Lehigh County
Lehigh County was first settled around 1730 and established as a county in 1812 when Northampton County was divided in two. Its county seat is Allentown, the state’s third largest city after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The county is named after the Lehigh River, whose name is derived from the Delaware Indian term Lechauweki or Lechauwekink, meaning “where there are forks”.
Lehigh County enjoys a thriving cultural scene, with stage theaters, art museums, and an amusement park featuring world-class coasters and water slides, premier bicycle racing track, Class AAA minor league baseball, Lehigh Valley Zoo, historical sites, colleges and universities, and plenty of arts and music festivals. It’s also conveniently located to many of the East Coast’s markets. In fact, one-third of the U.S. population lives within a comfortable one day’s drive, and one-half of Canadian businesses are within 500 miles.
Pennsylvania lawyers practicing law in Lehigh 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 in Lehigh County often need the assistance of a good Pennsylvania lawyer is that of workers compensation. Pennsylvania law’s system of worker’s compensation (also known as workman’s comp) is compulsory and governed by the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act. Employers must provide worker’s compensation insurance for their employees, whether they wish to or not. This type of insurance can be obtained via a competitive state fund, a private insurance carrier, or employers can choose to self-insure. Waivers, however, are not allowed–even if the employee is fully willing to sign such a waiver.
The purpose of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act is to protect employees who are injured while working and have incurred medical costs and/or lost wages because of those injuries. This Pennsylvania law also serves to protect employers against employee lawsuits since generally an employee receiving workers’ compensation benefits cannot sue his or her employer for injuries suffered on the job. Certain exceptions do apply, however, such as when the actions of an employer are intentional or reckless.
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 Lehigh County:
Cities
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Boroughs
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Townships
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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.
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Notable Villages
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