Marshall Dennehey Attorneys Elected to Leadership Positions of the Philadelphia Bar Association
Melanie J. Foreman Will Serve as an Officer and Jahlee J. Hatchett is Elected to the Board of Governors
Melanie J. Foreman, shareholder in Marshall Dennehey’s Philadelphia office, has been elected an Officer of the Philadelphia Bar Association, serving as Assistant Secretary for a one-year term beginning January 1, 2024. She has served on its Board of Governors for the past three years, with that term expiring also on January 1.
Additionally, Jahlee J. Hatchett, associate in the Philadelphia office, has been elected to the Bar Association’s Board of Governors for a three-year term, effective January 1, 2024. In serving on the board, he joins Josh J.T. Byrne, Chair of Marshall Dennehey’s Disciplinary Board Representation Practice Group, who was elected to the board last year.
Foreman, who is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation, has a long history of leadership and service within the bar association and the greater Philadelphia legal community. She co-chaired the Association’s 2023 Bench-Bar Conference. She is a Board member of Community Legal Services and President of the Temple American Inn of Court. She is additionally a member of Impact100 Philadelphia, a women’s group devoted to philanthropic causes in the community, and she serves as the University of Pennsylvania Alumni Interviewing Co-Chair for the Philadelphia Region.
At Marshall Dennehey, she is a member of the firm’s Casualty Department where she focuses her practice on litigation related to product liability, premises and municipal liability and commercial transportation. Beyond her practice and professional activities, Foreman finds time to play the trombone in Marshall Dennehey’s in-house rock band, “Marshall Dennehey and the Class Action Horns.”
She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the University of Pennsylvania, and is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New York.
A member of Marshall Dennehey’s Professional Liability Department, Hatchett focuses his practice in the areas of employment law, civil rights, and municipal liability. He represents public and private employers in wrongful discharge, employment discrimination and defamation claims from administrative proceedings through trial. Prior to joining Marshall Dennehey in 2022, Hatchett was an advisor for a municipal police department and also worked as a prosecutor in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.
Hatchett is the Immediate Past President of the Barristers' Association of Philadelphia. He also sits on three nonprofit boards: the Philadelphia's Citizen Police Oversight Commission (CPOC), the Philadelphia City Institute and the Board of Trustees for Independence Charter School West. In 2022, Hatchett was recognized by The Philadelphia Tribune as one of Philadelphia's most influential African Americans. In 2023, Hatchett was also recognized as one of the 100 most powerful people in Pennsylvania. He is also an alumnus of Leadership Philadelphia.
A graduate of Temple University, Hatchett received his juris doctor from Widener University School of Law. He additionally holds a Master's Degree in Organizational Development and Leadership from St. Joseph’s University. He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.