The Partners

David H. Weinstein
Robert S. Kitchenoff
Steven A. Asher
Mindee J. Reuben

The Associates

Andrea L. Wilson
Jeremy S. Spiegel

Mr. Weinstein is the Firm’s senior partner.  He concentrates his practice in litigating complex commercial matters.

Since 1972, Mr. Weinstein has represented clients charging some of the nation’s largest companies with violating the antitrust, commodities, consumer protection, retirement, R.I.C.O., and securities, laws.  He has been involved in litigation in such varied fields and industries as accounting, cattle, computers, copper, electronic components, healthcare, insurance, law firms, milk, motion pictures, oil and gas, propane, retirement plans, and refuse hauling and recycling.

Among other current matters, Mr. Weinstein is court-appointed interim co-lead counsel for a class of Jewish survivors and the estates and heirs of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust in Hungary.  The case asserts various claims, including arising from crimes against humanity, against the Republic of Hungary and the Hungarian National Railways.  He is also co-lead counsel in an antitrust class action involving manipulation of the propane market in which the court has given final approval of a $50 million settlement.

Mr. Weinstein has previously participated in a number of noteworthy matters during his career.  By way of example, Mr. Weinstein successfully prosecuted a class action for homeowners nationwide whose homes contained polybutylene plumbing.  As co-lead counsel in the case, Mr. Weinstein achieved an innovative settlement that, over a 15 year period, replaced defective plumbing in approximately 340,000 homes in the United States at a cost of over $1.1 billion, one of the largest property-damage class-action settlements in history.  He also served on the steering committee of attorneys who recovered over $700 million for retail pharmacies in a class action charging major manufacturers and wholesalers of brand name prescription drugs with conspiring not to offer discounts to retail pharmacies.  On a pro bono basis, he was court appointed sole lead counsel in complex coordinated immigration proceedings concerning over 100 refugees seeking asylum in the U.S.  

Outside the courtroom, Mr. Weinstein has served on the board of directors of various law-related and other non-profit organizations, including the Public Justice Foundation, a national public interest legal foundation that strives to protect the liberties and rights of individuals often victimized in our society.  He has served as co-chair of the Professional Guidance Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association, and he is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a national professional society dedicated to the simplification and improvement of American law.  Mr. Weinstein is a member of the Committee to Save the Antitrust Laws and has lectured on various topics in courses for practicing lawyers and at the college level.  In addition, Mr. Weinstein is currently a member of the Board of Governors of Gratz College.

Mr. Weinstein earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.  Before entering private practice, he served as law clerk for two different judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  He is a member of the Pennsylvania and California bars, and has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, and various federal district courts and courts of appeals.

Mr. Kitchenoff, a founding member of Weinstein Kitchenoff & Asher LLC, concentrates his practice in the prosecution of antitrust, consumer fraud, securities fraud, and ERISA class actions as well as False Claims Act (whistleblower), shareholder derivative, and other complex civil matters.

Mr. Kitchenoff has been involved in the litigation of numerous precedent-setting antitrust actions including, among others, In re Copper Antitrust Litigation, MDL Docket 1303 (co-lead counsel); Brand Name Prescription Drugs Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 997 (N.D. Ill.) (plaintiffs’ steering committee); In Re: Payment Card Interchange Fee & Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, MDL Docket 1720 (plaintiffs’ steering committee), In re Pressure Sensitive Labelstock Antitrust Litigation, MDL Docket 1556 (discovery team); and Rolite, Inc. v. Wheelabrator Technologies, Inc. Civil Action No. 94-CV-5894 (E.D. Pa.).

In the area of consumer-oriented litigation, Mr. Kitchenoff has successfully represented a nationwide class of mortgagors who were improperly assessed late fees on timely received mortgage loan payments (Keller v. First Union Corporation), a class of homeowners who were led to believe, by the builder of their homes, that they were receiving "thermal break" windows that were "as good as an Andersen©.” (Frazier v. Weyerhauser), and a class of owners of homes and buildings throughout the United States which contain defective polybutylene plumbing systems (Tina Cox, et al. v. Shell Oil Co., et al.), among others. The settlement of the Cox litigation, believed to be one of the largest property damage class action settlements in history, having provided more than $1 billion to qualifying homeowners for repairs to their plumbing systems or complete replumbing of their homes and reimbursement for property damage at 100 cents on the dollar.

