The House on Boyce Road

Attorney John Biedrzycki

I am a firm believer that every decent lawyer should start his or her career working for a senior attorney who is not only a boss, but also a mentor. Very little of what is taught in law school relates to the interpersonal and business aspects of the profession. Thankfully, when I passed the bar exam in 2003, my uncle, David B. Cercone, and his business partner, Anthony Erlain, took me under their wings to begin my legal education. Their practice consisted of personal injury work, representing people hurt in a range of cases from car crashes to construction site injuries, as well as a robust criminal law practice representing some of the more notorious figures in Pittsburgh. My salary consisted of lunch five times a week, tons of experience working on cases, and I could keep half of whatever business I brought in. Needless to say, the first year I didn’t make very much money working for David and Anthony, other than adding about four inches to my waistline, as their “diet” lunch was fish sandwiches at Benkovitz in the Strip District. However, I was in court every single morning and worked injury cases each afternoon, taking in countless hours of invaluable experience.

David and Anthony were more than law mentors, they were business and life mentors. They treated all of their clients with respect and compassion, even criminal clients with whom you would not want to be in the same room, let alone defend. Additionally, they showed me how they were equally as charitable as they were successful, donating time and money to a variety of causes.

When the time came to propose to my wife, Beth, a Doctor of Pharmacy and Upper St. Clair graduate, David insisted on helping me pick out the ring and Anthony was a reader at our wedding mass at St. Louise. Beth and I spent many enjoyable weekends on David’s yacht, sailing Lake Erie. When our children, Max and Molly, were born, David and Anthony were among the first visitors. In 2006 when we bought our home in USC, they helped us with move-in day, all day. However, in this business, you’ve got to make it on your own if you’re going to make it at all. And thus, the time came for me to leave the nest, taking with me not only a lot of legal experience, but a philosophy for practicing law with civility, compassion, at times humility, and always with honesty.

I started my own practice, at first working from home and shortly thereafter moving to rented office space on Upper St. Clair’s McMurray Road. I added commercial real estate and business work to the personal injury and criminal practice I’d developed. My focus now was not only on building my business, but also on raising two very energetic and inquisitive children. Thankfully, my in-laws also lived in USC, which allowed me the opportunity to put in the time necessary to become further established, and afforded my wife the ability to advance her career in pharmacy, including obtaining Beth, Molly, Max, and John her board certification in geriatric pharmacy.

The refurbished Defender House, with the business van in the foreground

As the years went by and with a lot of hard work and a good dose of luck, things began to fall into place. Beth and I spent the little leisure time we had watching Molly and Max play USC travel soccer, with Molly on a Beadling team and Max playing for Century. Somehow, I also found time to serve as president of the Upper St. Clair-Bethel Park Rotary the year that organization initiated the USC Farmers’ Market in the south parking lot of Westminster Church. Along the way, I earned my FAA private pilot certificate and spent time flying around the area. It was a great stress reliever.

The evening of August 8, 2018, I was texting with David about a high-profile case I was handling that was all over the local news. I told him that I was handling it the way I thought he would have, and only commenting to the media if it might help my client. He told me he’d seen a lot of the coverage and that I was doing an excellent job, which I found personally notable, since he was not quick to give a compliment.

The next morning, I awakened to a 5:30 a.m. phone call from Anthony that David was in the ER at Passavant Hospital. It was a heart attack, and I needed to get there fast. David had already passed before the call, but Anthony wanted to tell me in person when I got there. Being the only family member present and the one most familiar with David’s affairs—as all of his siblings lived out of town and he never married, not to mention that at 57, he’d not gotten around to writing his will—the hours, days, and months that followed were the most grim and challenging times of my life.

