Michael P. Routch
Attorney
- Location: Altoona
- Office Phone: 814-656-0065
- Fax: 814-656-0066
- Email: mpr@qrlegal.com
Contact Information
- Certified Workers' Compensation Specialist
- Employment Law
- Civil Litigation
- Business Law
- Estate Planning/Administration
Practice Areas
Biography
Michael P. Routch is one of a select few of attorneys in Pennsylvania who have met the requirements to be certified as a specialist in the practice of workers’ compensation law by the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Section on Workers’ Compensation Law, as authorized by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. During his decades as a workers’ compensation attorney, Mr. Routch has litigated cases involving catastrophic injury, death, psychiatric injury, occupational disease, heart attacks, strokes, pulmonary injury, surveillance evidence, terminations, back to work orders, impairment ratings and earning power.
He is an associate at the firm and concentrates his practice in the areas of workers’ compensation, employment law, general civil litigation, commercial transactions, and estate/succession planning for small businesses and families. He joined the firm in 2018 and has been an attorney in Blair County, Pennsylvania since 1994.
Mr. Routch is former chairman of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Law Section, where he has been at the forefront of shaping workers’ compensation administration and advocacy on behalf of his peers throughout the Commonwealth. He currently serves as secretary to the Certification Committee of the Workers’ Compensation Law Section, which is responsible for certifying and overseeing members of the Pennsylvania Bar who meet the qualifications to be a certified specialist. He formally served as the inaugural chairman of the statewide subcommittee that recommends publication of significant cases on workers’ compensation decided by Pennsylvania’s appellate courts.
Michael is a frequent presenter at workers’ compensation continuing legal education events and at Blair County Chamber of Commerce workers’ compensation and safety programs. In 2016, he presented at Healthforce’s Occupational Medicine Series on Key Issues in Workers’ Compensation. Since 2017, he has been an adjunct lecturer of trial advocacy at Penn State Law School.
Michael was born and raised in Blair County, Pennsylvania and resides in Duncansville with his wife, Shari, and two daughters, Kendall and Sydney.
Bar Admissions
- Pennsylvania, 1991
- U.S. District Court Western District of Pennsylvania, 1991
- U.S. District Court Middle District of Pennsylvania, 2006
Education
- University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, Virginia
- J.D. – 1991
- Honors: Quarter Finalist, Appellate Moot Court Competition; Notes Editor, Virginia Tax Review
- Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
- B.A. – 1988
- Honors: magna cum laude
- Major: Economics and Political Science
Classes/Seminars
- Adjunct Lecturer of Trial Advocacy, Penn State Law School, 2017 to Present
- Key Issues in Workers’ Compensation, Healthforce Occupational Medicine Series, 2016
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Pennsylvania Bar Association Workers’ Comp Section, Past Chairman
- Blair County Bar Association, Present
- Hollidaysburg Public Library, Past President
- Hollidaysburg Area School District Foundation, Past Board Member
- Court of Common Pleas, Blair County, Arbitrator
Past Employment Positions
- Evey, Routch, Black, Dorezas, Magee & Levine, Partner
- McQuaide Blasko, Inc., Shareholder