Position: Associate

Jacob H. Kiessling

Jake is an attorney in the firm’s Business, Real Estate and Trusts & Estates practice groups with vast experience in the areas of business succession and transactions, real estate, and estate and trust matters.

In his business practice, Jake represents small business and farm clients, commercial real estate investors, medical and dental professionals, and other business clients. His representation includes a wide array of legal matters including business formation and operation and asset acquisition. Jake also represents clients in various real estate transactions ranging from purchases of preserved farmland to commercial and industrial properties.

Particularly, Jake has extensive experience successfully negotiating favorable solar and other alternative energy leases on behalf of landowners across Pennsylvania. He has presented seminars and podcasts regarding solar energy development and leasing practices for various organizations. As an invited panelist before the Pennsylvania Senate Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee, he has provided testimony with respect to solar industry leasing practices and the impact of solar development on prime agricultural land.

Jake also represents clients with their estate planning needs, whether simple or complex, and has represented financial institutions serving as estate and trust fiduciaries with respect to various issues arising in trust and estate administrations.

Prior to joining Barley Snyder, Jake was a partner in a mid-sized Harrisburg law firm. Jake resides in York County with his wife and their two children. He enjoys fly fishing and fly tying, playing guitar, Penn State wrestling, and Philadelphia sports. Jake is an active member of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hummelstown and is a member of the Church’s Congregation Council. Jake also serves on the Lycoming College Alumni Association Executive Committee and the LutheranHANDS Foundation Board of Directors.

PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS
MEMBERSHIPS
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association
  • Dauphin County Bar Association

Charmaine E. Nyman

Charmaine is a member of Barley Snyder’s Business and Real Estate practice groups. She is also a member of the firm’s Food & Agribusiness Industry Group as well as the Liquor Law and Land Use practices. She brings a unique perspective to the firm through her wide variety of experiences. 

A magna cum laude University of Richmond School of Law graduate, Charmaine served on the editorial board of the University of Richmond Public Interest Law Review and volunteered for numerous causes including Virginia Free Legal Answers and Wills for Veterans. 

Charmaine also has an extensive background working in the legal field through various internships and externships. In these roles, she reviewed contracts, advised on contract compliance and conducted legal research. As a student attorney at the Intellectual Property and Transactional Law Clinic, she assisted businesses with entity formation and filing requirements as well as updated filing documents and maintenance of entity. She also provided copyright and trademark services, updated independent contractor agreements and prepared financial disclosure forms for non-profit entities. 

Charmaine graduated from Kutztown University summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Minors in Public Administration & Paralegal Studies. Following her undergraduate education, she worked as a paralegal for two years where she drafted estate planning documents, assisted with estate administration and real estate transactions. She also worked as a judicial intern in the United States District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania, drafting orders, reports and recommendations as well as researching issues.

As a Clinton County native, Charmaine spent her childhood on a small family farm. During this time, she showed livestock in 4-H and was named 2015 Clinton County Fair Queen. She now resides in York County and enjoys spending her time away from the office reading, traveling, and spending time outdoors.

RECOGNITIONS
  • Nominated for VA State Bar Oliver White Hill Award for Pro Bono Service (2022)
  • Harry L. Carrico Center for Pro Bono Service Certification Award (2022)
  • CALI Awards for Excellence in Military Law and in the Legal Business Design Challenge (2021)
MEMBERSHIPS
  • York County Bar Association
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association
  • American Bar Association
  • Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC)

Tasha R. Stoltzfus Nankerville

Tasha is a member of Barley Snyder’s Litigation, Health Care and Higher Education groups, concentrating her practice in the areas of civil litigation and medical malpractice.

In her general civil litigation practice, Tasha uses her strong advocacy, problem-solving and leadership skills to effectively and efficiently assist businesses, institutions and individuals in navigating the litigation process. In particular, Tasha handles matters related to employment discrimination, Title IX, civil rights, breach of contract, and landlord/tenant issues.

As a member of the firm’s Health Care Industry Group, Tasha also focuses her practice on the defense of health care facilities and physicians in medical malpractice litigation. Tasha handles a wide range of tasks including taking depositions, preparing defensive pleadings, conducting research for all stages of litigation, and counseling clients prior to testifying in court.