Mr. Kitchenoff frequently represents doctors and other medical providers in litigation against insurance companies who fail to properly reimburse them for services rendered and medical equipment supplied.

Mr. Kitchenoff has been active in the legal community in pro bono and educational activities. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of COSAL (the Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws), and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Class Action Law Monitor. He is a member of the Class Action and Derivative Suits Committee of the American Bar Association, and the Cy Pres Committee and Antitrust Committees of the Philadelphia Bar Association. He has been a course planner and lecturer on class actions for numerous providers of continuing legal education. He has been honored with the Public Justice Achievement Award by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, a respected Washington, D.C. public interest foundation, for his work on the Polybutylene Pipes case, and by the American Immigration Lawyers Association with its Human Rights Award as a member of the Asian American/“Golden Venture” Pro Bono Advocacy Team, representing Chinese aliens on a pro bono basis seeking asylum in the United States based upon their opposition to China’s one child per couple population control policy. He has been named one of Pennsylvania’s Super Lawyers®, an honor bestowed upon only 5% of Pennsylvania attorneys, and has been accorded an AV Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review rating.

Mr. Kitchenoff is also active in the broader community, most recently having served as President of Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El, an 800 family synagogue located in suburban Philadelphia, and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Philadelphia Region of the Jewish National Fund and as co-chair of its Chai Fund Committee.

Mr. Kitchenoff is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh (B.A. 1981), and the Rutgers University School of Law (J.D. 1986). Prior to entering private practice, he served as law clerk to the Honorable Madaline Palladino of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Steven A. Asher is a founding member of Weinstein Kitchenoff & Asher LLC and concentrates his practice in class action antitrust litigation.

Mr. Asher has served as co-lead counsel for plaintiffs in many of the most significant and successful antitrust class actions in the last 20 years. Mr. Asher has been listed in Best Lawyers in America each year since 2006, is perennially listed in Pennsylvania SuperLawyers and has been listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers. Chambers has noted that Mr. Asher is “highly knowledgeable and experienced” and has “garnered peer approval for his ‘tough, aggressive’ approach, which often results in multimillion dollar settlements.”

Within the last two years he has been appointed co-lead counsel by Judge Zagel in In Re BP Propane Antitrust Litigation (ND Ill. MDL No. 1946), in which a settlement in excess of $50 million was recovered on behalf of the plaintiff class, and interim co-lead counsel by Judge Pratter in In Re Processed Eggs Products Antitrust Litigation (E.D. Pa. MDL No. 2002) in which an interim settlement in the amount of $25 million has been preliminarily approved.

Mr. Asher’s conduct as co-lead counsel has recently been commended by two district courts. In In re Electrical Carbon Products Antitrust Litigation, where Mr. Asher was one of the lead counsel, Judge Simandle of the District of New Jersey stated:

Class Counsel . . . demonstrated the skills and effectiveness which come from seasoning and experience in class action litigation, and more particularly in antitrust litigation.  In this case, the Court observed Class Counsel closely and found them to be well-prepared, knowledgeable, industrious, fair with opposing counsel, and unfailingly candid with the Court . . . In short, Class Counsel’s skills and effectiveness in preparing, litigating, strategizing, and successfully resolving the case with a fair settlement were of the highest order of professionalism. 

In In re Polyester Staple Antitrust Litigation, where Mr. Asher was also one of the lead counsel, Chief Judge Voorhees of the Western District of North Carolina stated:

[T]he competency of Plaintiffs' counsel, as well as counsel's ability to handle a complex class action is evident. Class Counsel, who have appeared before the Court on numerous occasions during the course of the litigation, have been exceptionally well-prepared on each occasion and demonstrated a mastery of both antitrust and class action jurisprudence. Plaintiffs' counsel have vigorously prosecuted this action and will undoubtedly continue to do so upon certification.