As the months went by, I grew increasingly mentally worn out. One day, my paralegal, Jill, suggested we take a break and order pizza. Ordering from Ardolino’s, I decided to jump in my car and drive down to pick it up to clear my head. I’d been casually checking out buildings along Boyce Road, looking for a place to buy instead of rent that would also increase my square footage. Having lived in USC for 14 years and driven Boyce Road countless times, I never noticed a red brick house across the street from Ardolino’s until the day I picked up that pizza. I noticed a “for sale” sign and called a realtor friend to learn more about it. Returning to my office, I skipped the pizza and quickly went to search USC’s zoning maps. Sure enough, the property was zoned “special business district.”

Assembling a team, I purchased the house, applied and received zoning approval for my office, and completely refurbished it inside and out, using as many USC businesses as possible for the renovations and site work. I’m a firm believer in helping local businesses, not just because I own one and serve as the vice president of the South Hills Chamber of Commerce, but because small businesses help to keep a community presentable, safer, and more convenient for its residents.

The Biedrzyckis, left to right: Beth, Molly, Max, and John

Working closely with USC Township’s Community Development Department, along with a number of local contractors and some sweat equity of my own, I took the blighted house and converted it to a presentable office. The issue remaining was what to name the building. I have been operating under “The Steel City Lawyer,” mainly because my last name— Biedrzycki— leaves most people perplexed as how to pronounce it. My last name would not be suitable. I started thinking about names that complemented the word “house,” with the main idea that it was the “house of the Steel City Lawyer.” Going to my Facebook account, a memory photo popped up of Molly at the helm of David’s yacht, The Defender. I’d found what I was looking for: “Defender House” was named as a tribute to my uncle, which also expressed my career of defending all people’s rights.

My business philosophy has always been to skip television or radio ads and instead use local sports, band, and school program books, advertising sponsorships of community projects, including the new Baker Elementary playground, and fundraiser dinners. Given that the majority of my clients are local, I think it’s proper to provide sponsorship support to local causes, not as a way of advertising my business, but to express my gratitude for that which I already have. If you live in a community where you also work, you not only represent yourself, but the image of the community, as well. That, in essence, is the point of Defender continual improvement along USC’s Boyce Road corridor.

Now that you’ve made it this far, I’m going to debunk some hysterical myths about Defender House that you may have seen on Nextdoor or Facebook. First, the brickwork on the front was not changed to conceal sinister activities. Factually, the front door was bricked up to make the rear entrance ADA compliant and cancel the need for a ramp in front, while providing a more private entrance for client confidentiality. It also affords a stairfree entry for personal injury clients who may need crutches or a wheelchair to maneuver. The window was bricked up to provide privacy for what will be a conference room. The multi-colored lighting is not indoor farming, but used to draw attention to the house that sits on the inside bend of the road so that passersby will notice the house. Once the office formally opens, the colored lights will not be used, except for special occasions. The original wood burning fireplace has been restored and brought to code and will grace one of the two large conference rooms. Defender House will contain not only my law office, but space has been afforded to the South Hills Chamber of Commerce and our very spoiled Goldendoodle, Lucy. Anecdotally, Lucy has been a star employee on occasion, interrupting court proceedings conducted via Zoom to interject her tension breaking cuteness to disarm opposing counsel and advise of the presence of squirrels in the yard.

While 2020 has been a turbulent year, with many people working from home and companies of various sizes rethinking their downtown, urban office space, I am optimistic that the concept of having a suburban office in my own community was ahead of what will become the new normal for many. Despite the misconception that only “real” lawyers have their practices downtown, it is noteworthy that my practice is not limited to the South Hills, but includes litigation nationwide and internationally, all from within the township boundaries of USC.

In order to serve personal injury and business clients who cannot easily make it into the office or might be a great distance away, a Mercedes Sprinter van, customized for client and business meetings, was purchased this fall. Planning for the long term, let alone next week, has been challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, I always chart a course to continue bringing the experience, reach, and stability of a larger downtown law firm to my practice in USC, while giving back to the community at every

Attorney John Biedrzycki

For more information about Attorney John Biedrzycki (baa-jet-skee), visit www.thesteelcitylawyer.com. Consultations are available by calling 412-347-1295.