MARALEEN 
SHIELDS

After amassing nearly a decade of medical malpractice defense and risk management 
litigation experience, Maraleen D. Shields joined the Firm in 2014. She works to understand 
her client’s case, expectations, and needs. She recognizes the importance of exploring all 
options to achieve a favorable result whether it be through mediation, arbitration, or trial. 
Her clients have come to know her for her responsiveness and candor.

She is a shareholder of the Firm’s Litigation & Trial Practice and Healthcare Groups. As a 
member of the Firm’s Litigation & Trial Practice Group, she has handled a wide array of 
matters including healthcare business disputes, municipal liability, class action litigation, 
personal injury matters, contract disputes and general complex litigation. She handles all 
phases of litigation and appellate practice. As a member of the Firm’s Healthcare Group, 
her practice focuses on peer review and credentialing matters, licensing and professional 
board disputes, Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA), Health Insurance 
Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology 
and Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) compliance, the OIG exclusion program, 
and risk mitigation and event management. She prepares medical staff bylaws, rules and 
regulations, and policies for hospitals and other healthcare facilities in compliance with 
applicable laws, regulations, and accreditation standards. She represents healthcare 
professionals engaged in the fair hearing and appellate review process, contract disputes 
and before state licensing boards. She is a frequent speaker regarding diversity, equity and 
inclusion, litigation, and healthcare matters.

Active in the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA), Ms. Shields serves as Chair of the 
Minority Bar Committee’s Rising Star Program Subcommittee, Co-Chair of the Women 
in the Profession Commission’s Diversity Committee, and Co-Chair of the Health 
Care Committee. In 2016, she was invited to serve on the PBA’s Blue Ribbon Panel on 
Membership Engagement which focused on engagement of mothers, millennials, and 
minorities. For this work, she was honored with the PBA President’s Award in 2018. Ms. 
Shields was invited to join the PBA’s Joint Task Force on Continuity of Delivery of Legal 
Services, which is currently focused on creating recommendations to ensure continuity 
and consistency of legal services from one jurisdiction to another in response to the 
COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, she was honored to receive the prestigious Lynette Norton 
Award. This award recognizes a female attorney who excels in litigation and is devoted to 
the mentorship of women in the profession.

MORGAN 
BATHGATE

Ms. Shields is originally from the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA. Over the last nearly fifteen 
years, she has developed deep connections to the Lehigh Valley. She was the President 
of the Parents’ Association of Cetronia Elementary School, where her son is in the fifth 
grade. She was a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Hillside School; a member 
of the Board of Directors of Lehigh Valley Children’s Centers; and a Member of the 
Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council of Lehigh Valley Inter-regional Networking & 
Connecting (LINC). She was recently invited to participate in Parkland School District’s 
Equity and Inclusion Committee, which will guide the district in developing a sustainable 
Morgan Bathgate is a college student at Messiah University studying Psychology. She 
graduated in 2020 from Mechanicsburg Area Senior High where she also played water 
pathway towards equity, inclusion, cultural relevance/responsiveness, and social 
polo, swam competitively, played violin, maintained a 4.0 GPA and took six Advanced 
emotional learning.
Placement (AP) classes.

She currently resides in South Whitehall Township with her husband and their two 
She was diagnosed with Autism when she was 3 years old. Morgan likes to remind people 
children.
that she may think differently, learn differently and at times struggle to focus—but she 
embraces her extraordinary abilities. She is different—but not less.

Morgan describes herself as family oriented, artsy, techie, bookish, musical and 
adventurous. She loves nature, animals, video games and drawing.