Bethany Nikitenko Named as Finalist for The Legal Intelligencer’s Power Players Award

Feldman Shepherd is pleased to announce that partner Bethany R. Nikitenko has been named as a finalist for The Legal Intelligencer’s Power Players Award, which honors attorneys who, through their advocacy, made a significant impact in 2024 on public policy, legislation or jurisprudence in Pennsylvania. The Legal will announce the recipient of the award at a banquet on June 12, 2025.

In 2024, Nikitenko played an instrumental role in shutting down Philadelphia’s for-profit eviction system following a string of eviction-related shootings.

For more than 50 years, most evictions in Philadelphia were performed by a private attorney appointed by the Philadelphia Municipal Court president judge as a landlord-tenant officer. The landlord-tenant officer would deputize armed independent contractors to perform evictions at a substantial savings over the cost of evictions that are performed by the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Department. These private contractors were not sworn law enforcement officers or government employees. They carried their own firearms and were not required to complete any formal training, including de-escalation training.

The landlord-tenant officer would collect millions in fees from landlords for providing the hired muscle to perform evictions.

For years, Philadelphia City Council Members had unsuccessfully tried to shut down this for-profit system. Following a string of highly publicized incidents in which the deputized contractors shot two tenants and shot at (but did not hit) a tenant’s dog, Nikitenko, working with housing advocates, became a public voice against for-profit evictions. She kept a spotlight on the issue by speaking in public forums and with numerous media outlets.

Members of the Philadelphia City Council consulted with Nikitenko regarding new legislation that would end the Landlord-Tenant Office. She suggested that the legislation include a $2 million minimum insurance requirement. In June 2024, she testified before the Philadelphia City Council in support of the legislation, and thereafter participated in a press conference announcing its passage. On July 30, 2024, the Landlord-Tenant Office announced that it was ceasing operations because it could not obtain the insurance that it needed to continue its private evictions

At Feldman Shepherd, Nikitenko represents individuals and families who have been catastrophically injured by medical malpractice, auto and motor vehicle accidents, unsafe buildings, defective products and sexual abuse. She engages in numerous pro bono and volunteer activities in the Philadelphia community and presently serves on the Board of Directors of Philadelphia VIP.

“We are very proud of Bethany, not only because of her nomination for this prestigious award, but for her extraordinary commitment to individuals and institutions who need a smart and dedicated lawyer to achieve justice,” said Co-Managing Partner Alan M. Feldman.