Pennsylvania Litigation Lawyer & Attorney : Barley Snyder Law Firm : Serving Lancaster, Reading, York, Chambersburg

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Willis W. Berry, Jr. is a judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Philadelphia.  Judge Berry is running for a seat on your state Supreme Court.  So are Emanuel F. Wiggins-Hughes and Milford Pedigree Jenkins II, but you won't find their names listed on the ballot -- they are aliases adopted by Berry when he purchased certain apartment properties in Philadelphia.  Why aliases?  Well, Berry explains that he "put the properties in other names because he wanted to hide his assets in case he was sued." And that's just the tip of this iceberg.  Philly.com reports:

Using the phony names, Berry paid $14,500 for a building on West Venango Avenue, $3,000 for a run-down rowhouse on North 15th Street, and $1,500 for a dilapidated building on North Stiles Avenue.

Berry said he considered his transactions "straw" purchases. He said he had bought the properties while a struggling lawyer in private practice.

"I didn't have no malpractice insurance," he said. "Nobody sued me for nothing, [but] I was in private practice. We got by by the skin of our teeth."

Phillips said Berry's instinct was understandable but his method misguided.

While straw transactions are common, she said, "the problem is that the straw party didn't exist."

Okay, perhaps we can forgive Berry Wiggens-Hughes Pedigree Jenkins for concealing his identity.   After all, no one likes to have assets discovered in litigation.  And what of it, anyway.  It's not like he's a slumlord likely to be sued over the condition of his buildings or injuries they might cause.  What's that?  You don't say:

Some of Berry's apartments, where tenants have complained about mice and roaches, have a history of code violations. Others are worse - dilapidated, dangerous eyesores that residents say are a blight on their neighborhoods. Among them:

A four-story apartment building at 1435 Poplar St., which Berry bought from a city agency, promising to fix it up. Fourteen years later, it sits empty and crumbling, with pigeons roosting in its rafters and a pile of trash where its front steps used to be. After questions from The Inquirer, the city recently declared the building "imminently dangerous."

At Erie and Sydenham, mice dart about inside an empty rowhouse. Boards and plastic tarps cover some of its windows. The yard - used as a stash by drug dealers, neighbors say - is littered with debris, shards of glass, and a soiled diaper thrown against a fence.

On North 15th Street, a hollowed-out building owned by Berry sticks out in a row of freshly renovated homes. Its splintered front door is held in place with a chain threaded through a hole where the doorknob should be.

Neighbors weary of living beside the squalor of Berry's buildings say he has ignored their complaints.

Well, at least Judge Berry Wiggens-Hughes Pedigree Jenkins is an ethical slumlord.  What?  Uh-oh:

For years, Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Willis W. Berry Jr. has been using his judicial office and staff to help run his real estate business, according to interviews and copies of the judge's correspondence.

A leading expert on legal ethics - who happens to be an adviser to Berry's campaign for state Supreme Court - says that's wrong.

"Oh, boy," lawyer Samuel C. Stretton said when told of Berry's practices. "You can't do that.

*   *   *

According to records and interviews, Berry has been using his court staff to collect rent, make repairs, and process leases and other paperwork.

And other than that, he'd make a fine Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice.

Kudos to Nancy Phillips of Philly.com for a terrific series of investigative reports.  Simply brilliant work.  As for Berry Wiggens-Hughes Pedigree Jenkins, one can think of bars somewhat more fitting than that of the state Supreme Court.