Mr. Asher has served as co-lead counsel for plaintiffs in the following other successful antitrust cases:

• In re Graphite Electrodes Antitrust Litigation (E.D. Pa.) – Recovery in excess of $100 million;
• In re Citric Acid Antitrust (N.D. Cal.) – Recovery in excess of $90 million;
• In re Sorbates Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation (N.D. Cal.) – Recovery in excess of $80 million;
• In re Flat Glass Antitrust Litigation (W.D. Pa.) – Recovery in excess of $60 million;
• In re Polyester Staple Antitrust Litigation (W.D. N.C.) – Recovery in excess of $50 million;
• In re Chlorine and Caustic Soda Antitrust Litigation (E.D. Pa.) – Recovery in excess of $50 million;
• In re Commercial Waste Haulers (E.D. Pa.) – Recovery in excess of $50 million; In re Electrical Carbon Products Antitrust Litigation (DNJ) – Recovery in excess of $16 million;
• In re Residential Doors Antitrust Litigation (E.D. Pa.) – Recovery in excess of $14 million;
• In re NY State Beer Antitrust Litigation (E.D.N.Y.) – Recovery in excess of $14 million;
• In re Sodium Gluconate antitrust Litigation (N.D. Cal.) – Recovery in excess of $8 million;
• In re Cotton Yarn Antitrust Litigation (MDNC) – Recovery in excess of $7 million;
• In re Plastic Cutlery Antitrust Litigation (E.D. Pa.) – Recovery in excess of $3 million; and
• In re Tampico Fiber Antitrust Litigation (E.D. Pa.) – Recovery in excess of $1 million;

Mr. Asher is a former chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association Antitrust Law Committee, and has lectured for several years on antitrust litigation for the Department of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Asher has also lectured on class action and antitrust topics at CLE seminars throughout the country.

Mr. Asher has served on the boards of Akiba Hebrew Academy and Perelman Jewish Day School, is co-chair of the annual Philadelphia Jewish Law Day event, and is a rowing member of Bachelors Barge Club.

Mr. Asher graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1969 with a B.A. in philosophy, and received a J.D. from NYU School of Law in 1973 where he was an Editor of the Law Review and winner of the Edmond Cahn award given annually to the outstanding Law Review editor.

Ms. Reuben is a partner in the Firm. 

Ms. Reuben’s practice is focused on antitrust and consumer class action matters.  Super Lawyers and Philadelphia Magazine have repeatedly named Ms. Reuben one of Pennsylvania’s “Super Lawyers” in the field of antitrust (and previously named her as one of Pennsylvania’s “Rising Stars” in the field of antitrust for several years running, an honor bestowed on only 2.5% of Pennsylvania lawyers under 40).

She is significantly involved in several plaintiff class action antitrust matters in which the Firm has been appointed co-lead counsel, such as In re: Processed Egg Products Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 2002 (E.D. Pa.), and In re Sulfuric Acid Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1536 (N.D. Ill.).  She is a member of the Executive Committee in In re: Polyurethane Foam Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 2196 (N.D. Ohio).  She also works on a number of other antitrust cases.  

Ms. Reuben was co-lead counsel in Stone v. Stewart Title Guaranty Co., Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, June Term, 2006, No. 2003 (consolidated under Cummings v. Stewart Title Guaranty Co., et al., Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, March Term, 2005, No. 747) (Glazer, J.), where a settlement in the amount of $4.5 million dollars was approved.   At the final approval hearing, the Court noted that “counsel really did an extraordinary job.”

Ms. Reuben also heads a team of attorneys in the consumer class action matter of Elkouby v. Budget Rent A Car System, Inc., Superior Court of New Jersey, Morris County, No. L-2411-08 (Dumont, J.).  There, plaintiffs are seeking certification of a class of consumers who were charged in excess of the rate confirmed at the time of reservation. 

Professionally, Ms. Reuben is actively involved with the Philadelphia Bar Association.  Currently, she is Chair of the Association’s Women’s Rights Committee, and a member of the Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention, the Public Interest Executive Committee, and the Women in the Profession Committee.  She is also a founding member of Women Antitrust Plaintiffs’ Attorneys, a national organization.  Ms. Reuben has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the James E. Beasley School of Law of Temple University, as a contributing author to comprehensive legal publications, and as a CLE speaker on a variety of subjects including ethics and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.  She is also a mentor for 1L students at Temple University School of Law through its Women’s Law Caucus.

