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Michael G. Dryden
Alternate image for Michael G. Dryden

Michael G. Dryden

Partner

mdryden@wwdlaw.com
215.656.3645

Philadelphia

1845 Walnut Street, 24th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19103

  • Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Sides with Former Philadelphia Eagles Player in Workers’ Comp Case
  • Michael Dryden Discusses Court Decision Allowing Widow to Collect Benefits for Medication-Induced Death of Police Officer Spouse
  • Law.com Talks to Michael Dryden About Significant Win in Workers’ Comp Case
  • 17 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2021 PA Super Lawyers, Managing Partner Named Among Top Attorneys in State
  • Willig, Williams & Davidson Partners Present Webinar on Emerging Risks for Resumption of Business Operations for PBI
  • NBC 10 Reports on Willig, William and Davidson Partner Michael Dryden’s Fight for Cancer Treatment for Firefighters
  • Willig, Williams & Davidson Partner to Become Director of PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation
  • 14 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2019 PA Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
  • CBS/KYW Interviews Partner Michael Dryden Regarding Precedent-Setting Case on Firefighters’ Cancer
  • Pennsylvania Supreme Court Issues Decision in City of Phila. Fire Dept. vs. W.C.A.B. (Sladek)
  • Michael Dryden Discusses PA Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Decided on the Timeliness Issue (Part 5) [Video]
  • 14 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2018 PA Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
  • Michael Dryden Discusses PA Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Case: Steele v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Findlay Township) Part 4 [Video]
  • Michael Dryden Discusses PA Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Part 3 [Video]
  • Michael Dryden Discusses PA Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Part 2 [Video]
  • Michael G. Dryden Discusses Pennsylvania “Rules of the Game” for Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Part 1 [Video]
  • Michael G. Dryden Discusses Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Introduction [Video]
  • Willig, Williams & Davidson Partner Michael G. Dryden Presents at PBI’s ‘Tough Problems in Workers’ Compensation 2017′ Program
  • 12 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2016 PA Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
  • Workers’ Compensation Attorney Michael Dryden of Willig, Williams and Davidson Provides Employee Rights Around Company Doctors
  • Pennsylvania Attorney Michael Dryden Shows That Workers’ Compensation Laws Provide Obligations for Employers and Employees
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Reviews Specific Loss Benefits In Workers’ Compensation
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Reviews “Coming and Going” Rule In Workers’ Compensation
  • 11 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2015 PA Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Discusses Injuries and Issues Covered in PA Workers’ Compensation
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Presents An Overview of PA Workers’ Compensation
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Discusses Claims Petitions in PA Workers’ Compensation
  • Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Sides with Former Philadelphia Eagles Player in Workers’ Comp Case
  • Michael Dryden Discusses Court Decision Allowing Widow to Collect Benefits for Medication-Induced Death of Police Officer Spouse
  • Law.com Talks to Michael Dryden About Significant Win in Workers’ Comp Case
  • Willig, Williams & Davidson Case Win Establishes Survivor’s Right to Workers’ Comp Benefits After Suicide
  • 17 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2021 PA Super Lawyers, Managing Partner Named Among Top Attorneys in State
  • Willig, Williams & Davidson Partners Present Webinar on Emerging Risks for Resumption of Business Operations for PBI
  • Pennsylvania Passes COVID-19 Benefits for Police Officers, Firefighters and Correctional Officers
  • COVID-19 and Workers’ Compensation Benefits
  • COVID-19, First Responders and Heart & Lung/Workers’ Compensation Benefits
  • NBC 10 Reports on Willig, William and Davidson Partner Michael Dryden’s Fight for Cancer Treatment for Firefighters
  • Willig, Williams & Davidson Partner to Become Director of PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation
  • 14 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2019 PA Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
  • The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Protects the Rights of Volunteer Firefighters (With Some Help from Willig, Williams & Davidson)
  • CBS/KYW Interviews Partner Michael Dryden Regarding Precedent-Setting Case on Firefighters’ Cancer
  • Pennsylvania Supreme Court Issues Decision in City of Phila. Fire Dept. vs. W.C.A.B. (Sladek)
  • Michael Dryden Discusses PA Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Decided on the Timeliness Issue (Part 5) [Video]
  • 14 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2018 PA Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
  • Michael Dryden Discusses PA Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Case: Steele v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Findlay Township) Part 4 [Video]
  • Michael Dryden Discusses PA Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Part 3 [Video]
  • Michael Dryden Discusses PA Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Part 2 [Video]
  • Michael G. Dryden Discusses Pennsylvania “Rules of the Game” for Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Part 1 [Video]
  • Michael G. Dryden Discusses Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Introduction [Video]
  • Willig, Williams & Davidson Partner Michael G. Dryden Presents at PBI’s ‘Tough Problems in Workers’ Compensation 2017′ Program
  • 12 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2016 PA Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
  • Workers’ Compensation Attorney Michael Dryden of Willig, Williams and Davidson Provides Employee Rights Around Company Doctors
  • Pennsylvania Attorney Michael Dryden Shows That Workers’ Compensation Laws Provide Obligations for Employers and Employees
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Reviews Specific Loss Benefits In Workers’ Compensation
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Reviews “Coming and Going” Rule In Workers’ Compensation
  • 11 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2015 PA Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Discusses Injuries and Issues Covered in PA Workers’ Compensation
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Presents An Overview of PA Workers’ Compensation
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Discusses Claims Petitions in PA Workers’ Compensation

