Lorraine Donnelly

Lorraine Donnelly is a partner at Kline & Specter and a trial attorney focused on medical malpractice, nursing home neglect, negligent security, sexual assault, and catastrophic injury cases. She previously served as a criminal prosecutor at the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office for more than a decade, with her final four years in the homicide unit where she tried 91 jury trials resulting in guilty verdicts in major felony and homicide cases. In that role, she gained experience in criminal investigation procedures, forensic science evidence, hostile witness examination, and witness intimidation issues. In March 2015, Donnelly joined a national plaintiffs' law firm where she managed a substantial inventory of nursing home abuse and neglect cases throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey for four years. She was co-counsel in a Lancaster, Pennsylvania jury trial that yielded a $7.5 million verdict against a nursing home and corporate owner for failing to protect a resident from sexual assault by another resident. At Kline & Specter, Donnelly has achieved significant results. She was co-counsel with David Inscho securing an $8 million settlement in July 2024 with Camp Woodward arising from sexual assaults of a 14-year-old gymnast by a coach. She obtained a $6 million settlement in 2024 with an office building landlord for a woman brutally assaulted at work due to negligent security. As co-lead counsel, she won a $600,000 jury verdict in June 2024 in Middlesex County, New Jersey, for an elderly Alzheimer's patient's estate who suffered multiple fractures and traumatic brain injury from improper restraint techniques at a psychiatric hospital. In 2023, Donnelly was co-lead counsel in a case concluding with a $19 million verdict—including $15 million in punitive damages—against a Delaware County, Pennsylvania nursing home and management companies for a woman who died due to neglect. Later that year, she was co-counsel in litigation resulting in a $3.5 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia concerning alleged sexual abuse of a 14-year-old boy by late Pastor John Close at St. Katherine's of Sienna in Wayne, Pennsylvania in 2006. Donnelly has been selected as among the best lawyers in Pennsylvania for 2025-2026 by Super Lawyers based on attorney ballots and blue ribbon review committee evaluation. She earned her undergraduate degree from La Salle University, graduating magna cum laude, and her law degree from Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she graduated cum laude and served as staff member and article editor for Temple Law Review. She is a member of the American Association for Justice, Pennsylvania Association for Justice, and the Temple Law Alumni Association.