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.

Mr. Brendel was designated as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer by Philadelphia magazine in 2005-2007.

Mr. Brendel was listed among The Best Lawyers in America® for 2008-2009.

Mr. Brendel was listed among The Best Lawyers by Corporate Counsel Magazine for 2007

• International Bar Association
• Association of International Arbitration
• Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
• Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County
• Allegheny County Bar Association (Judiciary Committee)
• American Bar Association (Litigation, Tort and Insurance Practice)
       ABA Task Force on Environmental Insurance Litigation
       Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee
• Federal Bar Association, Western Pennsylvania Chapter
• Pennsylvania Bar Association (Litigation Section)
• USA Rugby (Mr. Brendel is formerly Chairman of the Board of USA Rugby, the national governing body of the sport of rugby football and the North American representative to the International Rugby Board; Mr. Brendel played for the United States team at the First Rugby World Cup).