a defense firm as giving him the unique ability to “understand how the other side thinks.” Dave’s talents were recognized quickly and law firms that represented injured workers began to approach him about changing sides. In 2004, Dave joined a large firm that represented injured workers. Dave had already developed the perfect skill set to represent injured Pennsylvanians. He had a meteoric rise at this Firm and became one of the youngest (if not the youngest) partners in the Firm’s history. However, he ultimately decided the best path forward would be to start his own Firm, where his visions and strategies for representing injured workers could be best put on display. The Firm, Stern & Cohen, got its start in late December 2019 with an official launch date of January 1, 2020. Under Dave’s management, Stern & Cohen has grown at a rapid rate. The Firm moved into new office space in the summer of 2023. Dave has personally hired every lawyer and staff member and is exceptionally proud of the Team that has been built. Dave has mentored dozens of workers’ compensation lawyers over the years. Without hesitation, however, he has the utmost confidence that the Stern & Cohen legal team is the best he has ever built and mentored. Dave’s excellence in the legal industry has been recognized time and time again. Dave frequently gets calls from clients directed to him by defense attorneys, claims representatives and former judges. The fact that these individuals want their family member or friend to be represented by Dave speaks to his reputation in the field. All the various publications have showered Dave with awards over the years. Dave has been selected a Super Lawyer® nearly every year for two decades, including most recently in 2024. On multiple occasions, based on the results of voting of his peers, that publication listed him amongst the Top 100 Lawyers in both Pennsylvania and Philadelphia – a rare recognition for a claimants’ workers’ compensation lawyer. Dave has been chosen to the Best Lawyers® list every year for almost a decade. In 2019, he was awarded The Philadelphia Business Journal ‘Best of the Bar’® distinction – the only workers’ compensation attorney rewarded this prestigious recognition. He was also identified as one of the Top 100 Civil Plaintiff Trial Lawyers in Pennsylvania by The National Trial Lawyers Top 100®. Dave has authored numerous published articles in the area of workers’ compensation law and has been a frequent lecturer in the field. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Workers’ Compensation Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Dave is on the Board of Governers for the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers’ Association and has previously served leadership roles for the Pennsylvania Association For Justice. Dave is also part of the Workers Injury Law Advocacy Group (WILG). For years, Dave has taken on pro bono cases for the Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program (Philly VIP) and was enrolled numerous years in the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania Pro Bono Roll of Honor and was previously recognized as Philly VIP’s Volunteer of the Month.

Andrew F. Ruder earned a B.S. degree from Towson University in 2007 and went on to receive his J.D. from Rutgers School of Law in Camden in May of 2012. While in law school, Andrew was a member of the Rutgers Law Journal. His comment, “The Use of Risk Assessment Tools in Formulating Individualized Sentencing Programs,” will be published in the next volume. Additionally, Andrew participated in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistant Project. In the summer of 2010, Andrew interned with the Honorable Mitchell S. Goldberg in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and also with the Honorable Shelley Robins New in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Andrew served as a law clerk for a small firm in New Jersey as well as for a mediation company under Judge James D. Clyne. He joined Pond Lehocky in September 2012 to practice in the area of Workers’ Compensation. Andrew is admitted to practice law in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Tech2Educate, a non-profit that raises money to provide new technology to charter schools in the Philadelphia area. Most recently, he co-authored an article with Samuel H. Pond entitled “AMA’s Approach to Impairment Rating Evaluations is Unconstitutional” published in The Legal Intelligencer. Andrew was also featured as a contributing writer in the Spring 2013 edition of New Jersey Chiropractor, a quarterly publication distributed by the Association of New Jersey Chiropractors.