It’s Tax Time

A couple of Tax Tidbits have come our way, so we’ll pass them on to you.

• The deadline for filing your 2010 personal tax return has been extended this year from April 15 to April 18. Why? because Washington is celebrating something called Emancipation Day on the 15th. It’s not a national Holiday, but the IRS decided to give everyone a little more time for filing their individual and partnership returns, making their 2010 IRA contributions, the April 2011 estimate payments and other deadlines usually falling on the 15th.
• You can buy US Savings Bonds with your tax refund if you want, and not just for yourself. You can purchase bonds for up to two other individuals, and receive the difference from your purchase in a paper check. Use Form 8888.

Here’s hoping you get a big refund this year.

The Conspirator

Everyone knows who Robert Redford is.  Famous award winning actor and director.

He has directed a new movie, opening in theaters on April 15, called The Conspirator. The American Bar Association sent me an email as a member who might be interested in seeing the movie. I was taken aback a bit, as I’ve never been solicited by the ABA to see a movie. Sell me law books, sign me up for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminars, notify me of current legislation affecting lawyers, yes. But never have they pushed a movie on me.

Until now. Why?

The Conspirator is a movie about the legal defense of Mary Surratt, the only woman arrested and tried for the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Here’s the movie blurb about the film.

In the wake of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt (Wright) owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell) and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, newly-minted lawyer, Frederick Aiken (McAvoy), a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal. Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt, her own son, John (Johnny Simmons). As the nation turns against her, Surratt is forced to rely on Aiken to uncover the truth and save her life.

You can also view the trailer here.

OK. This looks interesting. As a history buff, and a lawyer, it might be fascinating to see a movie from this angle on the Assassination of Old Abe;  the trial of one of the alleged conspirators, the only woman, and (dare I give it away) one who was hanged for the crime. The trailer implies that she might have been innocent of the crime she was charged with – conspiring to assassinate the President, and may have been made a scapegoat at a time when the nation needed someone to blame.

The legal implications of such a plot explain a little better why the ABA is endorsing the movie. I wondered if they financially backed it too? Apparently not.

The ABA has no formal involvement with the film, but Levitt said the producers see lawyers as part of its core audience, and bringing attention to important legal issues is part of the ABA’s larger mission.

Hollywood has a nasty habit of playing fast and loose with history, which is often molded a bit to fit the dramatic requirements of the entertainment side of the film equation. But, still, it’s an overlooked area of our national history, and its themes echo some the  issues we have had to deal with in the present day. Does justice give way when national security is at stake? Can the country lose its collective objectivity when the emotion of the moment takes over? And do innocent people get hurt in the process?

All questions that make this movie  possibly worth seeing.

John W. Purcell

30 Top Law Firms

Click for larger image

A few months ago Purcell, Krug and Haller received a citation from the US News and World Report that listed it as one of the Best Law Firms in the country, in the area of “Bankruptcy and creditor/debtor rights/ insolvency and reorganization law”.  A copy of the article in the Patriot News is attached, and you can click on it to read the whole article.

Of course, we’re proud to be listed with such highly regarded company, but we’re not surprised. We know we should be on that list.

Two attorneys here, Leon P. Haller and Lisa Rynard, emphasize Bankruptcy in their respective practices. Lee Haller is also one of the standing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustees for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Welcome to Purcell, Krug & Haller

This is our initial foray into blogging, and to start things off we’d like all readers and visitors to our website to know a little about this firm we call home.

We harken back to the 1950s, when John Purcell came to Harrisburg, and looking for a job  that matched his law degree, he joined up with established lawyers Herbert O. Shaeffer and Tom Lane. It was in 1953 that he hung up his shingle in the Blackstone Building in Harrisburg, PA. He eventually became partners with Mr. Shaeffer, with firms names changing with the addition and subtraction of lawyers, and the death of Mr. Shaeffer in 1962. Iterations of the firm name include

• Shaeffer Purcell and Clouser
• Shaeffer Purcell and Nissley
• Purcell and Nissley and
• Purcell, Nissley, Krug and Haller

after the additions of current partners Howard B. Krug and Leon P. Haller.  It was finally changed to its current form after the death of Joseph Nissley in 1982. Subsequent partners John W. Purcell Jr. and Jill Wineka joined the firm in 1979 and 1988 respectively. Lisa Rynard rounds out the firm.

Originally we operated out of the first floor office (present home of Greystone Bank) in what was then known as the Blackstone Building but is now called the Dauphin County Veterans Memorial Building. Since 1978 we’ve been located at 1719 North Front Street, Harrisburg, and in 1993 we acquired the building behind us at 1718 N. Second Street. Since then the firm has worked out of both buildings, with lawyers and staff in each.

You can see on our About page a little of our strengths and expertise. We’ve always serviced the Central Pennsylvania area, including Dauphin, Cumberland, Lebanon, York and Perry counties. Indeed, parts of our practice take us to all 66 counties, as we are licensed to practice throughout the state of Pennsylvania.

Of course, you can visit us on our website and on our Family Law website.

Bookmark this site and come back often. We plan on updating it frequently with information that may be helpful to you, including recent court decisions, changes in the law, and other events.