Areas of Practice

Stewart, McArdle, Sorice, Whalen, Farrell, Finoli & Cavanaugh, LLC’s team of lawyers have been providing its clients from Westmoreland County and its surrounding counties with unparalleled, high quality legal service for several decades.

Michael J. Stewart, the original and founding member of the firm, began his legal practice in 1977. Since that time, Mr. Stewart has chosen to partner with the current members of the firm to form one of the premiere full service law firms in the greater Greensburg/Westmoreland County area.

Our firm is a full service law firm providing for all of its clients’ needs from divorce, estate planning and administration to business law, civil litigation and bankruptcy law.

Each attorney in the firm focuses on specific areas of the law. Therefore, an attorney with a wealth of experience and a well-qualified staff will handle your legal matter.

If you are in need of legal advice or representation, please contact our office.

The practice of family law is the life blood of Stewart, McArdle, Sorice, Whalen, Farrell, Finoli & Cavanaugh, LLC. Five (5) of our attorneys actively engage in the practice of family law. We have assumed leadership positions in the Westmoreland County Family Law Committee for several years. Our Firm is sensitive to the emotional as well as legal stages a litigant must navigate in the divorce process. We discourage the "win at all cost" mentality in favor of an approach that seeks an equitable and expeditious resolution at a reasonable cost to the parties. In custody matters, we constantly remind our clients that divorce ends a marriage but need not sever family ties or relationships. Rather, lifelong responsibilities remain. In representing family law clients, our Firm will encourage mutual respect and open communication in utilizing a problem solving approach to the task at hand. We take seriously our responsibility in preparing you for a new life after divorce.

Members of Stewart, McArdle, Sorice, Whalen, Farrell, Finoli & Cavanaugh, LLC are experienced trial lawyers in cases regarding breach of contract, debt collection, business disputes, bodily injury, construction disputes, will contests, automobile accidents and property disputes.  Our attorneys will advise you of your available courses of action.  We will explain the litigation process including drafting of pleadings, discovery, settlement negotiations, and the possible trial of the matter before a judge or a jury.  Legal proceedings can last as little as a few months to several years, depending on the complexity of the case.  Time is money.  Therefore, we are mindful of the costs of legal matters and will seek to provide efficient legal services while maximizing gain.

So contact us for experienced legal advice regarding your litigation needs.

Stewart, McArdle, Sorice, Whalen, Farrell, Finoli & Cavanaugh, LLC advises business clients in all phases of their development commencing with their choice of business entity (a corporation, a limited liability company, a partnership, a joint venture or a sole proprietorship). Only after our firm has a thorough understanding of our client’s business, their personal, short term, and long term needs, will our firm render a recommendation as to the selection of a business entity. We will draft all documents required to create the business entity and will ensure that the documents are properly registered and filed with all governmental authorities.

Thereafter, we will continue to provide counsel to our business clients regarding contracts, such as leases, purchase agreements, consulting and employment contracts. Our firm also advises on matters such as family succession, taxation and business problems.

Contact our office for a confidential consultation concerning your business needs.

Stewart, McArdle, Sorice, Whalen, Farrell, Finoli & Cavanaugh, LLC, provides legal services to individuals and families who require sound, competent, legal advice regarding their future financial matters through estate planning.

Our firm focuses on all aspects of estate planning. Our firm possesses an understanding of families’ estate planning needs with respect to preserving assets for the future. Our firm is highly skilled in developing plans for complex and high income estates. We prepare wills, living wills, powers of attorney, health care directives, living trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, minor’s trusts, and credit shelters.

In addition, our firm is experienced in all aspects of probate and estate administration. Our firm assists families and heirs after a death to ensure that the desires, wishes and plans of a deceased are brought to fruition. Estate administration and probate entails the selling and liquidating of assets, settling with creditors, paying appropriate taxes, completing the paperwork required by law, and ultimately distributing the deceased’s assets in accordance with his or her wishes. When disputes arise, our firm is experienced in Orphan’s Court litigation.

To discuss your estate planning and probate needs, contact our firm for a confidential initial consultation.

In today’s tough economic times, more and more individuals, as well as businesses, are in need of assistance to eliminate the pressure and strains caused by overwhelming debt. Stewart, McArdle, Sorice, Whalen, Farrell, Finoli & Cavanaugh, LLC can assist our clients, individuals as well as businesses, to eliminate that financial pressure and strain utilizing the rights provided by the federal bankruptcy laws.

With respect to individuals, the bankruptcy laws may allow one to eliminate the legal obligation to pay most or all of your debt, to stop foreclosure on a home or a mobile home by allowing one the opportunity to catch up on missed payments, to prevent the repossession of a car and even force the return of a car after its repossessed, to stop harassing collection calls and letters and to pay off tax debt over time.

With respect to businesses, be it a corporation, a limited liability company, a partnership or sole proprietorship, the bankruptcy laws allow a business facing overwhelming financial pressure to file a bankruptcy case whereby the company is permitted to continue to operate, to retain its assets and to ultimately file a plan of reorganization. The plan of reorganization, when approved by the bankruptcy court, will allow the businesses to emerge from bankruptcy with new contractual rights which replace or supersede pre-bankruptcy agreements and contracts.

Stewart, McArdle, Sorice, Whalen, Farrell, Finoli & Cavanaugh, LLC has represented hundreds of individuals and businesses in bankruptcy cases for over twenty years. Therefore, Stewart, McArdle, Sorice, Whalen, Farrell, Finoli & Cavanaugh, LLC, is qualified to handle your financial affairs. If you have any questions regarding bankruptcy and your legal situation, call Stewart, McArdle, Sorice, Whalen, Farrell, Finoli & Cavanaugh, LLC for a free and confidential consultation.