Michael Dryden is proud to battle on the side of working people, striving to make sure they get the workers compensation benefits they are entitled to when they incur work-related injuries or fall ill to a work-related disease. His work in the seminal case of City of Philadelphia v. WCAB (Sladek), before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, led to a favorable decision that will benefit firefighters and their dependents in current and future cancer claims. Mike’s earlier work in another case helped to raise evidentiary standards employers must meet when claiming an employee’s known occupational risk for a disease is not the cause of that employee’s illness. Because of his reputation as an authority in the field of law, he was in 2017 appointed to serve on the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) Workers’ Compensation Panel. He is one of only two attorneys from Southeastern Pennsylvania to represent the Philadelphia Eagles players and one of six workers’ compensation panel lawyers from the state of Pennsylvania.

Mike’s service to clients includes representing them in workers’ compensation and pension matters before the Philadelphia Civil Service Commission. He is actively engaged in the firm’s management of Heart & Lung Act cases throughout Pennsylvania, including occupational disease claims for cancer, heart disease and toxic exposures. Mike’s work has helped hundreds of workers, from firefighters to machinists to truck drivers, claim benefits for all types of work-related injuries and diseases. He has successfully challenged pension offsets that employers claim against workers’ compensation in an attempt to reduce injured workers’ benefits. He derives great satisfaction from securing workers’ compensation and other benefits to which hard-working individuals and their families are entitled under the law. For employees of certain state-run correctional and penal facilities and mental hospitals, those benefits include the protections of Pennsylvania Act 534. Mike counsels clients on the benefits available under Act 534, which provides an additional layer of workers’ compensation protections that exceed those afforded by the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act. Mike also has secured compensation for workers whose illnesses or injuries were covered by the Pennsylvania Heart & Lung Act. The Act provides a powerful set of income protections to police officers, firefighters, corrections workers and certain other state and municipal employees who become sick or injured on the job. Some of these workers may be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits as well as benefits under the Heart & Lung Act. Whenever a worker believes that he or she has developed cancer, lung disease or any other illness as a result of job duties, Mike has the knowledge and experience to help.

Mike is certified as a specialist in the practice of workers’ compensation law by the Pennsylvania Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Law Section, one of fewer than 50 such lawyers in Philadelphia, and he serves as the chair of the Workers’ Compensation Department for Willig, Williams & Davidson. He has been called on to testify before state and city legislative bodies on issues involving workers’ compensation, occupational disease and hearing loss. The son of a Teamster, Mike is a sought-after presenter by labor organizations throughout Pennsylvania regarding workers’ compensation, disability, pension laws and related issues. He trains union leadership on issues involving injured members and conducts educational seminars for union stewards, always putting his clients first, working hard to advance his own knowledge and share it with others.

WHAT INSPIRES ME ABOUT MY WORK

“My father was a truck driver, and a member of Teamsters Local 107; my mother is still receiving a pension that he earned through the Teamsters’ union. That inspires me to make sure that people injured by their work are treated fairly and with dignity.”

AWAY FROM WORK

“I coached youth sports for years, including the Abington Raiders (football) and the Abington lacrosse club. My youngest son is now a senior in high school, so I’m not coaching right now. I played small college football and high school football and know the benefits first-hand. If you coach, you put it on your calendar and you’re part of a team with your kid. Coaching helps you keep your priorities intact. I can’t wait to have grandkids so I can do it again.”

