Profile
NiaLena Caravasos is a passionate advocate who doesn't take no for an answer and who gives personal attention to all clients. Many of her courtroom successes have come in matters that others considered hopeless. NiaLena concentrates her criminal defense practice in federal and state trials and appeals. Throughout the years, NiaLena has achieved successful results in difficult cases including federal drug trafficking, federal firearms violations, sex crimes, death penalty homicides, RICO/racketeering, PCRA, federal habeas, federal grand jury investigations, fraud, money laundering, white collar crime, and federal sentencing downward departures. Early in her career, NiaLena was the youngest and only female attorney to defend a reputed organized crime figure in the nearly five-month federal RICO prosecution of United States v. Joseph Merlino. She has since become lead counsel in numerous serious multi-defendant criminal cases and is currently part of the defense trial team representing Senator Vincent Fumo in his lengthy, high-profile case which is currently on trial in federal court in Philadelphia. She has been described by the Philadelphia Daily News as "deliberate," "sincere," "extremely thorough," and "tireless advocate" who "allows no legal issue to escape her attention" and by George Anastasia in The Last Gangster as "no-nonsense." After being selected by her peers and featured by Philadelphia Magazine as a "Pennsylvania Rising Star Super Lawyer" in December 2005 and December 2006, she was also featured in articles in The Hellenic Voice and Hellenic Communication Service, LLC, publications devoted to issues of interest to the Greek-American community. Moreover, NiaLena was recently selected by her peers and featured by Philadelphia Magazine as a "Pennsylvania Super Lawyer" in June 2008 in the field of criminal defense.
About NiaLena Caravasos
Admitted: 1994, Pennsylvania
Professional: www.toplaw.com/attorney-caravasos.html
Honors and Awards: (1) -- Highest professional rating (AV) by Martindale-Hubbell, (2) -- Closing argument in organized crime federal RICO trial selected among nationwide submissions and spotlighted as featured defense advocate by Center for Criminal Justice Advocacy in Houston (http://juryargument.homestead.com/GuestContribution1.html), (3) -- Law School Honors -- (a) Commencement Award (BNA Law Student Award); (b) American Jurisprudence Award (Criminal Trial Practice); (c) Edward F. Hennessey Scholar; Commencement Speaker to the Faculty
Bar/Professional Activity: Admitted to US Supreme Court, 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, US District Court for the Eastern District of PA, Federal Criminal Bar for the Eastern District of PA; Philadelphia Criminal Justice Section; Pennsylvania Bar Association; PACDL; NACDL
Scholarly Lectures and Writings: (1) -- Lecturer in CLE seminars at PBI Criminal Law Symposium, (2) -- Lecturer on white collar crime in Wharton Management programs, (3) -- Co-author with her former law partner, F. Emmett Fitzpatrick, an article entitled "Ineffective Assistance of Counsel", which was published in The Philadelphia Lawyer, The Forum, and The Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest
Verdicts and Settlements: (1) -- Significant victory in the highly publicized organized crime case entitled, "United States v. Joseph Merlino, et al." (At the conclusion of a federal trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania which lasted almost five months, the jury acquitted her client, Frank Gambino, of attempted murder and racketeering charges. The Philadelphia Daily News described NiaLena as an "extremely thorough" and "tireless advocate [who] allows no legal issue to escape her attention" as well as the "youngest and lone female attorney" who is "a thorough advocate with courtroom poise beyond her years," Mob On Trial: For The Defense ... The Greatest Lawyers On The East Coast), (2) -- Successfully represented a client against methamphetamine distribution charges (The case had been described in the press as the "largest meth bust ever in the city of Philadelphia". Following aggressive pretrial representation over the course of almost 1 1/2 years, all charges against the client were dismissed on the morning of trial), (3) -- Successfully represented a client in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in two federal drug trafficking and firearms trials (The defendant was first acquitted of multiple counts alleging the possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense and the possession of firearms by a convicted felon. After 8 months of arguments, NiaLena then succeeded in reversing the drug distribution counts for which the defendant had been convicted, and subsequently won a new trial for her client), (4) -- Successfully represented a client in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in two federal drug trafficking and firearms trials (In the first instance, the jury hung and a mistrial was declared. At the retrial, the defendant was acquitted of multiple counts involving crack cocaine distribution as well as multiple counts alleging the possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense and the possession of firearms by a convicted felon), (5) -- Successfully represented a client in a capital homicide trial which lasted one month in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas (Despite a lifelong criminal history which involved 30 violent felony convictions, and the fact that the defendant had allegedly killed a government witness in order to prevent that individual from testifying against him, the defendant did not receive the death penalty), (6) -- Successfully represented a client charged with homosexual sex offenses in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas (Following aggressive advocacy on behalf of her client, all charges were dropped against him on the morning of trial), (7) -- Successfully represented a fellow attorney in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania during a federal Grand Jury investigation involving allegations of possession of child pornography that had allegedly been acquired through the Internet (All charges were eventually dropped against the client, and all computer equipment that had been seized by the government was later returned to him), (8) -- Successfully represented a client in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas in a trial involving alleged child sexual assaults upon two minor male complainants (At trial, the defendant was acquitted of multiple sex charges, including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, statutory sexual assault, and sexual abuse of children)
Educational Background: The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (Bachelor of Science degree in Economics; May 1988; graduated cum laude; dual major in Multinational Management and Marketing)
