Pond Lehocky’s Ashleigh Quinn Gallagher and Raphael Castro spoke at laborers’ union meeting

Pond Lehocky associates Ashleigh Quinn Gallagher and Raphael Castro will be speaking at the Feb. 12 member meeting for Laborers Local 57. Gallagher will discuss what union members should know about their rights to Social Security disability benefits. Castro will talk about what they should know regarding workers’ compensation.

Laborers’ Local 57 is affiliated with the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA). It is one of four locals that comprise the Laborers’ District Council of Philadelphia and Vicinity. The union represents infrastructure, utility and other construction workers.

Gallagher is a senior associate at Pond Lehocky, focusing her practice on workers’ compensation and Social Security disability. She received her J.D. from Villanova University School of Law and earned her bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University.

Before joining Pond Lehocky, Gallagher worked as a legal intern with the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union No. 19 through the Peggy Browning Fellowship Program, counseling members about a variety of legal issues and participating in collective bargaining negotiations.

Castro joined Pond Lehocky in 2017, concentrating his practice on helping injured and disabled workers. Prior to that, he worked as an assistant district attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, litigating both violent and property crime.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Temple University in 2011 and his law degree from Widener University School of Law in 2014. After graduating, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Sheila Woods-Skipper, President Judge of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

Union outreach is important to Pond Lehocky, which prides itself as a fierce advocate for labor. For Pond Lehocky, it’s personal. Many of the firm’s attorneys and staff members come from union backgrounds and Managing Partner Samuel Pond is the president of Union Services Access, a legal consulting services network for unions and their members.

In August, pro-labor media platform and service provider PhillyLabor recognized Pond Lehocky for its commitment to unions, naming it the Who’s Who in Injury and Injured Workers Advocacy Program Firm of the Year. The honor recognizes the firm’s “exemplary representation of injured workers and disabled citizens” from across the Philadelphia area.