Lisa A. Lori

As of July 1, 2024, Lisa’s primary role is President of Marywood University. She made history, becoming the first lay President of the university since its founding over 100 years ago.

Lisa is an experienced litigator and strategic business advisor with extensive experience representing higher education institutions. Lisa specializes in solving clients’ most complex problems, whether through litigation in courts or arbitration forums or working behind the scenes to find solutions. Clients across the nation call on Lisa to handle a wide range of high-stakes matters involving complex business and intellectual property disputes, as well as representing them in internal and external investigations. For more than 20 years, Lisa has proven herself before judges, juries and other decision-makers in boardrooms across the nation.

Prior to her presidency at Marywood, she was co-chair of the firm’s education and healthcare industry groups and a member of the data, privacy and cybersecurity, franchise & licensing and retail, restaurant & hospitality industry groups. Lisa also served as General Counsel to La Salle University.

Lisa’s depth of experience and success is best illustrated from three cases that she recently handled:

• Won the complete acquittal of a client in a criminal tax fraud jury trial, where the government (who boasts a 90-plus percent conviction rate in tax matters) accused Lisa’s client — a successful health care provider — of filing false tax returns by failing to report more than $1 million in earnings and taking alleged improper deductions.
• Obtained a confidential global settlement on behalf of a multi-specialty health care provider in extensive litigation against one of the nation’s largest health care networks and several of its physicians involving claims of unfair competition and breaches of non-competition restrictive covenants.
• Led efforts to enforce multiple patents on behalf of a software as a service (SaaS) provider, including through litigation, and as a result, obtained settlements involving, among other things, license arrangements.

Press Release, “Lisa Lori Named First Lay President of Marywood University,” April 9, 2024

Co-author, “Gainful Employment Rule May Put Some School Programs at Risk of Losing Federal Funding,” October 2, 2023

Co-author, “Third Circuit Finds Students May Proceed with Breach of Contract Claims Against Universities Based on Campus Closures During COVID-19 Pandemic,” August 22, 2023

Co-Author, “Taco John’s “Taco Tuesday” Trademark: A Surrender in the Battle Against Taco Bell,” August 1, 2023

Press Release, “Lisa Lori Honored With City & State’s Above & Beyond Award,” March 27, 2023

Profiled, “The 2023 Above & Beyond Recognizing 50 remarkable women who are blazing new trails,” City & State Pennsylvania, March 13, 2023

Author, “Judge Rules Pennsylvania’s System of School Funding is Unconstitutional,” March 9, 2023

Presenter, “The Intersection Between Title IX and Title VII,” accredited CLE program,”  March 8, 2023

Author, “PA Court Finds ‘Special Assessment Fee’ is Actually an Improper “Tax” Assessed Against a Non-Profit University,” February 3, 2023

Author, “The Biden Administration Proposes New Title IX Regulations,” June 24, 2022

Presenter, “Intersection of IP and Bankruptcy Law,” Pennsylvania Bar Association, May 12, 2022

Presenter, “Title IX Trends & Updates,” accredited CLE Program, April 6, 2022

Press Release, “Lori Appointed to Board of Directors for Jefferson University Physicians,” November 10, 2021

Quoted, “Commonwealth Health Drops Challenge to Delta Medix Sale,” The Scranton Times-Tribune, October 29, 2021

Quoted, “Delta Medix Agrees to Sell Practice to Lehigh Valley Physicians Group, but Scranton Hospitals Object,” The Scranton Times-Tribune, September 27, 2021

Quoted, “Jefferson Health hacked as cyber criminals seize info on cancer patients. Temple hospital hacked, too,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 26, 2021

Author, “What President Biden’s New Executive Order May Mean For Your Non-Competition Agreements,” July 12, 2021

Presenter, “Avoiding Personal Liability for Higher Education Officers in the Post-COVID World-Fiduciary Duty Compliance in Times of Financial Distress,” Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania’s AICUP Campus Leaders Forum 2021, June 24, 2021

