Butler Buchanan, III

Butler (Buck) Buchanan, III provides significant contributions to the leadership of the firm through his multiple roles as Managing Attorney of the Philadelphia office, Attorney Hiring Chair and Chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee.  His years of experience in law practice and involvement and activity in numerous professional, industry and civic organizations provide the backdrop for his ability to successfully juggle these multiple positions.

As Managing Attorney, Buck oversees the operations, functions and initiatives of the firm's 130-attorney Philadelphia office.  In his additional role as Attorney Hiring Chair, he is responsible for the recruitment and hiring of attorneys who join the firm. He also chairs the firm's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee where he is charged, along with his colleagues, with ensuring that the firm's deep commitment to equal opportunity employment and advancement is brought to fruition.

Buck is a former Bucks County Deputy District Attorney, and he was engaged in private practice with a defense litigation firm before joining Marshall Dennehey's Professional Liability Department in 1999.  In that capacity, he devoted a significant portion of his law practice to the defense of insurance agents and brokers, securities dealers and attorneys.  He also handled environmental and insurance coverage matters, in addition to generic insurance defense work.

He was promoted to Hiring Chair in 2003 and to lead the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee in 2009. During his tenure with the firm, he has also served two terms on Marshall Dennehey's Board of Directors.

In addition to his various duties for the firm, Buck is active in a number of legal and insurance organizations. He is currently a member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association. He is active in the Philadelphia Bar Association, where he has served as co-chair of the State-Civil Litigation Committee and as a member of the Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention. He is currently co-chair of the Large Law Firm Management Committee. He is a current member and a past-president of the Philadelphia Association of Defense Counsel and serves on the Board of Directors of the Insurance Society of Philadelphia. He is additionally a member of the Pennsylvania Defense Institute and the Defense Research Institute, where he has served on its Board of Directors.

Buck graduated from Millersville University, cum laude, in 1976 and earned his J.D. from the Duquesne University School of Law in 1979. Devoted to community and civic affairs, he is a former member of the Advisory Board of the Sisters of Saint Joseph Welcome Center and a former member of the Board of Directors of Mercy Vocational High School.