As a member of the firm’s Higher Education Industry Group, Tasha provides counseling for administrators, faculty, and staff regarding student rights and discipline issues arising under a host of federal and state laws including the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act. She has assisted colleges and universities in drafting and implementing ADA-compliant policies and procedures to accommodate students with disabilities. Tasha has also represented colleges and universities in a diverse array of litigation matters.

Tasha continues a longtime firm tradition of former Barley Snyder summer associates returning to the firm. Before joining Barley Snyder, Tasha worked as an intern with the Lancaster County District Attorney’s office and Villanova Law’s Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE Institute). She previously worked in Lancaster City as a Finance/Human Resources director for six small businesses, as an Executive Director of a non-profit working alongside women affected by homelessness, and as a refugee resettlement caseworker. She relates to a broad spectrum of people and is comfortable in diverse settings.

A Lancaster native with Amish roots, Tasha has a passion for public service and social justice. She enjoys volunteering her time to represent pro bono those in need of legal services. Her pro bono work involves cases seeking U Visa immigration relief and defending prisoners’ rights. Tasha has volunteered in her hometown with various non-profit organizations including Advoz, Lancaster County Conservancy, Night to Shine, and Church World Services. She is also a former volunteer of The Mix and Clare House. In her spare time, Tasha enjoys anything outdoors, running, and thrift shopping at Goodwill. She lives in Lancaster with her husband and dog.

RECOGNITIONS
  • Dorothy Day Award for Pro Bono Service
  • Arthur J. Kania Prize in Professional Ethics
  • Daniel F. O’Dea, Jr. Fellowship Award for Outstanding Professionalism
  • Distinguished Service Award, Villanova Law Moot Court Board
MEMBERSHIPS
  • Lancaster Bar Association
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association

Emily Watkins Marzock

Emily is a member of our Trusts & Estates Practice Group. Emily is experienced at advising decision makers on complex areas of law. Her effective communication and relationship building skills make her a strategic partner for clients.

Emily received her law degree from the University of Virginia after majoring in Classics and Economics at Brown University. She then practiced for several years at the Washington, D.C. office of a large, international law firm. There, Emily provided regulatory counseling to Fortune 100 energy and telecom companies as well as representing them in administrative and judicial matters involving economic and regulatory issues.

Emily moved to Lancaster in 2016 and began working as the Associate Director of Gift Planning at Franklin & Marshall College. In this role, she worked with donors to find ways to satisfy their philanthropic intentions while advancing their financial and estate goals. Emily is a member of the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners and the Planned Giving Council of Greater Philadelphia. Her experience in crafting charitable gifts enhances her estate planning practice.

Emily has a strong interest in serving the Lancaster community. She currently serves as a board member and chair of the Planned Giving Committee for The Lancaster Science Factory and as chair of Lancaster Lebanon Habitat for Humanity’s Board & Leadership Gifts Committee. Emily is also a member of the operating committee for the Neighborhoods of Old Town, where she lives.

Alexandra E. Otto

Alex advises and guides clients through both the estate planning and the estate administration process. She identifies and implements various options and strategies to achieve clients’ objectives and utilizes combinations of different vehicles to achieve such objectives while taking into consideration clients’ unique family dynamics and interpersonal relationships. She also provides guidance and support to clients regarding their obligations and duties when acting in various fiduciary capacities. Additionally, she aids clients in navigating the estate administration process by preparing various state and federal tax returns, creating and executing family settlement agreements, and drafting, filing, and defending formal accountings before county orphans’ courts.

Her practice routinely includes aspects and elements of estate planning including:

  • Transitioning family businesses
  • Portability
  • Gifting
  • Generation skipping transfer tax
  • Inheritance tax
  • Medicaid planning
  • Various state probate processes
  • Step-up basis

Alex also counsels and represents clients in real estate transactions. She assists clients with purchasing and selling real estate by providing guidance throughout the entire process from the negotiation of the terms of the transaction through the execution of the finalized documents. She advises clients about realty transfer tax concerns, like-kind exchanges, preferential tax assessment programs such as Clean & Green, resolving title issues and financing, lending, and leasing arrangements.

Prior to joining the firm, Alex took every opportunity to focus her studies at both Dickinson School of Law and Georgetown University on not only tax, but also the interaction of tax and estate planning. She served as the student coordinator for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program at Dickinson overseeing the preparation of and helped to prepare hundreds of returns annually. She also interned for the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue briefing issues and drafting opinions on corporate tax and personal income tax cases.

