About Thomas A.
Thomas A. Pendleton earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1993 after completing undergraduate studies at Allegheny College in 1987. He arrived in the profession at a time of change in the early 1990s, prepared to practice at both trial and appellate levels. His education set a broad base for a practice that would span business, education-related matters, and court work.
He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and in several courts that handle commercial and appellate issues. Those admissions include the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. That range allows him to move cases from the trial docket to the appellate stage when necessary.
Pendleton is a partner at MacDonald, Illig, Jones & Britton. In that role he has handled business and commercial matters for a varied client base. Colleagues describe his approach as steady and methodical. He combines courtroom experience with transactional work, and he has taken part in both litigation and counseling assignments at the firm.
His professional memberships reflect the breadth of his practice. He holds memberships in the Pennsylvania State Bar, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. Locally, he chairs the Erie County Bar Association’s Business & Commercial Law Section. That leadership post keeps him engaged with other lawyers on developments in corporate, contract, and commercial law.
Outside the courtroom he maintains a steady presence in community organizations. Since 2009 he has served as treasurer of the board for Community Country Day School. He is also involved with the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools, a group that tracks policy and operational matters affecting charter schools in the state. Those roles tie his legal work to local schools and nonprofit governance issues.
Pendleton’s career follows a familiar arc for lawyers who combine firm practice with civic involvement. He has balanced casework, transactional duties, bar leadership and board service. He is known for practical legal reasoning and an emphasis on clear, manageable solutions rather than theatrical litigation.
He continues to practice at MacDonald, Illig, Jones & Britton, where he handles business and commercial law matters and remains involved in issues connected to charter schools and school governance. He currently focuses on business and commercial law and matters related to charter schools.
