Penina is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, was a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Harvard University.  She received her J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review.  Penina was a judicial law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and has served as Special Counsel to the Attorney General of Pennsylvania in the Hershey Trust litigation. 

She has been appointed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to two state-wide boards:  The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (1990-1996), which regulates the professional conduct of Pennsylvania lawyers; and The Pennsylvania Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Board (“IOLTA”), which funds legal services to the needy. 

Penina is the immediate past At-Large Woman Governor on the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.  She is Assistant Treasurer of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s House of Delegates and a Trustee of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation.  She is the Pennsylvania State Delegate to the American Bar Foundation. 

Penina is an approved Mediator and Early Neutral Evaluator in the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.  She has been elected to membership in the Pittsburgh Tax Club.

As Adjunct Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Penina has taught the courses on nonprofit and tax-exempt law since 1994.  She has published three books on nonprofit legal issues:  The Tax Treatment of NGO’s - Legal, Ethical and Fiscal Frameworks for Promoting NGO’s and their Activities (Kluwer Law International, 2004); The Complete Guide to Nonprofit Organizations (Civic Research Institute, 2005); and The Complete Guide to Nonprofit Organizations (2007 Annual Supplement).  Penina has been a featured speaker at international conferences on the charitable sector in Johannesburg, South Africa and Barbados, West Indies, as well as at many state and national conferences. 

Ms. Lieber is active within the profession, academic and nonprofit communities.  She has served on the Editorial Board of the ABA’s Judges’ Journal, is a member of the ABA Judicial Division, Tax Section (Exempt Organizations Committee) and Business Law Section.  She is a member of the House of Delegates (Pennsylvania Bar Association), Chair of the Rules and Calendar Committee (PBA House of Delegates), Immediate Past Chair of the PBA Charitable Organization Committee, Commission on Women in the Profession and Commission on the Integrity of the Profession.  She was former Chair of the Attorney Discipline Committee (PBA).  Ms. Lieber is a past Trustee of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation and a member of the International Task Force of Allegheny County.  She has served as a Director of the United Way of Allegheny County, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and the Pittsburgh Public Theater.