Thomas R. Kline

In more than three decades of practicing personal injury law, Thomas R. Kline has forged an incomparable record of courtroom victories -- some with remarkable results against seemingly incredible odds. As a result Kline has received a litany of accolades and recognition, including his elected position as past president of the Inner Circle of Advocates, described by The Washington Post as "a select group of 100 of the nation's most celebrated trial lawyers." 

Kline also has been honored for 17 consecutive years, 2004 through 2020, as the No. 1 attorney in Pennsylvania by Super Lawyers magazine. He has also been chosen as among the top 500 "Leading Lawyers in America" and as “the leading personal injury plaintiffs' lawyer in Pennsylvania” by the survey group Lawdragon, which also called Kline “one of Philadelphia’s legendary litigators.” The publication Best Lawyers has also selected Kline as Philadelphia Personal Injury Litigator of the Year and Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Lawyer of the Year while listing him among the nation's best lawyers every year since 1995. And Kline was referred to by the Editorial Board of The Philadelphia Inquirer as "the high-powered plaintiffs' attorney... who has won a number of eight-figure awards for clients injured or killed due to negligence or incompetence by businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit health-care providers." In late 2019, Kline topped that with a 10-figure verdict, an $8 billion jury award against Johnson & Johnson in a case involving the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal.  

Yet Kline, a former sixth grade school teacher from Hazleton, Pa., counts among his greatest honors the letters of thanks he has received from people and families he has represented, clients who suffered severe injuries or the loss of a loved one, clients for whom he was able to obtain a measure of justice. 

Kline has appeared on hundreds of television news programs and been featured or quoted in hundreds more newspaper and magazine articles. In a cover story, the Philadelphia Daily News summarized Kline’s career in a profile titled "Wheels of Justice: The lawyer who beat SEPTA," an article in which Kline was described as "the Babe Ruth of personal injury litigation." The newspaper story followed the celebrated Hall v. SEPTA case, which resulted in a $51 million verdict for a four-year-old boy whose foot was torn off in a subway escalator. The case against the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority also resulted in Kline's selection to the "Winners" edition of The National Law Journal, which included him among "Ten of America's Top Litigators." In 2009 the publication selected Kline to its Winning Hall of Fame as one of fewer than 100 lawyers selected for compiling “significant bench or jury trial verdicts and who has a record of success over many years.”