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PHILADELPHIA, PA – March 5, 2015: We are pleased to announce that Peter F. Vaira, one of our country’s preeminent white collar criminal defense lawyers, has joined Greenblatt, Pierce, Engle, Funt & Flores, LLC (WGP) and will serve as Special Counsel to our firm. M. Vaira’s over 50 years of practice, during which he has handled the most complex criminal and civil matters in state and federal court, has earned him a reputation as one of the most respected attorneys in the region. Mr. Vaira is also a widely sought after arbitrator, mediator, special master, and independent hearing officer with numerous years of experience in the field of alternative dispute resolution. Mr. Vaira is a member of the Pennsylvania, Illinois, and District of Columbia Bars and he is a certified national and international arbitrator who serves as a Special Master in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Commerce Court program. He previously acted as the Independent Hearing Officer for the Laborers’ International Union of North America. Throughout his career, Mr. Vaira has also handled every kind of white collar criminal defense matter imaginable as well as antitrust cases, internal and parallel investigations, corporate crisis management matters, and complex civil litigation cases. Recently, Mr. Vaira was appointed by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter to serve as the Executive Director of a Commission formed to investigate the Department of Licenses and Inspections subsequent to a tragic building collapse in Center City Philadelphia. A graduate of Duquesne University and the Duquesne University School of Law, Mr. Vaira served in the United States Navy from 1963 to 1968 in the Judge Advocate General Corps. Mr. Vaira is also a fifteen year veteran of the United States Department of Justice where he served as the Attorney in Charge of the Philadelphia and Chicago Organized Crime Strike Forces. In 1978, the President of the United States appointed Mr. Vaira to serve as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania where he acted as the chief federal law enforcement official for five years. Upon leaving the Justice Department, Mr. Vaira was later appointed as the Executive Director of the President’s Commission on Organized Crime. After entering into private practice, he worked in various prominent law firms in both Chicago and Philadelphia. Mr. Vaira is a Fellow of the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Law Institute, and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He is a frequent lecturer on a variety of legal topics both nationally and internationally and he serves on the editorial boards of The Legal Intelligencer and The Philadelphia Lawyer. Mr. Vaira is the author of Eastern District of Pennsylvania Federal Practice Rules Annotated from Gann Publishing and Corporate Responses to Federal Grand Jury Investigations published by Matthew Bender. Now, Mr. Vaira will direct WGP’s alternative dispute resolution practice while also working alongside Michael J. Engle, who leads the firm’s white-collar practice group. The firm is honored to have such a tremendously accomplished attorney practicing law with our talented team of trial lawyers. A litigation firm, WGP provides outstanding legal representation in the fields of criminal defense and civil practice, including civil rights, employment law, and family law matters. Peter can be reached at 215.735.1600; p.vaira@gpeff.com. Founded over 20 years ago as an aggressive criminal defense law practice, Greenblatt, Pierce, Engle, Funt & Flores (WGP) is an established, full-service law firm with experienced attorneys skilled in all areas of state and federal criminal defense, employment law, civil litigation, and family law. The firm has offices in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. For more information on the firm or its attorneys, please see www.gpeff.com. For more information regarding this release, please contact Ronald Greenblatt at 215.735.1600.