Corporate, International, Commercial and Bankruptcy Law:  Including general corporate and international matters; letters of credit; creditors’ rights, bankruptcy, insolvency law and corporate reorganizations under Chapter 11; secured transactions, asset-based financing and leveraged buyouts; banking and lender liabilities; commercial law; and German practice group

• Allegheny County Bar Association
• American Bankruptcy Institute
• American Bar Association (Business Bankruptcy Committee)
• American Law Institute (Member, Consultative Group for the Transnational Insolvency Project)
• Fellow, American Bar Foundation
• Fellow, American College of Bankruptcy
• Member, Advisory Board, Center for International Legal Education, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
• Past President and Treasurer, Harvard Law School Association of Western Pennsylvania
• Pennsylvania Bar Association
• TriBar Opinion Committee
• Member, International Insolvency Institute

Civic and International Activities

• Honorary Consul for the Federal Republic of Germany
• Ruling Elder, The Presbyterian Church, Sewickley
• Chair Emeritus, Board of Trustees, World Learning, Inc. (formerly the U.S. Experiment in International Living)
• Member, Board of Visitors, University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
• Former Member, Advisory Board, The Center for Business, Religion, and Public Life, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
• Member, Global Focus Advisory Board, Chatham College
• Former Member, Board of Directors, American Council on Germany (Pittsburgh's Eric M. Warburg Chapter Director)
• Chairman of the Board of Directors, World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh
• Member, Holocaust Center Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh
• Member, Advisory Board, German Experiment in International Living (Experiment e.V.) in Bonn, Germany
• Member, Board of Directors, The Balmoral School of Highland Piping, Inc.

In February 2010, Mr. Murdoch was presented with the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany) by  Dr. Horst Freitag, Consul General of Germany in New York for strengthening German-American relationships. The Cross of the Order of Merit is the only honor that may be awarded in all fields of endeavor and is the highest tribute that the Federal Republic of Germany can pay to individuals, whether Germans or foreigners, for services to the nation. The award is given for achievements in the political, economic, social or intellectual realm for all kinds of outstanding services to Germany in the field of social, charitable or philanthropic work.

Mr. Murdoch has been selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2010 edition of Best Lawyers in America in the areas of banking law, bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law and international trade and finance law. This most recent selection now places Mr. Murdoch among a distinguished group of lawyers who have been listed in Best Lawyers for ten years or more.

Other notable recognitions include listings in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, Who’s Who in the East, and as a Pennsylvania SuperLawyer Top 50 in Philadelphia Magazine (June 2006 and May 2009).