JAMES K. NOEL, IV, Partner

James K. Noel, IV is a partner of the firm. Jamie joined the firm in 2021 after more than 30 years of practice in Lancaster County. He attended Lancaster Catholic High School and later received his B.A. in Political Science from Mount St. Mary's College in 1987. He received his J.D. from Delaware Law School of Widener University in Wilmington, Delaware in 1990 after which he served a clerkship with the Honorable Wayne G. Hummer, Jr., senior family law judge for the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County, Pa. Since entering private practice in 1991, Jamie has provided a comprehensive range of legal services to individuals, families, closely held businesses, local banking institutions and trust companies. His general practice background and knowledge of the local community has provided him with a unique understanding of his client's individual needs as well as business concerns. In addition to general business matters, Jamie has working knowledge in the areas of estate administration and trust and estate planning. He represents both individuals and families with respect to their estate and trust planning and administration needs, oftentimes working in tandem with his clients’ financial and other professional advisors. Jamie also serves local and regional corporate fiduciaries and trust companies in complex trust and estate matters. Jamie has also served as a court appointed arbitrator and Orphan’s Court Master and has assisted his clients in various areas of adversarial and non-adversarial Orphan’s Court proceedings such as contested estates, spousal elections, litigation concerning estate and trust fiduciary accountings and surcharges, adjudications as well as guardianship appointments for incapacitated individuals. He also practices in the area of domestic relations law and serves as the Chair of the firm’s Family Law Group. Following his judicial clerkship, Jamie continued to concentrate his practice in a wide variety of family law proceedings, including extensive experience advocating on behalf of his clients in matters concerning divorce, custody, support, equitable distribution of marital assets as well as prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, name changes and adoptions. He has extensive experience in representing both buyers and sellers in a wide variety of real estate matters including private and public residential real estate transactions. Jamie is a member of the Pennsylvania and Lancaster County Bar Associations and is also admitted before the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania as well as the U.S. Supreme Court. He has formerly served on the IOLTA Grants Committee and Community Relations Committee of the Lancaster Bar Association and the Lancaster County Business Planning Council Currently, Jamie serves on the Board of Directors and executive committee of the Lancaster County Estate Planning Council. He is the current Vice President having served as a past President of this professional organization in 2009-2010. He is a former member of the Parents’ Council of Mount St. Mary’s University and has formerly served on the Board of Governors of Lancaster Country Club, as well as the Boards of the Boys and Girls Club of Lancaster, the Cocalico Education Foundation and well as serving as the former Vice-chairman of the Lancaster Area Sewer Authority. In 2015, Jamie served as the USGA Committee Chair of Spectator Informational Services for the U.S. Women’s Open and once again served as USGA Committee Co-Chair of Fan Services for the U.S. Women’s Open in 2024. He was nominated as one of the Select Lawyers in Central Pennsylvania in 2015 and 2016. In addition to working in the firm’s main Lancaster office, Jamie also practices and meets clients and their families in several additional office locations throughout Lancaster County including Strasburg, Quarryville, Christiana as well as an office in Denver, Pa which he established in 1995.

Areas of Practice: Estate Planning, Estate & Trust Administration, Orphans' Court Litigation, Family Law, Small Business Counseling, and Real Estate

Email at: jnoel@appelyost.com