Leadership

Executive Team

Renee Garcia, (she/her)

City Solicitor

Renee Garcia is the City Solicitor, the City of Philadelphia’s chief legal officer, and serves as general counsel to the Mayor and her Administration, City Council, and all City departments, agencies, boards, and commissions. The City’s Law Department employs over 340 lawyers and professional staff practicing in diverse areas such as federal, state, and local agency litigation, commercial and real estate transactions, tax, regulatory law, social services, and legislation.

She served as the Chair of the Litigation Group since March of 2021. Under Renee’s leadership, the Litigation Group spearheaded legal efforts to address the City’s most complex challenges, including the initiation of litigation aimed at holding firearm manufacturers and distributors accountable for reckless business practices perpetuating Philadelphia’s gun violence crisis. She was central to the negotiation of the George Floyd protest lawsuits, the investigation of the MOVE remains, and the collection of over $200 million as a result of the City’s litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors. She has also counseled client departments through efforts to achieve accessibility, affordable housing, and environmental justice across the City.

Prior to her role in the Law Department, Renee held litigation positions at Hogan Lovells US LLP and PNC Bank. Renee’s passion for her work, especially as it relates to increasing diversity and inclusion efforts within the law field and the community, led her to chair the PNC Legal Pro Bono Committee and independently provide pro bono legal services through the Senior Law Center, Support Center for Child Advocates, and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, amongst others. She also served as former Director on the Board of Community Legal Services/Philadelphia Legal Assistance, and currently serves on the Boards of the Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Hispanic Bar Association of PA and arts non-profit, Intercultural Journeys. Renee is also a Fellow, Pathfinder, and a Mentor with the Leadership Counsel on Legal Diversity, and joined the Forum for Executive Women in 2022.

Renee received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2008 and her B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University in 2003. Renee earned accolades as the 2020 AL DÍA Top In-House Lawyer Award; the 2017 PNC Market All-Star Award; the 2017 Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility’s Young Hispanic Corporate Achiever Award; and the 2015 Rising Star Corporate Counsel Award from the Philadelphia Business Journal.

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Meghan Goddard

First Deputy City Solicitor

(215) 683-5131

Meghan.Goddard@phila.gov

As the First Deputy City Solicitor, Meghan Goddard is responsible for assisting the City Solicitor in the oversight and leadership of the Law Department. Based on her extensive legal background, Meghan provides litigation support and consultation on significant cases and other matters impacting City-wide initiatives, programs, and policies.

Prior to this role, Meghan served as a Divisional Deputy City Solicitor in the Child Welfare Unit for over five years. In this role, she represented the Department of Human Services on Juvenile Justice issues ranging from law and policy, oversight of Philadelphia’s secure detention center (Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center) and shared case (dependent and delinquent) youth. Additionally, she handled cases involving older youth in dependent care as well as youth in Philadelphia’s Juvenile Human Trafficking Court, known as WRAP (Working to Restore Adolescents’ Power) Court, which aims to help youth in court system who have been identified as victims of commercial sexual exploitation/human trafficking.

Prior to her role as a Divisional Deputy City Solicitor, Meghan served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Trial Division for the City of Philadelphia for over ten years. During her tenure at the District Attorney’s Office, she served as a trial attorney in the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Unit, specializing in prosecuting cases involving, sexual assault, child physical abuse and neglect, human trafficking, intimate-partner violence, and elder abuse and neglect.

Meghan graduated with Honors from York College of Pennsylvania with a degree in Political Science and received her Juris Doctor degree from Widener University Commonwealth Law School where she graduated with Honors.

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Sam Scavuzzo

Chief of Staff

(215) 683-0506

samuel.scavuzzo@phila.gov

As Chief of Staff, Sam provides support to the City Solicitor and counsels City departments on significant issues impacting City initiatives, programs and policies. He assists the Solicitor on a variety of special projects, including many cross-unit initiatives.

