Berks County
Berks County is part of the Reading, Pennsylvania metropolitan statistical area and, as of 2005, is also considered part of the Philadelphia combined statistical area. Reading serves as the county seat for Berks County, PA. Thanks in large part to German immigrant Conrad Weiser, the county was formed on March 11, 1752 from portions of Chester County, Lancaster County, and Philadelphia County. Both the county and its county seat were named in honor of William Penn’s family home of Reading in Berkshire, England. Berks County started out much more sizeable than it is today. The northwestern parts of the county contributed to the founding of Northumberland County in 1772 and Schuylkill County in 1811.
Pennsylvania lawyers practicing law in Berks County specialize in various niches of the law, including areas like bankruptcy law, employment law, personal injury law, immigration, family law, medical malpractice law, workers compensation law, and even criminal law. Criminal law involves, logically enough, crimes committed by one party against another and are broken up into two subsets: felonies and misdemeanors. Felonies are larger offenses that typically result in harsher punishments. Misdemeanors are smaller offenses that yield sentences that are not quite as harsh. It is recommended that defendants retain one of the many experienced Pennsylvania lawyers practicing criminal law to represent them no matter which type of crime they have been accused of committing.
One common area of law for which Pennsylvania residents of Berks County often need the assistance of a good Pennsylvania lawyer is that of DUI (driving under the influence). In Pennsylvania, lawyers refer to DUI/DAI cases in several different ways: drunk driving, driving under the influence (DUI), driving while impaired (DWI) or the more recent term driving after imbibing (DAI). Pennsylvania lawyers stand ready to assist clients accused of drunk driving so they can learn the various complexities of the law as it applies to their specific cases. Nobody should face this stressful, high-stakes issue alone!
Being arrested for violating Pennsylvania laws governing drunk driving will bring about not just one case, but two. In the court proceedings, the accused defendant faces a wide array of possible consequences, among them financial penalties, mandatory alcohol education programs, loss of driving privileges, and even jail time. Additionally, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDot) will initiate separate proceedings to revoke the driver’s license.
Pennsylvania has a strict, no-nonsense stance against driving under the influence of drugs. This “per se” law means that if an arrestee has any measurable level of certain drugs in their blood, they will be punished as harshly as if they had the highest level of alcohol content in their system. A qualified Pennsylvania lawyer may be able to help negotiate the best results possible for clients accused of this offense.
Pennsylvania law provides for four types of incorporated municipalities: cities, boroughs, townships, and, rarer cases, towns. Below are listed the cities, boroughs and townships located in Berks County:
Cities
- Reading
Boroughs
|
Townships
|
Unincorporated or Census-designated places
Census-designated places are not actual jurisdictions under Pennsylvania law, but are compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau in order to compile demographic data. Other unincorporated communities, such as villages, are sometimes categorized here as well.
|
