HARRISBURG (April 27, 2011) - Steven E. "Tim" Riley Jr., a founding shareholder in the Erie law firm of Conner Riley Friedman & Weichler, will begin a three-year term on the Pennsylvania Bar Association Board of Governors at the close of the organization's Annual Meeting May 6 in Philadelphia.

One of 12 zone governors, Riley will represent Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, McKean, Venango and Warren county lawyers. His term will expire in 2014.

Riley serves as vice-chair of the PBA Judicial Evaluation Commission, which interviews and rates candidates for the state appellate judiciary. A member of the PBA House of Delegates, Riley is a past member of the PBA Constitutional Review Commission and the Judicial Administration, Planning and Quality of Life/Balance committees.

He is a past president of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation and is a member of the Foundation's Keystone Society. He received a PBA President's Award in 2005 for his leadership of the Foundation.

Riley is a past president of the Erie County Bar Association. He also is a past president of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice and the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association. He is a member of the board of governors of the American Association for Justice and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, serving on its State and Federal Civil Procedures committees. He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Melvin S. Belli Society, a member of the American and Federal bar associations, and a master in the northwest Pennsylvania chapter of the American Inns of Court.

Riley served as a chairman of Hearing Panel 4.06 of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He is an author and frequent lecturer for the Pennsylvania Association for Justice and the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. He is listed in the Best Lawyers in America and has been selected annually since 2005 as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer by Law & Politics and Philadelphia Magazine.

He is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and received his juris doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Founded in 1895, the Pennsylvania Bar Association strives to promote justice, professional excellence and respect for the law; improve public understanding of the legal system; facilitate access to legal services; and serve the 28,000 lawyers who are members of the association.