Clifford A. Goldstein

Mr. Goldstein’s extensive litigation experience includes the handling toxic tort cases, as well as cases involving occupational hearing loss, occupational disease death claims,  and firefighter cancer claims. He has litigated cases at all levels, including more than 40 cases in the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, and has argued three cases before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Mr. Goldstein has been instrumental in the creation of new case law on psychiatric disability and stress related heart attack claims while litigating these issues all the way through requests for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court.

Mr. Goldstein litigates high profile and complex workers’ compensation cases, including the litigation of more than 20 death claims and more than 60 cases of allegedly occupationally induced cancers. Using novel approaches, he has won more than 20 occupational cancer claims despite a statutory presumption of causation, saving Chartwell’s clients over $15 million.

Mr. Goldstein has also been a driving force in the campaign to stop the prescription of compounded pain creams, and is in the process of challenging the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s process of handling pricing of prescription drugs.

Notably, after defending hundreds of occupational hearing loss claims, including litigation in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Mr. Goldstein was engaged by the steel industry to assist in drafting a new statute to combat an avalanche of claims that threatened to cripple Pennsylvania businesses.  Mr. Goldstein served as a primary drafter of Act 1 of 1995; Pennsylvania’s hearing loss compensation reform law. This statute saved Mr. Goldstein’s clients an estimated $200 million in compensation payments.  Mr. Goldstein remains a leading “go-to” authority in occupational hearing loss cases.

Directly after law school, Mr. Goldstein served as an Assistant District Attorney under Ed Rendell in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. He then joined the firm of Rawle & Henderson in 1985, and became the partner in charge of the Workers’ Compensation Unit in 1990. Mr. Goldstein was also the founding partner of the law firm Weber Goldstein Greenberg & Gallagher, LLP, and served as that firm’s Managing Partner from 1991 to 1999.

Mr. Goldstein took a leave of absence from the practice of law from 1999 to 2002 to found and run an investment advisory firm and to launch the AMIDEX35 Israel Mutual Fund. During that time, he was a frequent guest on CNBC, CBS Marketwatch, Fox News and CNN, commenting on the Israeli economy and Israeli stocks. Mr. Goldstein has addressed hundreds of investment groups and other organizations around the country to promote investment in Israel. He served on the Board of the America Israel Chamber of Commerce and was a recipient of the AICC’s Mayor’s Citation for his work in fostering closer business ties between Philadelphia and Israel.  

Mr. Goldstein has authored several articles and book chapters on various workers’ compensation related topics, including comprehensive guides to the litigation of stress claims under the Pennsylvania and Longshore & Harbor Workers’ Compensation Acts. Mr. Goldstein served as a faculty member and an author for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s Advanced Workers’ Compensation Programs, and has lectured extensively on complex workers’ compensation and medical causation issues.