About Shanin
Shanin Specter came to law after a broad academic path that included studies at Harvard, Cambridge and the University of Pennsylvania. His formal training spans political science, international law and a professional law degree. Those threads reappear across a career that mixes practice and teaching.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University (B.A., 1980), where he studied political science and took additional coursework in the history of art at Bryn Mawr College. He then pursued advanced legal study at the University of Cambridge, receiving an LL.M. in International Law (1984). He completed his legal education with a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School (1984).
Specter moved quickly from education into legal practice. In 1995 he was a founding partner of Kline & Specter, P.C., a firm he helped establish and build. Five years later he returned to the University of Pennsylvania Law School as an adjunct professor of law in 2000, bringing practical courtroom perspective to students. Those two roles—the bench and the classroom—have defined much of his professional life since then.
His bar membership is in Pennsylvania, and he maintains ties to the state’s legal community through that affiliation. Within his practice he has combined trial work, case development and the management responsibilities that come with running a firm. Colleagues and former students have noted his interest in mentoring younger lawyers and in translating trial experience into classroom lessons.
Specter’s practice has been rooted in firm-based litigation. He has spent decades handling matters from initial investigation through courtroom presentation and appeals when necessary. He has also balanced those demands with teaching obligations and with the administrative tasks of partnership.
Today he remains at Kline & Specter, P.C., where he continues to work on litigation matters in Pennsylvania. His current practice blends courtroom advocacy, firm leadership and occasional teaching engagements.
