Scott G. Dunlop

Scott devotes his practice to the defense of local governments, their elected and appointed officials and their employees. He represents public entities in cases arising under the federal civil rights statutes and Pennsylvania's Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act, including: zoning and land use regulation disputes, employment discrimination and personnel retaliation claims, law enforcement liability suits, school student discipline and education disputes, and personal injury actions arising out of alleged dangerous conditions of publicly maintained instrumentalities.

Scott has been a defense litigator since 1985, representing public sector defendants and their insurance carriers in hundreds of cases in the state and federal courts of Pennsylvania. He counsels counties, cities, townships, boroughs, municipal authorities, transportation authorities and regionalized police departments throughout western Pennsylvania. Scott provides formal presentations to insurance organizations and public entity associations on topics related to governmental risk management and the effective defense of claims brought against public entities.

In addition to his three decades of litigation experience in western Pennsylvania, Scott provides his clients with a unique focus on managing the legal, political and public relations challenges faced by local governments in defending the liability claims brought against them.

A native of the Pittsburgh area, Scott joined Marshall Dennehey at the inception of its Pittsburgh office in the summer of 1993. He became a shareholder in the firm in 1994 and has served as the managing attorney of the Pittsburgh office since 1995. He served two terms as a member of the firm's Board of Directors beginning in 2004. In 2005, the publishers of Law & Politics and Philadelphia Magazine identified Scott as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer in the field of civil rights litigation.

After receiving undergraduate degrees in history and business management from West Virginia University in 1981, Scott earned his juris doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1984. He served as law clerk to the late Judge John F. Rauhauser, Jr. of the York County, Pennsylvania, Court of Common Pleas. He then returned to Pittsburgh to work as an associate for a general practice firm, where he began his practice in the area of federal civil rights defense in 1985. In 1988, he became associated with another Pittsburgh defense litigation firm where he devoted his practice entirely to defense litigation prior to joining Marshall Dennehey in 1993.

Honors & awards

Pennsylvania Super Lawyer
2005

Whos Who in American Law

Year joined

1993

Thought Leadership

Significant Amendments to Pennsylvania’s Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act

Pittsburgh
Public Entity and Civil Rights Litigation
School Leaders Liability
Social Services & Human Services Liability
February 1, 2020
On November 26, 2019, Governor Tom Wolf signed into law HB 962, an act of the legislature which may have far-reaching impact upon the tort liab

Classes/Seminars Taught

Local Government Immunity in Pennsylvania, Client Seminar, October 2018

Litigation Ramifications of Bullying in School, School Claims Services LLC, December, 12, 2014

Employment Claims Under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, Pennsylvania Bar Institute's Employment Law Institute West, Pittsburgh, 2006

Road Risk: Sources of Liability Arising from Highway Design and Maintenance, Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, Pittsburgh, Meadville, and Harrisburg, 2004

Federalization of Land Use, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Pittsburgh 2002

Writing and Revising Student Handbooks and Other Related School Issues in Pennsylvania, Lorman Education Services, Pittsburgh 2002