About the Authors

J. Christopher Erb is an attorney and founder of Erblaw. His practice areas include corporate law, internet law and business immigration with a focus on issues facing international, particularly German, businesses.

Prior to founding Erblaw in May 2000, Chris was an associate at Dechert Price & Rhoads in Philadelphia working on domestic and international litigation matters, followed by the international corporate practice group of Reed Smith Shaw & McClay. Chris graduated from Temple University School of Law, and has completed additional coursework at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic and Georgetown Law Center in Washington, DC. He has a bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Engineering from Drexel University, and prior to law school was systems administrator and diagnostics technician with a technical documentation firm in Munich, Germany. Chris speaks fluent German.

Erica Intzekostas \ in-(t)ze-’koh-stas \  practices corporate law at Erblaw.  Erica specializes in contracts, trademarks, and privacy. In her pre-Erblaw life, Erica spent nearly two years writing a government-commissioned report on the interplay between privacy law and the use of biometric recognition technology.    

When not practicing law, Erica can usually be found either at the yoga studio or at Bridge Club of Center City, which her husband owns and is where they met. Erica and her husband teach bridge to beginners on Wednesday nights. Erica also enjoys horseback riding but, living in Center City, does not get to ride much. She is still holding out hope that they reopen the public stables in Fairmont Park.

Elisa Jaehner is an attorney from Berlin, Germany. She graduated from the Temple Law L.L.M. Program in 2008 and is now working as a law clerk at Erblaw in Philadelphia. Elisa studied law at the Humboldt Universität in Berlin and passed her state examination (Staatsexamen) with a focus on family and inheritance law in 2007. In 2003, she studied a semester at the Universidad de Alicante in Spain.

Before she came to Philadelphia, she interned at the Committee for Education and Research of the German Parliament.

Elisa loves soccer and baseball and is looking forward to another great Phillies season.

Madeline Martin is an attorney at the Erb Law Firm and has been working for the firm since 2003 (although she has know Kelly and Chris since law school). She enjoys the dynamic personality of the practice and her co-workers.

To date Madeline worked mainly in the areas of estate and tax planning, but recently she has been delving more into business and immigration law.

Madeline has a variety of non-law interests, including knitting, jewelry making, politics, travel, Penn State athletics and tailgating. One of her favorite pastimes is writing for her blog about Penn State football and tailgating. She and her fellow tailgaters (and her recipes) have been featured in many local and national publications.

Andrew Monheit is an intern at Erblaw.

Andrew is a Senior studying Political Science at Temple.  After graduation he hopes to pursue a legal career.

Andrew enjoys discussing politics and volunteering.  This past spring he spent time working with the Committee of 70 to test voting machines in Philadelphia and during the summer he spent time registering voters around Temple University.

For leisure Andrew enjoys traveling.  He spent last summer studying and traveling around Europe and has aspirations of returning.  In addition to traveling Andrew also has a passion for Philadelphia sports.

Andrew has a younger brother at Temple and an older sister who is studying to be a nurse.

Kelly Phillips Erb is a tax attorney at Erblaw, a law firm that she founded with her husband in 2000.

Kelly loves to write and talk tax. She presents on tax topics around the country, having been invited to speak in San Francisco, Chicago and her own city of Philadelphia, to name a few.  

A nationally known blogger, Kelly recently authored a chapter in a book for the American Bar Association about alternative tax careers, focusing on legal blogging.   Kelly contributes to several sites and publications and currently serves as the tax guru for AOL’s Walletpop. Her blog at taxgirl.com has been recognized by the ABA as one of the top 100 legal blogs of 2008 and 2009.

Kelly is also the mother of three small children and one slightly crazy dog.

Did I mention that she drinks a lot of coffee?

Garrett C. Spangler is an associate with The Erb Law Firm, PC. His primary practice area is tax law, with a specific focus on estate planning, probate and estate administration, elder law, and gift tax planning. In addition, he dedicates a portion of his practice to corporate and internet law issues.

Garrett earned his J.D. and LL.M (Masters in Taxation) from Temple University School of Law where his area of concentration was tax and business law. He’s also a graduate of Penn State University’s Smeal College of Business.

In addition to his law practice, Garrett is an adjunct faculty member of Delaware Valley College, also located in Doylestown. There he teaches Corporate Taxation and Federal Income Taxation to the college’s business and accounting students.

Outside of his professional career Garrett enjoys spending time hiking and camping with his wife and young son. He is also an avid golfer and takes pleasure in engaging with computer technology.