Daniel-Paul Alva

Mr. Daniel-Paul Alva graduated from the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville in 1972. He began his career in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office assigned to the newly formed Narcotics Unit, which followed cases from investigation through trial.

He became associated with Stephen Robert LaCheen Esq., in 1974 and thereafter became partner in the firm of LaCheen and Alva. He founded his own firm in 1987 that became Alva & Shuttleworth, LLC, which handles all areas of trial work, concentrating in state, federal, local and national criminal trials.

Mr. Alva belongs to the National and Pennsylvania Associations of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws. He was selected by Philadelphia Magazine as one of the “78 for 78”. He has tried more than 5, 000 cases, the majority in Pennsylvania, but also in eleven (11) other states.

In 1998 he served as Chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section, and was honored to repeat the role in 2002. Mr. Alva also has served on the Bar Association’s Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention for ten (10) years.

In 2003, he was elected to a three year term on the Board on Governors of the Bar Association. In 2006, Mr. Alva served as the Chair of the Board of Governors. In 2008 2009 and 2010, Mr. Alva is Co-Chair of the Municipal Court Committee.

For the last fifteen (15) years, Mr. Alva has served as an adjunct professor at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, teaching in the nationally rated number one School of Trial Advocacy. For the last four years, Mr. Alva has been selected to teach the Advanced Trial Advocacy Course.