25 Years Anniversary

Vast Knowledge And Well-Rounded Experience To Every Legal Matter

Group photo of Christine Gale, Frederick N. Frank, Gregory M. Pocrass and John G. Harshman
25 Years Anniversary

25 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE
IN LEGAL SERVICES

Mary McKinney Flaherty

profile
  • Of Counsel

Location:

Phone:

Fax:

412-471-7351

Email:

Mary McKinney Flaherty concentrates her legal practice on succession and exit planning for the owners of closely held businesses and on complex family cases involving closely held businesses, particularly where issues of business valuation are involved. Pre- and Post-nuptial agreements represent a significant portion of her practice.

Mary is also a mediator adept at resolving conflicts among business partners and families in business together, particularly where issues of business valuation or business succession are involved.

Prior to joining Frank, Gale, Bails & Pocrass, P.C., Mary was a senior associate at two global law firms, Reed Smith LLP in Pittsburgh and Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, DC, where she gained experience working with corporate clients large and small across various industries. Prior to that, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Joseph F. Weis, Jr., United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Mary is a 2021 MBA graduate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, with high honors, where she was an Amy and Richard F. Wallman Scholar and received the class prize in Negotiations. Her MBA studies concentrated in finance, behavioral economics, and strategy. She is also 2005 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, where she served as an articles editor and production editor of the University of Chicago Legal Forum and as a teaching assistant to Professor Gerald Rosenberg. She received her AM in 2002 from Georgetown University, magna cum laude, where she majored in History and English.

In 2018, she graduated from the Women's Institute for Leadership in Law (WILL), a leadership development program that is a collaboration of the Allegheny County Bar Association (ACBA) and the CMU Tepper School of Business. Her WILL cohort selected her as its graduation speaker.

Mary is actively involved in the Bar Association. In 2022, she was elected by her peers to serve a three-year term on the Board of Governors of the ACBA. She is also the Immediate Past Chair of the ACBA Women in the Law Division, Co-Chair of the ACBA Ad Hoc Gender Equality Survey Committee, and previously was an elected member of the ACBA Judiciary Committee. She serves as a volunteer for the Allegheny County Neighborhood Legal Services Protection from Abuse Project and also for Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, Pennsylvania.

A proud resident of the City of Pittsburgh and a lover of the arts, Mary is the current Chair of the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and a past Chair of its Strategic Planning Committee. She is as also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust of the Executive Committee of the Women's Committee of the Carnegie Museum of Art. On weekends, you can find Mary in the yoga studio or out enjoying a gallery opening, a new restaurant, a performance in the theater, or a stroll around the city with her husband, Mark Flaherty.

Year Joined Firm

  • 2016

Areas of Practice

  • Business and Corporate
  • Succession Planning
  • Pre- and Post-Nuptial Agreements
  • Mediation

Bar Admissions

  • Pennsylvania, 2005
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit, 2007

Education

  • University of Chicago Law School, Chicago, Illinois
    • J.D. - 2005
    • Honors: Teaching Assistant to Professor Gerald N. Rosenberg, Law and Politics: United States Courts as Political Institutions
    • Honors: Research Assistant to Professor Cass R. Sunstein, Chicago Judges Project
    • Honors: Appellate Advocacy Clinic with Judge Abner Mikva
  • Georgetown University
    • A.B. - 2002
    • Honors: magna cum laude
    • Honors: Departmental Honors in History
    • Honors: Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society
    • Major: History
    • Major: English
  • University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Chicago, Illinois
    • M.B.A. - 2021
    • Honors: With High Honors
    • Honors: Amy and Richard F. Wallman Scholar (top 5% of class)
    • Honors: Poets & Quants Magazine’s “Best and Brightest” Executive MBA Students (nominated by the Dean’s office and selected by Poets & Quants Magazine as one of two Booth students featured)
    • Honors: Prize in Negotiations (to 3 scorers in class)
    • Honors: Elected to Student Council
    • Honors: Booth Women Advance Leadership Development Program
    • Honors: Booth Social Impact Initiative

Classes/Seminars

  • Lecturer, Corporate Governance, Duquesne University School of Law, 2022
  • Adjunct Professor, Writing in the Legal Professions, University of Pittsburgh, 2006 - 2007
  • Teaching Assistant, Law and Politics: United States Courts as Political Institutions, The University of Chicago, 2004 - 2005

Professional Associations and Memberships

  • Allegheny County Bar Association (Board of Governors, Past Judiciary Committee, Past Chair of Women in the Law Division)
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association
  • Mediation Council of Western Pennsylvania
  • Pennsylvania Council of Mediators

Past Employment Positions

  • McKinney Point Asset Management, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Vice President, 2012 to 2015
  • Reed Smith LLP, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Associate, 2010 to 2012
  • Covington & Burling LLP, Washington, District of Columbia - Associate, 2007 to 2010
  • Judge Joseph F. Weis, Jr., United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit - Law Clerk, 2005 to 2007
  • Judge Maureen Lally-Green, Superior Court of Pennsylvania - Intern (Summer 2004)
  • University of Pittsburgh, Adjunct Faculty, 2006 to 2007

Pro Bono Activities

  • Chair, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Board of Directors
  • Executive Committee, Carnegie Museum of Art, Women’s Committee
  • Board Member, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
  • Volunteer, Protection From Abuse project of Neighborhood Legal Services Association
  • Volunteer, Pittsburgh Pro Bono Project