  • In 2018, Mike successfully argued on behalf of the firefighters diagnosed with cancer, and their dependents, before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the seminal case of City of Philadelphia v. WCAB (Sladek). The favorable decision of the Supreme Court in Sladek will assist firefighters and firefighter dependents in future and current cancer claims.
  • In 2017, Mike was appointed to serve on the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) Workers’ Compensation Panel. He is one of two attorneys from Southeastern Pennsylvania to represent the Philadelphia Eagles players and one of six workers’ compensation panel lawyers from the state of Pennsylvania. The NFLPA Workers’ Compensation Panel was started in 1979 “to guarantee that NFL Players have access to responsive, qualified and knowledgeable workers’ compensation practitioners. The Panel is dedicated to providing professional and courteous legal services to injured players in order to assure that players recover the maximum medical and disability benefits under state law.”
  • In 2019, Mike successfully argued before an en banc Commonwealth Court in Bristol Borough v. WCAB (Burnett), a case that protected the rights of volunteer firefighters making cancer claims for Workers’ Compensation in Pennsylvania.
  • In October 2011, Mike won a landmark judgment against the City of Philadelphia on behalf of the widow of former city firefighter Joseph Kriebel, who died from liver disease. The liver disease was caused by a hepatitis C infection, a known occupational disease risk for firefighters who come in contact with blood and bodily fluids while on the job. With the support of the workers’ compensation judge who heard the case, the city denied Mrs. Kriebel the workers’ compensation benefits it owed her. On her behalf, Mike appealed the case to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, where he successfully argued that the city’s case was almost wholly based on the “expert opinion” of a doctor who, after studying Kriebel’s military medical records from 1969, leaped to the unwarranted conclusion that the hepatitis C infection that killed Joseph Kriebel in 2004 was caused by intravenous drug use. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania dismissed the doctor’s opinion as “conjecture and speculation” and reinstated the workers’ compensation benefits owed to his widow. The case has become an often-cited example of the high evidentiary standard an employer must meet when it claims that an employee’s known occupational risk for a disease is not the cause of that employee’s illness.
  • Willig, Williams & Davidson Partners Present Webinar on Emerging Risks for Resumption of Business Operations for PBI
  • Pennsylvania Passes COVID-19 Benefits for Police Officers, Firefighters and Correctional Officers
  • COVID-19, First Responders and Heart & Lung/Workers’ Compensation Benefits
  • NBC 10 Reports on Willig, William and Davidson Partner Michael Dryden’s Fight for Cancer Treatment for Firefighters
  • Michael G. Dryden Discusses Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Introduction [Video]
  • 14 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2019 PA Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
  • 14 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2018 PA Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
  • 12 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2016 PA Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
  • 11 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2015 PA Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
  • Michael Dryden Discusses PA Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Case: Steele v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Findlay Township) Part 4 [Video]
  • Willig, Williams & Davidson Partner to Become Director of PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Discusses Injuries and Issues Covered in PA Workers’ Compensation
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Reviews “Coming and Going” Rule In Workers’ Compensation
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Reviews Specific Loss Benefits In Workers’ Compensation
  • Pennsylvania Attorney Michael Dryden Shows That Workers’ Compensation Laws Provide Obligations for Employers and Employees
  • Workers’ Compensation Attorney Michael Dryden of Willig, Williams and Davidson Provides Employee Rights Around Company Doctors
  • Michael Dryden Discusses PA Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Decided on the Timeliness Issue (Part 5) [Video]
  • Michael Dryden Discusses PA Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Part 3 [Video]
  • Michael Dryden Discusses PA Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Part 2 [Video]
  • Michael G. Dryden Discusses Pennsylvania “Rules of the Game” for Firefighter Workers’ Compensation Cancer Cases Part 1 [Video]
  • Willig, Williams & Davidson Partner Michael G. Dryden Presents at PBI’s ‘Tough Problems in Workers’ Compensation 2017′ Program
  • CBS/KYW Interviews Partner Michael Dryden Regarding Precedent-Setting Case on Firefighters’ Cancer
  • The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Protects the Rights of Volunteer Firefighters (With Some Help from Willig, Williams & Davidson)
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Discusses Claims Petitions in PA Workers’ Compensation
  • Philadelphia Attorney Michael Dryden Presents An Overview of PA Workers’ Compensation
  • Pennsylvania Supreme Court Issues Decision in City of Phila. Fire Dept. vs. W.C.A.B. (Sladek)
  • 17 Willig, Williams & Davidson Attorneys Named 2021 PA Super Lawyers, Managing Partner Named Among Top Attorneys in State
  • Willig, Williams & Davidson Case Win Establishes Survivor’s Right to Workers’ Comp Benefits After Suicide
  • COVID-19 and Workers’ Compensation Benefits
  • Law.com Talks to Michael Dryden About Significant Win in Workers’ Comp Case
  • Michael Dryden Discusses Court Decision Allowing Widow to Collect Benefits for Medication-Induced Death of Police Officer Spouse
  • Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Sides with Former Philadelphia Eagles Player in Workers’ Comp Case
  • Articles + News Coverage

Education

  • Temple University, James E. Beasley School of Law (J.D., 1993)
  • Lebanon Valley College (B.A., 1990)

Honors and Awards

  • Selected to the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers list, Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters), 2010 to Present
  • Selected to the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers—Rising Stars list, Philadelphia Magazine, 2005 to 2007
  • Member, The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100

Associations

  • Pennsylvania Bar Association, Co-Chair of the Legislative Committee of the Workers Compensation Section, 2003
  • Huntingdon Valley Activities Association, Coach
  • Philadelphia Municipal Court Emergency Services Program, Hearing Master
  • Pennsylvania Association for Justice (formerly Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association), 2001 to Present
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association, 1994 to Present
  • Philadelphia Bar Association, 1994 to Present

Admissions

Bar Admissions

  • Pennsylvania, 1993
  • New Jersey, 1993

Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court for the, Eastern District of, Pennsylvania, 1999

Employment

  • Willig, Williams & Davidson, Partner, 2000-Present
  • Mulvey & Flanagan, Associate, 1993-2000

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