Thomas Kerstan, longtime LASP Staff Attorney based in Chester City, Delaware County, to retire Dec. 31 after 16+ years of service

(Dec. 27, 2023)

Thomas Kerstan is retiring Dec. 31, 2023 after 16+ years of service as a Legal Aid of Southeastern PA (LASP) attorney. Throughout his career, he was based in our Chester City, Delaware County office. He is pictured Oct. 26, 2023 following the Delaware County Bar Association's Pro Bono Week CLE in Media, Pennsylvania.

CHESTER City - Thomas Kerstan, Staff Attorney and Delaware County Pro Bono Coordinator, is retiring Dec. 31, 2023 after 16+ years at Legal Aid of Southeastern PA. He started at LASP on July 2, 2007. Throughout his time at LASP, he was based in the Chester City office in Delaware County, starting at 410 Welsh Street and moving to Avenue of the States in April 2018.

Tom holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Villanova University and a J.D. from Temple Law School. 

He shared some reflections below:

"My only legal work between law school and LASP was document review. I knew I didn't want to do that for long; I knew I wanted to represent people in the courtroom and LASP gave me that opportunity. During my time at LASP, I worked primarily in housing, including public housing and the housing choice voucher program, known to most as Section 8, and child custody. For a brief period, I also handled Protection from Abuse (PFA) cases.

"One of my most unlikely wins was for a man who had agreed, before he came to LASP, to his wife taking his two boys to Texas. Several years after she and the boys moved to Texas, her attorney was trying to move the case to Texas. Based on the fact that she was a flight attendant and had a brother in PA whom she visited, I was able to convince the court to keep jurisdiction in Pennsylvania, which was important because if jurisdiction was moved to Texas, our client would not have seen those boys again for the rest of their childhood.

"I accepted the position as pro bono coordinator in 2015. I had not applied for it. At the time the decision was made that the pro bono coordinator for each county should be an attorney. Prior to that decision, the pro bono coordinator for some counties, including Delaware County, had been a paralegal. I had always enjoyed attending bar events and interacting with the local bar including the bench bar conference. It was because of my interaction with the local bar that I was offered the pro bono coordinator position."

Thank you, Tom, for your service to LASP and to Delaware County! Best wishes on your retirement!