Smith, Kathryn E.

Niki T. Ingram serves as the Assistant Director of the Workers' Compensation Department, where she assumes responsibility for some 35 lawyers throughout 10 of the firm's offices, and is a member of the firm's Board of Directors. Since 1988 when Niki joined the firm, she has devoted all of her practice to workers' compensation matters. As well, she has served as the Chair of the Workers' Compensation Client Development Practice and in that capacity supervised the client development activities of the firm's workers' compensation department. She was the Chairperson of the firm's Human Relations Committee for ten years and helped develop the firm's Human Relations Policy.

In her career to date, Niki has handled hundreds of personal injury defense cases and thousands of workers' compensation cases. She has represented a variety of clients, including self-insureds, insurance companies, employers, as well as governmental agencies. Niki frequently uses multiple experts in defending cases, including a variety of physicians and vocational experts.

As an undergraduate, Niki attended and graduated with distinction from Smith College with an A.B. in Psychology. She then received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Niki has worked in the public interest sector, for the government, and in the private sector.

Niki worked as a Chief Assistant City Solicitor in the Major Trials Division for the City Solicitor's office for the City of Philadelphia. While working for the City, she tried jury cases to verdict in both federal and state court. After leaving that office, she became a member of the in-house staff of PMA Insurance Company, where she continued to do liability work and started handling workers' compensation cases.

In addition to her many firm responsibilities, Niki is a past member of the Investigative Division of the Philadelphia Bar Association's Committee on Judicial Selection and Retention. She has also served as the chairperson of the Workers' Compensation and Employment Liability Law Committee of the American Bar Association's Tort and Insurance Practice Section and on the American Bar Association's Survey Committee of the Workers' Compensation and Employment Law Liability Committee. She has also served as the co-chairperson of the Philadelphia Bar Association's Workers' Compensation Section and has been a member of the Nominating Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Niki was awarded the Sadie T. Alexander Award for Distinguished Alumni by the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Niki has spoken at national conferences of the American Bar Association, the American Trial Lawyers Association, SEAK, and the National Workers' Compensation and Disability Conference. She lectures frequently at state and local conferences on legal issues and related topics. Niki is now a member of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court and has been awarded an "AV" rating by Martindale-Hubbell. She has been named as one of the Top 50 Female Lawyers in Philadelphia, as well as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for seven consecutive years. She is a charter member of the Alexander Barbieri Inns of Court.

Niki is a member of the Editorial Board of Philadelphia Lawyer Magazine. She has served on the Board of Directors of Delaware Futures, which is an organization dedicated to helping disadvantaged young men and women through high school and in getting accepted to college. She has also been a director of the Smith College Alumnae Association's Board of Directors. She currently volunteers for Friendship House, which is a shelter for homeless women.