Alicia Hickok Quoted in December 2014 The Legal Intelligencer

Philadelphia partner Alicia Hickok was quoted in The Legal Intelligencer in an article titled, "With Vacancies Looming, High Court Increases Productivity."

The article discussed how the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has released an unusual amount of decisions in recent weeks, and appellate attorneys have noticed. Some commentators have pointed to the planned retirement of Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille as a driving force.

Another likely factor is the resignation of Justice McCaffery at the end of October.

Alicia said some of the opinions, particularly those written by Castille, do not appear as though they would have been impacted by McCaffery's vote. But others may have changed course because of his retirement, she said. “[Commonwealth v.] Adams and [Commonwealth v.] Molina were opinions where, arguably, Justice McCaffery would have affected what happened,” Alicia said.

The September 2013 arguments, she said, were particularly heavy in criminal law, an area of interest for McCaffery. Several of the cases argued then were decided since his retirement. “I would have expected that because of how criminally heavy this docket is that we would have seen things from him,” she said. “Whether he cared about them and was distracted because he had other things going on, or whether he cared about them and was campaigning for a voice that we don't know about ... you'd have to be a fly on the wall to know.”

To read the entire article, click here.