Coughlin & Gerhart expands Pennsylvania presence

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Southern Tier law firm Coughlin & Gerhart, LLP has expanded its presence into the Keystone State with a new office in Honesdale, located in Pennsylvania’s Wayne County. Zachary Morahan, partner, and Jeremy Yzeik, associate — both natives of Wayne County — work from the new office. Morahan is the location’s lead attorney. “We recognized Honesdale is a growing legal town with a high demand,” Morahan tells CNYBJ in an interview. “Honestly, it’s just a cool town. We wanted to be a part of that, and we want to build upon it.”

As someone who grew up in the area and already had some established relationships there, he is the one who brought the idea for a Honesdale office to Rachel Abbott, managing partner of Coughlin & Gerhart. “It made a lot of sense,” Abbott says of the new location. The office, at 916 Church St., opened on Feb, 10 and helped close the gap in legal services for the surrounding community. “Our business model is really looking at some of the more small town, rural areas and recognizing there’s a need there.” As more older attorneys retire and fewer younger lawyers open new practices to take their place, many communities are left without nearby legal services, she notes. Opening an office in Honesdale, a borough (town) with a population of nearly 4,500, fills that void in service and benefits Coughlin & Gerhart’s existing clients, Abbott adds. “We have clients that do business … that cross over the border quite a bit,” she says, and it just makes sense for the law firm to grow its presence, as well as its expertise, in Pennsylvania. The firm has already hired three Pennsylvania attorneys in recent months and will be adding a fourth lawyer later this year, Morahan adds. He views the firm’s presence as complementary, not competitive to attorneys who may still be practicing in the area, due to the depth of services Coughlin & Gerhart can provide. Those legal services are likely beyond the scope of what a single attorney can offer, he says, and Coughlin & Gerhart is happy to extend those services to the community with the firm’s full roster of more than 55 attorneys. “It gives us the opportunity to tackle the bigger stuff and gives clients the ability to keep legal services local,” he says. Coughlin & Gerhart’s Honesdale office has a general practice flavor, with a few areas of expertise including trusts and estate, business, real estate, banking, and litigation services. Morahan is also experienced in the energy industry, having started his career representing landowners in oil and gas leases. Abbott says the practice will expand to include the wind and solar industries growing in Pennsylvania, with a particular interest in representing agricultural clients considering such leases. “We have some depth in that,” Abbott says. “Those leases are complex. They really impact the usage of your own land.” Headquartered at 99 Corporate Drive in the town of Kirkwood, Coughlin & Gerhart has additional offices in Bainbridge, Cortland, Hancock, Ithaca, Owego, and Walton, N.Y. as well as Montrose and Honesdale, Pennsylvania.