NEW BETHLEHEM \u2013 A new attorney with Clarion County roots recently joined a longtime New Bethlehem law practice.<\/p>\n
Griffin J. Schmader joined the Law Offices of William E. Hager III along Broad Street in New Bethlehem at the start of April, and said his caseload is already growing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the best way for the world to be fair is through the law,\u201d Schmader said of his motivation to pursue a career as an attorney. He noted that lawyers are able to help people through their toughest times. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re here for.\u201d<\/p>\n
A graduate of North Clarion High School, and from the Lucinda area, Schmader said he started off college with two years at Penn State Behrend Campus, before moving to Clarion University of Pennsylvania to finish out his undergraduate degree in 2020.<\/p>\n
The son of Kyle and Heather Schmader, he then moved on to the Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg, where he spent three years.<\/p>\n
Schmader interned with the York County District Attorney\u2019s Office, followed by work in the Clarion County District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to move back to the area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Schmader said he passed the Bar Exam in July 2025, and began talking with Hager about joining the New Bethlehem practice.<\/p>\n
With his background in the district attorney offices, Schmader said he had thought of focusing only on criminal law, but instead decided to become more well rounded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to do as much as possible,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I do love trial work.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the Hager law firm, Schmader said he working on a variety of cases, including estates, family law, personal injury, property law and criminal cases.<\/p>\n
With a little over a month under his belt in New Bethlehem, Schmader said he has enjoyed the work so far, and likes working with Hager, who he said has been able to offer him a great deal of advice and guidance.<\/p>\n
The feeling is mutual, as Hager said he\u2019s grateful to have Schmader on board.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my 42 years of practicing law, I can tell you that Griffin is a brilliant, young attorney with a dedicated work ethic and a keen understanding of the nuances of the law,\u201d Hager said. \u201cHe understands the legal issues of our clients.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hager said he\u2019s particularly noticed that Schmader is \u201ca good listener as to what that particular client is going through and quickly focuses in on solving the legal issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has a high emotional IQ and is able to outline for the client how the resolution of the legal matter will impact the client,\u201d Hager said. \u201cI have noticed he quickly responds to any of their questions and is pro-active in communicating with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to Griffin enjoying a very successful practice of law in the Clarion County area and in the adjoining counties where we represent clients.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schmader said he\u2019s hopeful to continue to grow the practice in the years to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t plan on going anywhere,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW BETHLEHEM \u2013 A new attorney with Clarion County roots recently joined a longtime New Bethlehem law practice.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,740,742],"class_list":["post-186164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-justice","tag-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}