Sam began working with the City Law Department in 2019 in the Real Estate Division of the Tax & Revenue Unit where he was most recently a Deputy City Solicitor. In this role, his caseload mostly involved handling real estate tax assessment appeals in the Court of Common Pleas. Additionally, Sam has coordinated the consolidated complaint project with attorneys from the Regulatory Law Unit, Real Estate and Development Unit, and Code and Public Nuisance Litigation Unit to target nuisance property owners with numerous liabilities across many properties. The project has collected $3.5 million in City debt since its inception.

Outside of his litigation work, Sam frequently advised the Department of Revenue and City Council on tax legislation and collaborated with our Legislation and Legal Counsel Unit on drafting tax ordinances and regulations. Sam also recently completed his two-year term as co-chair of the Law Department’s Professional Development Committee, which launched a mentorship program under his leadership. One of Sam’s favorite aspects of the Law Department is collaborating with other units, and learning all the many ways our brilliant attorneys serve the City.

Sam is a graduate of Drexel Law School and La Salle University, where he majored in journalism and political science. After law school, Sam clerked for the Hon. Jack Sabatino in the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, and Associate Justice Faustino Fernandez-Vina in the New Jersey Supreme Court. Prior to becoming an attorney, Sam worked as a reporter and editor for local news website Patch.com, where he primarily reported on Roxborough and Manayunk. His work has also appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Press of Atlantic City, and (improbably) People Magazine.

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Andrew Richman, (he/him)

Chair, Compliance, Investigations & Privacy

(215) 683-5067

andrew.richman@phila.gov

As chair of the Compliance, Investigations & Privacy Group, Andrew oversees the following:

Right-to-Know Unit
HIPAA & Privacy Law Unit
E-Discovery
Communications

Andrew has been in the department since 2009 and from 2016-2023 was the Chief of Staff to the City Solicitor. Previously, Andrew worked as a Deputy City Solicitor in the Code Enforcement Unit. Andrew is a 2009 graduate of the Temple University Beasley School of Law and holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. For as long as he can remember, he has been on the board of the Spruce Hill Community Association and enjoys refereeing his daughter’s swim meets on the weekends.

Valerie Robinson, (she/her)

Chair, Corporate & Tax

(215) 683-5031

valerie.robinson@phila.gov

Valerie Robinson is the chair of the Corporate and Tax Group where she is responsible for providing advice to the city solicitor, the first deputy city solicitor and other City officials on corporate (commercial, transactional, and regulatory) and tax matters. The Corporate and Tax Group consists of the following five units:

Commercial Law
Real Estate & Development
Regulatory Law
Tax & Revenue
Property Assessment

Prior to her appointment as the chair of the Corporate and Tax Group, Valerie served as an assistant and deputy city solicitor in the Finance and Contracts Division of the Law Department and as a senior attorney in the Intellectual Property Division. She has handled a wide range of commercial transactions. That includes construction and benefits contracts, as well as municipal finance matters, commission agreements for artwork, and licenses for film, performances, and events. She served as lead counsel for the City in the papal visit and Democratic National Convention transactions. Her clients have included the Managing Director’s Office; the Greater Philadelphia Film Office; the Department of Parks and Recreation; the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy; and the City Representative’s Office.

Born in New York City and raised in Michigan, she earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and her Juris Doctorate from Villanova University School of Law.

Valerie is an active member of numerous social service organizations.

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Tianna K. Kalogerakis, (she/her)

Director of Professional Development, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

(215) 683-5005

Tianna.Kalogerakis@phila.gov

As Director of Professional Development, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Tianna K. Kalogerakis assesses the needs of the Law Department and develops strategies, programs and systems to advance the Law Department’s goal to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the organization, and to enhance the skill sets of lawyers and staff.

Before joining the Law Department, Tianna was an associate at Kang Haggerty & Fetbroyt LLC where she handled commercial litigation and business disputes. Prior to Kang Haggerty, Tianna served as a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Lillian Harris Ransom, first at the Court of Common Pleas, then at the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

An active member of the Philadelphia community, she is a Past President of the Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia, Incorporated and held several leadership positions in the Barristers, including serving as Chair of the 2017 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Memorial Breakfast. Tianna served on the Executive Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division as an Appointed Member and is an Executive Committee Member of the Temple Law Alumni Women Leadership Initiative.

