Michael Sklaroff, partner, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, has been elected Chair of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. He has served as a member of the Commission since 1996, and was reappointed by Mayor John F. Street in 2000.

The Commission acts to preserve the cultural, social, political, economic and architectural heritage of the City, by designation of buildings, structures, sites, objects and districts of historical and regulation of these resources through its role in the City’s building permit process. The Commission also offers technical assistance and guidance to the public, free of charge.

Sklaroff was active in the initiatives to save the Dream Garden, the Maxfield Parrish/Lewis C. Tiffany mural in the Curtis Center and Eastern State Penitentiary. He served as Deputy Executive Director, Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority and chaired the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s Continuing Legal Education Program "The Law of Historical Preservation." He is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and is listed in "The Best Lawyers in America" (Woodward/White).

"The Commission holds a position of trust, not only for the treasures of the built environment, but also for principles of constitutional liberty on which the nation was founded," said Sklaroff. "The Chair serves to assure that competing interests may be heard in a process which is not only fair, but generally perceived to be fair."

Sklaroff chairs the Real Estate Department at Ballard Spahr, which has grown to be one of the very largest in the nation. Ballard Spahr, found in 1886, is one of the top 100 law firms in the country, with over 400 lawyers in seven offices in the mid-Atlantic corridor and the western United States.