Clerkships

Samuel C. Totaro, Jr. was a Law Clerk to the Honorable Kendall Shoyer, Orphans’ Court of Philadelphia County.

Profile

Samuel C. Totaro, Jr. is best known for his accomplishments in the field of adoption law and related adoption litigation. He has participated in over 4,000 adoptions of children, representing adoptive parents, birth parents and adoption agencies. Mr. Totaro was lead counsel in Gibbs v. Ernst, in which the PA Supreme Court established the right of adoptive parents to be compensated for failure of adoption agencies to fully disclose all relevant and material information in their possession to the adoptive parents prior to adoption. This case has been cited by over 20 Supreme Courts in other states as controlling law.

In addition, Mr. Totaro has appeared as a guest on Good Morning America, the Today Show, the Phil Donahue Show, Court TV, the Sally Jesse Raphael Show, and the NBC Evening News, as well as local television and radio shows.

Sam and his wife Andrea live in Bedminster, Bucks County.

"My golf game is the most frustrating experience I hope to experience daily!"

Honors/Awards

Mr. Totaro has been a recipient of Distinguished Service Awards from the National Council on Adoption, Washington, D.C. (1993) and The Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (1997). He is also a Recipient of the U.S. Congressional Angel in Adoption Award (2005) and a Recipient of the Mark E. Goldberg Community Service Award by the Bucks County Bar Association (2004) and a recipient of the Friend of Adoption Award presented by the Orphans’ Court of Bucks County (2015).

Mr. Totaro was named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters through a peer-review process, as published annually in Philadelphia Magazine and has received an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating given to an attorney for legal ability and ethical standards by fellow attorneys and judges. Mr. Totaro was appointed by Governor Tom Ridge to the Committee to revise Pennsylvania’s Adoption Code and was awarded the Ursinus College Alumni Service to Humanity award in 2019.

Professional Organizations

Mr. Totaro has held the offices of Past Treasurer and Member of the Board of Trustees of the Bucks County Bar Foundation, Past Director of the Bucks County Bar Association, Past President of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, and a former member of President Ronald Regan’s Special White House Task Force on Adoption. In addition, he served as Advisor to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law during the drafting of the Uniform Adoption Act, and has been on the Bucks County Chapter of American Inns of Court.

Charitable, Community and Civic Involvement

Mr. Totaro is Chairman Emeritus of Gemma Services (formerly known as the Silver Springs-Martin Luther School board), a private residential treatment facility for emotionally disturbed and challenged children.

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