About Harry
Harry McGrath built a law career that crosses public service, school governance and federal court work. He earned a B.S. in Political Science and Criminal Justice from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania in 1979 and later took his law degree from Widener University School of Law. Those credentials underpinned a varied professional life that began outside the courthouse and moved steadily into it.
Early on McGrath served as a special agent for the United States Secret Service in 1983. He then moved into the legal world, clerking in 1992 for the Honorable William J. Nealon, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. That clerkship offered an inside view of federal litigation and procedure. Briefly after the clerkship he entered private practice and in 1994 became a partner at Cowley and McGrath Law Offices.
The mid-1990s also marked the start of a long involvement with local school districts. In 1994 he began serving as solicitor to the Scranton School District and took on the solicitor role for Mountain View School District in 1998. Those assignments overlapped with volunteer and board positions: he joined the board of the Ballet Theatre of Scranton in 1996 and served on the Widener University School of Law Alumni Association board earlier in the decade. He also served on the board of trustees for Friendship House of Scranton from 1995 to 2001.
In 1999 McGrath established McGrath Law Offices. The firm grew out of his private-practice work and his municipal and education law engagements. He holds admission to practice in Pennsylvania and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He is a member of the Pennsylvania State Bar, the American Bar Association, the Lackawanna County Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association. He has been active in the Pennsylvania School Board Solicitor Association and has remained involved in local politics as chairman of the Lackawanna County Democratic Party since 2006.
His career shows a mix of prosecutorial-style investigation, federal-court experience, and long service advising school boards and municipalities. Colleagues and clients have found that background useful when matters involve both education policy and litigation. He continues to practice through McGrath Law Offices and handles education law and school district matters, while representing clients in state and federal courts, including appeals before the Third Circuit.
