Irwin W. Aronson

Irwin W. Aronson is the partner in residence of Willig, Williams & Davidson’s Harrisburg, Pa., office. A respected appellate advocate, Irwin concentrates his practice in labor and employment law, employee benefit matters, election law, public housing and urban development, governmental affairs and legislative drafting and analysis. He possesses a broad range of experience in litigation and legislative matters ranging from fair labor standards and unemployment insurance to workers compensation and wage payment and collection, to housing and urban development, to elections and voting rights.

Among other notable verdicts and settlements, Irwin served as lead counsel for the prevailing party or prevailing intervenor in matters that: established the applicability of public labor and employment regulation to private construction projects partially supported by public funds; established that unions may participate as parties in prevailing wage enforcement cases; established a method of computing benefits for workers who sustain injuries after only a short period of employment; and secured railroad yard safety by prohibiting the replacement of workers with electronic signaling devices. Additionally, Irwin has served as Counsel to major institutional Amici Curiae in multiple matters at the appellate level including cases overturning as unconstitutional a Pennsylvania Voter ID Law and forcing legislatively gerrymandered Congressional Districts to be redrawn pursuant to Order of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Irwin is a frequent lecturer and has authored numerous articles. He serves or has served as an instructor for Pennsylvania State University’s Department of Labor Studies and Industrial Relations, the Union Leadership Academy, Pennsylvania State University’s Capitol College (adjunct faculty member), the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, among others. Irwin is also a dedicated member of his community, serving on many boards and committees benefitting others and co-founding the Keystone Research Center, a Pennsylvania-based public policy research institute.

Aronson, a well recognized advocate of access to quality legal services for the poor, indigent, elderly, workers, veterans and children, was appointed, by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, to a three year term as a member of the Court's Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Board in 2012. In 2015 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reappointed him to a second three year term on the IOLTA Board and designated him as Chair for the ensuing three consecutive years. The Pennsylvania IOLTA Board evaluates programs and directs millions of dollars of annual funding to local and regional legal service programs and law school clinical programs that provide access to civil justice to those who would otherwise be denied a legal voice and assures hands on practical experience to law students in all of Pennsylvania's nine accredited Law Schools.

The recipient of several prestigious awards, Irwin received the Keystone Research Center’s highest honor, the Sol Hoffman Award for Outstanding Service to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in 2005. As a candidate for the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in 2001, he was the only Democratic nominee to receive the Pennsylvania Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Commission’s coveted “Highly Recommended” rating. That same year, the Chester County Labor Council named him “Citizen of the Year.