Ira S. Lefton

Partner

Education

  • University of North Carolina School of Law, 1978, J.D., with honors, Served as Note and Comment Editor of the North Carolina Law Review
  • A year of academic study in England as a Rotary International Foundation Graduate Fellow
  • Yale University, 1974, B.A., cum laude, English

Court Admissions

  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Federal Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Fourth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Third Circuit
  • U.S. District Court - Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • U.S. District Court - Western District of Pennsylvania
  • U.S. District Court - District of Arizona
  • State Supreme Court - Pennsylvania

Ira is a member of the Commercial Litigation Group, with primary emphasis on commercial matters relating to real estate. He has a particularly extensive background in construction litigation, serving as lead counsel in Pennsylvania for all cases on behalf of the largest manufacturer of EIFS. His considerable experience focused on real estate-related litigation includes lease and zoning disputes, mortgage foreclosures and other financing disputes, deficiency proceedings, warranty disputes and other remedies of commercial lenders. Ira has also done considerable work in the product liability field involving pharmaceuticals and medical devices, engineered products, asbestos and mold.  He has handled antitrust litigation, contractual dispute litigation generally and numerous intellectual property litigations.

Employment History

  • 1978 - Reed Smith
    • Chair of Firmwide Pro Bono Committee

Professional Affiliations

  • Allegheny County Bar Association, Co-founder and past President of the Arts and Law Committee
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association

Interests

Ira serves as an officer of the Board of Directors of Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania and he has served on a number of Boards of arts-related and human services organizations in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.