Bucks lawyer shot dead in parking lot

He had just pulled his shiny, black Acura sedan into the parking lot of his Bucks County law office.

For a few moments, Eric Birnbaum stood behind the car, police said, chatting with a female co-worker who was holding a cup of coffee and a bag from a doughnut shop.

Just after 9 a.m., the co-worker told authorities, a gunman in a knit cap and sunglasses appeared "from out of nowhere" and fired a single shot into the back of the lawyer's head.

Birnbaum, 51, of Philadelphia, was taken to St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown, where he died four hours after the shooting in the Holland section of Northampton Township.

Authorities cast it as a baffling, broad-daylight slaying of a civil-practice lawyer whom colleagues and acquaintances described as organized, friendly, generous, and passionate about his work. Birnbaum was divorced and had two college-age daughters.

"We have no idea what could have precipitated it," Northampton Police Chief Barry Pilla said. "The assailant walked up behind him and shot him in the back of the head."

No suspects had been identified last night.

Police plan to stop vehicles passing the law office this morning to see whether drivers saw anything significant before or around the time of the killing. Investigators also are checking surveillance videos from neighboring businesses.

After the shooting, Pilla said, the woman in the parking lot fell to the pavement and took cover in a panic. She did not see how or where the gunman fled. Another co-worker in the office heard the shot and reported seeing a blue minivan leaving the parking lot, he said.

Police soon stopped what they thought was the van on Bustleton Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia. But the driver, initially described as "a person of interest," had a solid alibi and was released, said David Zellis, Bucks County first assistant district attorney.

Pilla asked anyone with information to call his department at 215-322-6111.

The killing took place in front of Terry D. Goldberg & Associates, a small firm in a strip shopping center along a busy stretch of Buck Road in Holland.

Goldberg was being interviewed last night. Police said they knew of no clients or courtroom opponents who were angry with Birnbaum.

To the contrary, colleagues said, he was a man without enemies.

"Get ready for the speeches. That guy was loved," said Steven Schain, a fellow lawyer in Philadelphia. "He was a first-class dude. He was the soul of what we do."

Schain said he had met Birnbaum at a trial advocacy course in 1995 and had bumped into him frequently in court.

"He was a plaintiff's personal-injury lawyer, and believed in it. I was taken by his intensity," Schain said.

He described Birnbaum as a tall, deep-voiced man who rode a motorcycle, loved his family, and was outraged "if one consumer out there got screwed."

Birnbaum's Facebook page describes him as a Philadelphia native, a 1975 graduate of Central High School, and a graduate of Temple University and John Marshall Law School.

"Life is short! Work hard, play hard! Be kind, live healthy, enjoy life fully, and learn from your mistakes!" a slogan on the page proclaims.

He had worked for Slifkin & Axe, a Willow Grove firm, for 20 years before leaving in May. The parting was amicable, said a partner at the firm who declined to give his name.

"I couldn't think of anyone who would have a bad thing to say about him," he said.

In June, Birnbaum moved to the Goldberg office, which advertises itself as a civil, personal-injury firm.

"It's hard to stomach, something like this," said Jeff Wong, a lawyer who was at the firm with Birnbaum for about a month last summer before leaving the Goldberg firm.