Charles B. Gibbons

In Memoriam

A note from Firm Chairman and CEO Joe Dougherty about Charlie Gibbons

Charlie was a tremendously talented lawyer and was universally kind to everyone with whom he worked. His colleagues describe him as a consummate trial lawyer’s lawyer. He loved both the academic and practice aspects of the law. Charlie was invested in the personal and professional growth of all of those who worked with him.

Charlie was a past chairperson of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Evidence Committee and was a member of the original committee which drafted the Rules of Evidence for the Commonwealth. Charlie was the author of several reference books directed toward evidence and trial practice, including the Pennsylvania Rules of Evidence with Trial Objections, A Student’s Guide to Trial Objections, Federal Trial Objections, and Federal Rules of Evidence with Trial Objections.

We will remember Charlie for training and mentoring new and aspiring lawyers, both within the Firm and as an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Charlie was known for involving summer associates and junior level associates in drafting his many books and articles on evidence and trial objections.

Charlie loved being in the courtroom and remains present in courtrooms through his published works. During the 2022 Firm Mock Trial, Charlie learned that The Honorable John Cleland, who served as the Mock Trial judge, always kept a copy of Charlie’s Pennsylvania Rules of Evidence with Trial Objections with him on the bench. Judge Cleland expressed deep gratitude when Charlie stopped by the Mock Trial to present the judge with the latest edition, autographed.

His friend and colleague Jack Barbour noted that “Charlie enriched the lives of all who worked around him. For those of us who knew Charlie, we have lost a real friend.”

We will miss Charlie, who was a special part of our Buchanan family.

Charles B. Gibbons' practice includes trial and appellate experience in complex commercial civil litigation, including public procurement issues, construction, labor and the environment as well as litigation in the U.S. Tax Court.

From 1970 to 1973, Charles served as a law clerk to the Honorable Michael J. Eagen, chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

In connection with the firm's institutional practice, Charles serves as legal counsel to Carlow College.

Charles is a frequent lecturer for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute on topics of evidence and trial practice. Since 2006, he has been consistently selected to the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers^® list. He has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America^® consecutively since 2014 under the Commercial Litigation and Litigation - Construction categories. In 2021, Charles was honored by the Pennsylvania Bar Association with a PBA Fifty-Year Member Award, which recognizes lawyers who have been association members for five decades.

He is a past chairman of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Evidence Committee and was a member of the original committee which drafted the Rules of Evidence for the commonwealth.