Shawn M. Dethlefsen Harak is the Managing Partner of the firm’s Bethlehem office and has over 20 years of experience as a Pennsylvania workers’ compensation lawyer. She began her legal practice defending insurance companies, successfully trying both jury and non-jury trials, but soon realized that her heart was drawn to helping those who had been hurt at work, and not the insurers fighting them.
A tireless and compassionate advocate, for the past 15 years, Shawn has focused exclusively on protecting the rights of injured workers. She listens to clients, doesn’t rush them, and patiently guides them through the legal process. A wife and mother of three, Shawn understands that her clients have families and real concerns that impact their lives. It’s not unusual for clients to comment that they consider her to be part of their family.
As a passionate workers’ comp lawyer, Shawn has lectured about workers’ compensation law to employers, insurance carriers, and third-party administrators and written materials for numerous seminars.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Shawn attended Widener University, where she majored in Business Administration and Human Resources, and she graduated from Widener University School of Law in 1991. Shawn recently served as an Assistant Solicitor for Northampton County and for the City of Allentown. Admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, she is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Philadelphia Bar Association, and the Lehigh and Northampton County Bar Associations.
Shawn lives in the Lehigh Valley with her husband, a lifelong resident of Easton, and their children, where she is very active in volunteering at her children’s high school. She also volunteers at the Easton Farmers’ Market, the oldest, continuous open-air farmers market in the country.
Shawn was made a partner in June 2021.