Mr. Brendel maintains a commercial litigation and arbitration practice including an active trial and counseling practice encompassing commercial contracts and construction disputes, business torts, toxic torts, product liability litigation, and intellectual property disputes. Mr. Brendel also has experience representing policyholders in insurance coverage disputes involving underlying toxic torts, environmental and nuclear hazard liabilities, fire, explosion and natural disaster losses, marine casualties, business interruption claims, and other types of insured losses, as well as broker liability claims. Mr. Brendel has been lead trial counsel in complex insurance cases pending or concluded in both state and federal courts located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Ohio, Texas, California, Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa and Louisiana and has acted as special insurance counsel in reorganization proceedings in the United States Courts of Appeal for the Third and Fifth Circuits. Mr Brendel is registered to practice before the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts.
Mr. Brendel has been a lawyer with K&L Gates since 1979 and a partner since 1986. He has addressed professional groups on numerous occasions on trial and arbitration issues related to insurance coverage and employer liability. Mr. Brendel has served as an American Arbitration Association mediator and arbitrator, as a Special Master in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and as an arbitrator in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.