My, how things have changed in the last 100 years for the McQuaide Blasko Law Firm.
What started as one location with three lawyers founded in 1921 by John G. Love Jr., the son of a Civil War veteran and an ambulance driver in France during World War II, has evolved into four offices employing nearly 70 people, including 31 attorneys. The law firm now has offices across central Pennsylvania, in State College, Hershey, Hollidaysburg, and Williamsport. The practice initially opened in Bellefonte, but that office closed in the late 1980s, according to attorney John W. Blasko, who at 85 is now retired.
Among Love’s chief accomplishments, Blasko said, “was in 1939 when the Bellefonte High School burned down, he developed what’s called the John Love Bellefonte Plan, which was a plan whereby he could own the school and lease it back, which ultimately became the Municipal Authorities Act in Pennsylvania. … All the authorities and schools use that vehicle now.”
Love practiced solo until 1940, when Roy G. Wilkinson, a University of Pennsylvania graduate, joined him. Wilkinson later took over legal representation of Penn State University and, in 1963, negotiated the establishment of the Medical Hospital and School, now known as Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine.
Charles C. Brown, a Juniata graduate and future Centre County district attorney and judge, joined Love and Wilkinson in the early 1960s, followed by Blasko and Delbert “Del” McQuaide, also a Juniata graduate.
Love died in 1966, just three years after Blasko joined the firm.
Blasko notes that the two most significant changes he has seen since that time are the evolution of technology, which ultimately made it possible for the firm to continue to see clients on Zoom during the COVID-19 shutdown, and the move away from general practice law into more specific areas of practice.
“When I joined the firm, we didn’t have push-button phones, we didn’t have copying machines, we obviously didn’t have iPhones or computers. … We’d have to go over to the courthouse and do a wet type of copy, which was always blue,” Blasko said. The technology changed the practice of law, especially with last year’s COVID.”
When he started in 1963, it was not yet legal to film depositions. And while he said technology has been tough to adapt to, it has cut back on the number of secretaries, or legal assistants, that are needed.
“I have six kids, and all of them are experts. I call them ‘digitheads,’ but I’m not. I have an iPhone, but I always turn it off, and the secretaries get mad at me!
“The other thing that changed, which the firm adapted to in 1970, was specialization. In 1970, we decided to do two things: to grow and to specialize. In today’s world, it’s just difficult to be a general practitioner. … There are so many intricacies. … It’s difficult to keep up on all the law, so it gives you a chance to hone in on a particular area.”
That’s not to say that variety isn’t in the McQuaide Blasko wheelhouse: The firm’s website lists about a dozen different areas of practice. Blasko, for his part, specialized in medical malpractice, for more than 30 years.
The law firm recently marked its centennial in a big way: with a $100,000 gift to Blasko’s alma mater, Penn State’s Dickinson Law School, where he established the John C. Blasko Scholarship.
The firm’s philanthropy efforts involve dozens of organizations, Blasko said, including local Little League and soccer teams, the YMCA in Bellefonte and Hollidaysburg, the Center for the Performing Arts, the Hershey Symphony, Children’s Miracle Network, and the local United Way, to name a few.
“We’re really a part of the community,” he said. “We don’t just take the money and spend it, we give back.”
Blasko said he was amused while on a beach vacation this summer to see a child wearing a McQuaide Blasko T-shirt.
The firm also supports a $1,500 scholarship in honor of Wilkinson, who died in 1995.
“It keeps Wilkinson’s name in Bellefonte where he started out,” Blasko said.
Though McQuaide passed away in 1997, his remains in the name of the firm mainly because he was so recognizable, Blasko said.
“He was a hell of a good lawyer,” he said.
Key Dates:
1921: First office opens on High Street in Bellefonte
1940: Roy G. Wilkinson joins Love, renamed Love and Wilkinson
1965: Original State College office opens
1973: State College office moves
Early 1990s: Bellefonte office closes
Late 1990s: Hershey location opens
2003: Hollidaysburg office opens
2010: Name changes to McQuaide Blasko Inc.
2016: Williamsport location opens
Source: John W. Blasko
This story appears in the September 2021 issue of Town&Gown.