Ms. Reuben attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, on a National Merit Scholarship and graduated in 1989 with a B.A. in both English and Political Science.  She pursued a joint degree program at the University of Pittsburgh, and received her J.D. from the School of Law, which she attended on a Dean’s Merit Scholarship, and her Master of Public Administration from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs in 1993. Following graduation from the University of Pittsburgh, Ms. Reuben served as a law clerk for the Honorable Frank J. Montemuro, Senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Leila E. Ely
ely@wka-law.com

Leila E. Ely focuses her practice on commercial class action litigation and antitrust. She is a member of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey bars, and is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Ms. Ely is also a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association.

Ms. Ely is currently involved in the litigation of several commercial class actions alleging violations of Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation Act by workers’ compensation insurers. She is also involved in the firm’s litigation of In Re: Photochromic Lenses, a multi-district class action alleging antitrust violations in the photochromic lens industry, in addition to litigation of other antitrust matters.

Ms. Ely graduated magna cum laude from Villanova University School of Law in 2009. While in law school, she clerked for the Honorable John T.J. Kelly, Jr. of the Pennsylvania Superior Court, and for the Third Circuit’s Appellate Mediation Program. Ms. Ely was also a staff writer and associate editor for the Villanova Law Review. In her final year of law school, she represented low-income tax payers in disputes with the IRS through the Villanova Federal Tax Clinic, and assisted Professor Joy Sabino Mullane in her writing on executive compensation issues. Prior to law school, Ms. Ely received her B.A. in Journalism magna cum laude from Temple University.

Andrea L. Wilson focuses her practice on complex litigation matters, particularly consumer and antitrust class actions and commercial litigation.  Ms. Wilson also has significant experience in securities and ERISA class litigation.

Throughout her years as a lawyer, Ms. Wilson has participated in multi-firm litigation committees to manage litigation for complex litigation and to develop and manage litigation support systems for large complex class actions.  In addition, Ms. Wilson is highly regarded in the class action arena for her electronic discovery management skills, and is often sought out for guidance and participation on such matters.   

Ms. Wilson is also certified as a FINRA Dispute Resolution Arbitrator.  FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is the largest independent regulator for securities firms operating in the United States. 

Ms. Wilson is a member of the bars of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She is admitted to practice in the Third Circuit, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the District of New Jersey. Ms. Wilson received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Management Information Systems from California State University in 1989 and her J.D. from Temple University School of Law in 1994.  She is presently pursuing her L.L.M. in taxation from Temple University. 

Jeremy S. Spiegel focuses his practice on antitrust and consumer class action litigation. 

Mr. Spiegel is currently involved in the litigation of the following matters:

• In re Egg Products Antitrust Litig., MDL No. 2002, E.D. Pa. – The Firm is co-lead and liaison counsel in this litigation and represents direct purchasers of shell eggs and egg products in antitrust class action alleging a supply reduction conspiracy.
  
  
• In re Airline Baggage Fee Antitrust Litig., MDL No. 2089, N.D. Ga. – This antitrust class action alleges collusion by Delta and AirTran to impose fee on first checked bag.
  
  
• In re Student-Athlete Name & Likeness Licensing Litig., N.D. Cal. – The Firm has, on behalf of former NCAA football players, instituted suit against Electronic Arts, the NCAA and its licensing arm alleging misappropriation of likeness for use of players’ likenesses in video games without consent or compensation.
  
  
• Saltzman v. Independence Blue Cross – The Firm represents insurance plan subscribers in a lawsuit alleging that the insurers improperly removed Plavix from the prescription drug formulary and thereby required subscribers to pay a higher co-pay.

Mr. Spiegel also supervises the Penn Law Homeless Advocacy Clinic, where he works with law students in assisting indigent Philadelphians with civil legal matters.  He is also a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association.

Mr. Spiegel received his B.A. in economics cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and spent one year studying at the London School of Economics.  He received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2007, where he served as an Articles Editor for the Journal of Constitutional Law and led Penn Advocates for the Homeless.  Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Spiegel clerked for the Honorable Stephen Skillman, Presiding Judge of the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division.  He is admitted to the Pennsylvania and New Jersey state bars.