Elected Member

Alfred W. Putnam

Philadelphia, PA
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Education
Harvard
University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Alfred W. Putnam is a partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. He is a trial and appellate litigator who served a 10-year term as Chairman of the firm from 2005 to 2015. He has won two different “million dollar” jury verdicts in federal commercial cases, and has tried cases not only in federal court but also in the Common Please courts and/or Orphans Courts of Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Northampton and York counties. He is also experienced in commercial arbitration proceedings. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Alfred is perhaps best known for his experience in the appellate process. A former law clerk to the Honorable Arlin M. Adams on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, he taught a course in appellate advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School for five years. He either handles or is consulted on many of the firm’s appellate matters and is often retained on appeals where the underlying case was tried by another counsel. His appellate briefs have resulted in the reversal of a number of multimillion dollar verdicts and have produced advantageous settlements in other cases even before the cases were argued and decided.

He has served as both president and chairman of the University of Pennsylvania Law School American Inn of Court. He has also been active in nonprofit health are in Southeastern Pennsylvania, serving as chairman of the Lankenau Hospital Foundation, a member of the board of governors of the Main line Health System and chairman of the board of the Jefferson Health system.

Education: Harvard University, A.B. summa cum laude; University of Oxford, B.A.; University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D.

 
Areas of Expertise
Trials (Litigation)
Appellate Litigation (Litigation)