Of interest:  "The designation Philadelphia lawyer refers to an attorney adept at manipulating technicalities to achieve victory in legal matters.
For example, Shakespeare's character Portia in The Merchant of Venice could be considered the quintessential Philadelphia lawyer for holding that Shylock's contract claim requiring a pound of flesh from Antonio did not entitle him to any of Antonio's blood -- an impossibility. In present usage the title 'Philadelphia lawyer' is not a designation for a lawyer who has prevailed in a legal conflict on the merits of his argument (i.e., justice of a claim under existing law or a modification of existing law), which in Antonio's case would have meant finding the contract invalid as unconscionable or invalid for lack of legal consideration, but rather for cunning exploitation of a procedural (legal process) or substantive (a law at issue) nuance his adversary has missed." (More about the Philadelphia Lawyer on Wikipedia.org)