Our Attorneys

Attorney at Law

Serving Westmoreland, Washington & Fayette Counties

Mark J. Shire was associated with the former Shire, Bergstein & Galper firm from 1987 until the establishment of the Shire Law Firm in 1999. He has served as a law clerk for the Honorable David W. Craig of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. From 1999 through 2003, he served as an Assistant Public Defender in Westmoreland County and Court-Appointed Criminal Conflict Counsel in Westmoreland County for 16 years and in Washington County in 2018. He served as solicitor of the City of Monessen from 2004 through 2008, and from 2010 through 2013. He has served as the Solicitor of the Rostraver Township Zoning Hearing Board since 2003 and the Borough of Fayette City since 2018. He was elected to the Westmoreland Academy of Trial Lawyers, which recognizes excellence in litigation. Mark is a graduate of Monessen High School, Tufts University, and a 1985 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he served as an editor of the Law Review.

He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and its Plain Language Committee, and the Westmoreland and Washington County Bar Associations. He has served as a member and president of the Monessen School Board, and was a former member of the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army-Monessen Citadel, and is a current member of the Monessen-Rostraver Rotary Club.

Mark and his wife, Gerrie, reside in Monessen.

Man In Suit — Monessen, PA — Shire Law Firm

Bernard S. Shire, Esquire, Retired

Bernard S. Shire is a graduate of Monessen High School, and the Ohio State University and its law school. In addition to his private practice, he served as Special Assistant Attorney General for the Pennsylvania Worker's Compensation Appeal Board, and as Solicitor to the City of Monessen, Monessen Redevelopment Authority, Rostraver Township and its Sewage Authority. He is a past president of the Westmoreland Academy of Trial Lawyers and the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association. He was a member of the Pennsylvania and Westmoreland Bar Associations.

He continues to reside in Monessen.

MARK J. SHIRE, ESQ.

1711 Grand Boulevard, Park Centre

Monessen, PA 15062-1955

(724) 684-8881

shire@shirelaw.com

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

SHIRE LAW FIRM: Principal, August 1999 - Present. Areas of practice: Personal Injury and General Civil Litigation, Criminal Defense, Estate Planning and Administration, Municipal and Zoning Law, and Real Estate.

ROSTRAVER TOWNSHIP ZONING HEARING BOARD
Solicitor August 2003 - Present

CITY OF MONESSEN Solicitor
July 2004 - December 2008; January 2010 - December 2013

FAYETTE CITY BOROUGH SOLICITOR
January 2018 - Present

WASHINGTON COUNTY CRIMINAL COURT-APPOINTED CONFLICTS
COUNSEL
March 2017 - February 2018

WESTMORELAND COUNTY PUBLIC DEFENDER
Assistant Public Defender (part-time), Courthouse Square, Greensburg, PA April 1999 - August 2003

SHIRE, BERGSTEIN & GALPER, Attorneys-at-Law, Monessen, PA
Associate, 1987 to 1999
Areas of Practice: Personal Injury and Civil Litigation,
Criminal Law, Workers’ Compensation, Administrative Law,
Family Law, Real Estate

WESTMORELAND COUNTY Criminal Court-Appointed
Counsel, 1990 - 1994; 1997 - 1999; 2003 - 2012

COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA, Pittsburgh,
PA, Law Clerk to Honorable David W. Craig, 1985 - 1987
Researched and assisted in drafting appellate opinions: zoning, environmental, municipal, eminent domain law, public labor law, workers’ compensation, probation and parole, unemployment compensation, and state and local taxation

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, Pittsburgh,
PA, Cooperating Attorney and Legal Committee
Member, 1987 - 2005; Law Student: Summer 1983

BASKIN & STEINGUT, P.C., Pittsburgh, PA; Summer Clerkship 1984
EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF LAW J.D. 1985
University of Pittsburgh Law Review
Volume 46: Topics Editor Volume 45: Staff

TUFTS UNIVERSITY, Medford, MA; B.A. cum laude in English and Classical Studies, 1981

TUFTS UNIVERSITY IN LONDON, London, England, 1979-80
Concentration in Literature, Medieval History, and Political Science

MONESSEN HIGH SCHOOL Class of 1977
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX, Book Publishers, New York,
NY, Assistant to Director of Publicity, 1981-82

PLENUM PRESS, New York, NY
Assistant Production Editor, 1982
Oversaw editing and preparation of college and graduate level
Physics and Chemistry texts.

PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE, Harrisburg, PA
Intern for House Majority Leader, James J. Manderino, Summer
1978

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
Washington, DC
Intern for Honorable Austin J. Murphy, Summer 1977
AFFILIATIONS

Admitted to practice: Supreme Court of the United States; Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; U.S. District Court, Western
District of Pennsylvania; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Pennsylvania Bar Association, Committee Member , Plain Language

Westmoreland County Bar Association: Committees - Elder Law and Orphans’ Court, Real Estaste, Fee Dispute; Ned Nakles Inns of Court (2010-2012)

Westmoreland Academy of Trial Lawyers March 2017 - Present

Washington County Bar Association: Committees - Pro Bono and Fee Dispute

Monessen-Rostraver Rotary Club: President 2012-2013, Member 2004-present

Salvation Army, Monessen Corps., Advisory Board Member : January 2008 - 2013

Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association, 1987 - 1999

Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 1993 - 2009

Westmoreland Bar Journal, Case Editor, 1988-90.

School Board Member: Monessen City School District, 1989-1993,
President, 1992-93

Monessen Community Development Corporation, 1988-91
Board Member