Tianna earned her Juris Doctorate from Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law and her undergraduate degree from the University of Florida.

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Ava Schwemler, (she/they)

Director of Communications

(215) 683-2974

ava.schwemler@phila.gov

Ava is the Director of Communications for the Law Department. She oversees the development of internal and external communications to enhance awareness of the Law Department, supports recruiting and DEI efforts, and fulfills press requests in coordination with clients in the City of Philadelphia.

She worked in the City of Burlington, Vermont’s Planning & Zoning Department as a Planning Intern, where she assisted with the drafting and publication of the 2019 update to the city’s Comprehensive Plan, planBTV. She also gained experience as a Clerk in the Office of the City Assessor, supporting communications to local business owners and managing property tax registrations.

As the Communications Coordinator for the City of Philadelphia’s Philly Counts Initiative, she worked to ensure a complete and accurate 2020 Census count. In this role, she also supported the City’s COVID-19 emergency response and supported the creation of the COVID-19 Community Response Captain Training.

Prior to the Law Department, she was the Communications and Community Partnership Manager at Friends of the Rail Park, where she led strategic communications, developed collaborative community programming, and supported planning efforts for future phases of the park.

Originally from Philadelphia, Ava is a graduate of the University of Vermont, where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Public Communications with a minor in Green Building and Sustainable Community Design.

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Nicolette Burgess-Bolden, (she/her)

Chair, Social Services

(215) 683-5141

nicolette.burgess@phila.gov

As chair of the Social Services Group, Nicolette Burgess-Bolden oversees the following units:

Child Welfare
Health & Adult Service

Nicolette began her career at the Law Department in April 2001, as an assistant city solicitor at the former Health and Human Services Unit, where she litigated child abuse and neglect cases and appeared in mental health hearings. She was later promoted to deputy city solicitor, divisional deputy city solicitor, and preceding her appointment as chair of the Social Services Law Group, Nicolette served as the inaugural chief of administration and specialty practice since September 2017 with the restructuring and expansion of the Child Welfare Unit. During her 19-year tenure of public service at the City of Philadelphia Law Department, Nicolette had the honor and privilege of serving the city’s most vulnerable population—the youth at risk of abuse, neglect, and delinquency—as a member of the Child Welfare Unit. Prior to joining the Law Department, Nicolette was an associate with the Law Office of Leon W. Tucker, Esquire where she specialized in trial advocacy and plaintiff and defense civil litigation. Nicolette is a graduate of Spelman College and North Carolina Central University School of Law.

Anne Taylor

Chair, Litigation Group

(215) 683-5381

anne.taylor@phila.gov

As Chair of the Litigation Group, Anne oversees litigation matters and supervises the following litigation units:

Appeals
Affirmative & Special Litigation
Civil Rights
Tort Litigation
Code & Public Nuisance Litigation
Labor & Employment

Anne rejoined the City of Philadelphia Law Department in January 2020, returning to serve as the Chief Deputy City Solicitor of the Civil Rights Unit. That team is responsible for representing the City and its employees in cases alleging violations of constitutional rights or intentional torts.

Anne began her legal career at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, and then held consecutive federal clerkships for the Honorable L. Felipe Restrepo and the Honorable Gene E.K. Pratter. She then joined the Law Department as an Assistant City Solicitor for the Civil Rights Unit. Next, she served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Civil Litigation Unit of the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, and then as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey. Anne is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Yale University, and a NITA-certified advocate.

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David Torres, (he/him/his)

Director of Administration

(215) 683-0368

David.Torres@phila.gov

David Torres is Director of Administration for the City of Philadelphia’s Law Department, and has held this title since 2020. In this role, he serves as principal administrative and fiscal officer for the department.

He oversees the following areas:

Fiscal
Human Resources
Information Technology
Contract Administration
Mailroom

David has been an employee of the City of Philadelphia since 2008, and has served in the Mayor’s Office, Inspector General’s Office, and Managing Director’s Office prior to joining the Law Department.

David is a graduate of Temple University, with a Bachelor’s degree in Adult and Organizational Development (2007).