Alex’s background in the areas of tax, real estate and estate planning and administration permits her to provide comprehensive services to her clients as she can preemptively identify a variety of issues that arise in these areas and appreciate the impact that aspects of these areas of law have.

In her free time, Alex enjoys running, traveling, scuba diving and spending time with her pets.

MEMBERSHIPS
  • Cumberland County Inn of the Court, former member
  • Cumberland County Bar Association

Zachary J. Daly

Zach is an associate in the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group and is a registered patent attorney. He attended Elizabethtown College and graduated with a degree in physics before attending Santa Clara University School of Law, where he won the Witkin Award for Academic Excellence in 2021. The Witkin Award is presented to a student for attaining the highest grade in a course. Upon graduation, Zach received the High Tech Law Certificate with honors, based on his high level of performance in numerous concentrated technology law courses.

While at Santa Clara, Zach was a member of the Student Intellectual Property Law Association. He also was a student associate at the school’s Entrepreneurs’ Law Clinic, where he was involved in transactions needed to help client entrepreneurs and start-up companies. 

In his spare time, Zach enjoys hiking, snowboarding and collecting vinyl records.

RECOGNITIONS
  • Witkin Award for Academic Excellence at Santa Clara University School of Law
  • High Tech Law Certificate with honors at Santa Clara University School of Law
MEMBERSHIPS
  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
  • American Institute of Physics

Susanna M. Fultz

Susanna is a member of the firm’s Employment and Litigation practice groups with more than a decade of experience. She works closely with employers, providing solutions to a myriad of employment issues while helping them to mitigate risk.

As an employment law counselor, Susanna advises clients on matters relating to the American with Disabilities Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, performance and conduct related issues, workplace harassment investigations, state and federal discrimination regulations and more. She helps employers manage their internal operations to ensure best practices in accordance with state and federal employment laws and regulations.

In her employment litigation practice, Susanna represents employers on matters ranging from non-compete agreements, separation and severance agreements, employment contracts and discrimination matters. She has experience practicing before state and federal court, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In addition to counseling employers, Susanna is involved with the Berks County Bar Association as chair of its employment law section. She frequently presents on a variety of employment law matters such as wage and hour issues and workplace harassment investigations.

Susanna is a graduate of the University of Delaware and Washington & Lee University School of Law. While in law school, Susanna interned at the United Nations in Vienna, Austria, and participated in several international clinics in Europe and Asia. After graduating from law school, Susanna served as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. A. Joseph Antanavage and then to the Hon. James M. Lillis in the Berks County Court of Common Pleas. She joined private practice in 2018.

An active member of her community, Susanna serves on the board of directors of ReadingFilm. Susanna and her husband reside in Reading. She enjoys sports and hiking and loves to travel.

PRESENTATIONS
  • “Employee Handbooks: Avoiding Common Mistakes,” Greater Reading Chamber Alliance (June 2023)
  • “Effective Workplace Harassment Investigations,” 40th Annual Employment Law Seminar (May 2023)
  • “HR in the COVID World,” Berks Community Television (BCTV) (March 2022)
  • “Wage and Hours Laws Updates,” Berks Community Television (BCTV) (January 2020)
RECOGNITIONS
  • Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America, Labor and Employment Law – Management (2024) Litigation – Labor and Employment (2024)

Zachary D. Griffith

Zach is a member of the firm’s Trusts & Estates Practice Group. His trusts and estates practice covers representing clients in a broad range of matters including estate planning, estate administration, trust formation, guardianships, and adoptions. His practice also includes handling a broad range of Orphans’ Court litigation matters in all stages for clients.

Zach joined Barley Snyder following a decorated college career both in and out of the classroom. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Widener University Delaware Law School after graduating summa cum laude from Albright College in Reading. In law school, Zach was a member of the school’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, which led to him winning the 2021 Greenwatch Institute Scholarship Award in Memory of Jerry Shields. The school bestows the award annually to an outstanding environmental law student who demonstrated commitment to public interest advocacy. Furthermore, Zach’s enthusiasm for aviation has spurred him to write an article focused on aviation law for the Widener Law Review, where he was an articles editor in law school.

Zach also spent time as a legal intern in the technology world at Information Systems Laboratories, a specialized technology development corporation, and at Berks County-based EnerSys, a global leader in stored energy solutions for industrial applications.