Author, “A Changing Title IX Landscape Brings Challenges For Schools,” Law360, March 17, 2021

Author, “Modernization of Intellectual Property Laws Under the New Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,” December 28, 2020

Presenter, “Cybersecurity: What You Need to Know to Protect Your Business,” July 26, 2020

Author, “Potential Legal Land Mines For Colleges Opening This Fall,” Law360, June 10, 2020

Presenter, “Secure Your Future Against Cyber Attacks,” AIM Virtual XP, June 4, 2020

Presenter, “How to Avoid Getting into Hot Water with Your PPP Loan Funds,” AIM Smarter LLC, May 28, 2020

Presenter, “Continuing Legal Education: Navigating COVID-19: The Path to Recovery for Small Businesses,” Pennsylvania Bar Institute, April 22, 2020

Presenter, “How the CARES Act Loan Program Can Help Your Small Business or Nonprofit,” April 2, 2020

Mentioned and Quoted, “Forty Fort Dentist Acquitted of Fraud Charges,” Citizens Voice, June 15, 2019

Quoted, “Delta Medix Sues Former Partners For Practicing In Scranton,” The Scranton Times-Tribune, July 3, 2019

Quoted, “Urologists Say Delta Medix Forced Them Out,” The Scranton Times-Tribune, October 3, 2018

Quoted, “Newspaper Union: $77M Too High a Price For IGM Auction,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 25, 2014

Quoted, “Union Official: Inquirer Bidders Could Include CWA, Perelman,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 17, 2014

Quoted, “Guild is Allowed To Join IGM’s Legal Dispute,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 8, 2014

Presenter, “Addressing Brand-Associated Adverse Events,” 5th Annual Anti-Counterfeiting for Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Conference, June 2014

Presenter, “How Harmless Is That Hold Harmless Agreement? Best Practices for Protecting Distributors” Quality Certification Alliance, QCA Connect, Spring 2014

Quoted, “Newspaper Guild Jumps Into Inquirer / Daily News Ownership Fray,” Philadelphia Magazine, January 13, 2014

Speaker, “Mock Trade Secret Preliminary Injunction Hearing,” Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s 7th Annual Intellectual Property Law Institute, April 2013

Author, “From the Conference Room to the Chat Room,” Print Professional Magazine, April 2012

Mentioned, “Harvey Diamond: From High Life to Low Point,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, September 26, 2010

Mentioned, “Harvey Diamond Sued Over Son’s Ponzi Scheme,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, August 21, 2010

Author, “Are Your Labels Legal?” Promo Marketing Magazine, June 2010

Quoted, “Diamond Denies Link To Fraud Case,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, August 5, 2009,

Author, “Risky Business,” Print Professional Magazine, August 2009

Author, “Play It Safe,” Print Professional Magazine, May 2009

Presenter, Pennsylvania State Police Anti-Counterfeiting Training, 2005

Presenter, Safeguarding Proprietary Information in Pennsylvania, January 2005

Presenter, Building an E-Commerce Foundation: Fundamental Laws and Issues, June 2003

Presenter, Pennsylvania Copyright Law Boot Camp, February 2002

• Successfully defending manufacturers of consumer products against claims of false advertising brought by the Federal Trade Commission.
• Successfully representing companies in government investigations relating to false advertising and data breaches, and avoiding government enforcement actions for clients’ data breach matters.
• Obtaining dismissal of all claims brought against a well-known children’s toy manufacturer for fraud and misappropriation of intellectual property.
• Representing a lender in a $2.9 billion resort and casino development on the Las Vegas strip in litigation involving claims for fraud and conspiracy.
• Succeeding in defending a nationally known New York Times best-selling author in claims brought by investors in a Ponzi scheme run by client’s son, where investors alleged that Lisa’s client had a role in the Ponzi scheme.