HARRISBURG (May 1999) -- Michael Reed, a partner in the Philadelphia law firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP, was elected chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association House of Delegates during the organization�s Annual Meeting held this month in Philadelphia. He is the first African-American lawyer to preside over the policy-making body of the PBA.

An active member of the American and Pennsylvania bar associations, Reed served as chair of the PBA Minority Bar Committee, as a member of the PBA Board of Governors and House of Delegates and as chair of numerous ABA committees. He also has published articles and presented seminars throughout the country on bankruptcy law.

Reed has been appointed by Pennsylvania courts to various committees and boards, including the Pennsylvania Judicial Inquiry and Review Board and the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He also served as a member of the Local Bankruptcy Rules Advisory Committee of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Reed is involved in the Philadelphia community serving on the boards of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Episcopal Hospital, Friends of Logan Square and the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia. He was a member of the Educational Nominating Panel for the City of Philadelphia and a co-advisor for the Philadelphia Law Explorers Post of The Boy Scouts of America.

Reed is a graduate of Temple University and Yale Law School.