Zach sits on the board of directors of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Berks County’s board of directors. He currently serves as chair of the governance and nominating committee where he assits in CASA’s mission to positively change the lives of children who face neglect, abuse, and/or abandonment.

In his spare time, he is a volunteer tour guide at the Reading-area Mid-Atlantic Air Museum, one of the largest privately owned aviation museums in the country. He also enjoys spending time with his wife, two dogs, and his family.

RECOGNITION
  • 2021 Greenwatch Institute Scholarship Award in Memory of Jerry Shields

Caleb P. Setlock

Caleb is an attorney in the Employment and Labor Law Practices, representing employers in litigation and advising on best-practice methods.

Caleb has experience defending a wide variety of employee claims. His primary practice includes federal discrimination claims under Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the ADEA, Title VIII and the Fair Housing Act, and state discrimination claims under the PHRA and the PFEOA. In defending against these claims, Caleb has dealt with race, sex, religion, age, and disability charges. Caleb also handles claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Pennsylvania’s Minimum Wage Act, and Wage Payment and Collection Law.

In handling these matters for clients, Caleb is involved at all stages of litigation, from pleadings at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission to federal and state court civil claims. Outside of litigation, Caleb has settled matters through mediation and conciliation attempts. Caleb also regularly represents employers through the unemployment compensation process. His experience in Labor Law consists of providing rapid response training to clients and defending against unfair labor practice charges.

In the hospitality sector, Caleb counsels clients on crafting niche employment policies specific to the industry including tip pooling arrangements. He navigates business through multi-state and multi-ordinance compliance. He also litigates in defense of employment claims that reach court or administrative agencies.

Caleb helps continue a longtime firm tradition of former Barley Snyder summer associates that later join the firm as full-time attorneys.

At the Duquesne University School of Law, where he graduated cum laude, Caleb was a member of the school’s appellate moot court board that won the Wagner National Labor and Employment Law Moot Court Competition. Caleb also was a mentor in the school’s Academic Excellence Program and worked in the school’s law library.

A Lancaster County native, Caleb is firmly committed to the greater Lancaster area. Growing up, he worked at Bent Creek Country Club and received the J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship. Prior to joining Barley Snyder, Caleb also worked as an intern with the Lancaster County Public Defender’s Office. He also operated a local landscaping business by himself for four years. 

In his time away from the office, Caleb enjoys physical exercise of any kind including running and biking. Caleb likes playing any and all recreational sports from individual sports like golf and tennis to team sports like soccer and basketball. 

PRESENTATION
  • “Political, Legislative and Governmental Agency Landscape Leading into an Election Year,” Lancaster SHRM’s Fall Legal Update (September 2023)
  • “Employee Handbook Workshop”, Lancaster Chamber (August 2023)
  • “Proactive v. Reactive: How Getting to the Core of Employee Concerns Helps Employers Stay Ahead of Union Activity,” 40th Annual Employment Law Seminar (May 2023)
  • “Employee Handbook Workshop”, Lancaster Chamber (August 2022)
RECOGNITION
  • J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust

Michael W. Fox

Michael has focused his practice in the areas of business, real estate and real estate development. His clients include individuals and small to large businesses in a variety of general business matters, residential and commercial real estate transactions, real estate development and financing, land use, entity formation and entity transactions. Michael also has significant experience with real estate title matters.

After graduation from Temple University Beasley School of Law, Michael developed a strong foundation in the areas of real estate development, land use planning and business entity formation at a firm in Center City Philadelphia. That helped him gain useful experience in complex zoning matters, real estate development matters, business entity formation and property tax assessment appeals.

Since relocating to central Pennsylvania he has expanded his practice to include commercial and residential real estate transactions and financing, commercial leasing, general business representation and business transactions and real estate title matters.

During law school, Michael received awards for his academic achievement in the field of land use planning, as well as for his work and research on Pennsylvania’s Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act.

Michael is a Lebanon County native and the son of two public school music teachers. He has returned to central Pennsylvania with his wife, Irene, and two daughters, Margot and Lillian.

PRESENTATIONS

Exploring and Negotiating Key Clauses in Construction Contracts, ABC Keystone’s Fall Regional Construction Wake-up Call Series (Fall 2022)

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