About Artika Rangan Casini
Artika Rangan Casini is the managing editor of the University of Delaware Magazine. Outside of work, she serves as vice president of public relations for the Brandywine Toastmasters Club and as alumni director on the Board of Directors for the Charter School of Wilmington—one of the top-ranked high schools in America. She holds a master’s in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Delaware.
Articles written by Artika Rangan Casini
‘Everything I’ve Wanted Said to a Judge’
Neel Lalchandani’s fight for wrongfully convicted exonereesWhen Neel Lalchandani meets a new client who’s been exonerated of a crime, he begins not with legal paperwork, but with a simple question: “How are you doing?” For people who’ve spent years, sometimes decades, being treated like a case file or criminal record, it’s no small thing. Nor is Lalchandani’s role in helping them seek compensation, either in state or federal courts. “[With state cases], the goal is to prove that your client was factually innocent,” Lalchandani says. …
The Beginning of Something Greater
Sundus Jaber found purpose in the courtroom—first as a defendant, then as a defenderI didn’t become a lawyer because I thought the system was perfect—I became a lawyer because I lived what happens when it isn’t. At 17, I was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery and wrongfully convicted. The day before, we had a multi-hour bond violation hearing because the primary complainant claimed we had violated a no-contact order. She didn’t know a video existed that proved she was lying. Still, the judge excluded the video from trial—and the complainant was never held …
Not for Fortune or Fame
Novelist-turned-attorney Tom Bouman writes for an audience of oneDo it for yourself. That was Tom Bouman’s guiding philosophy when writing the novel that would win both a 2015 Los Angeles Times Book Prize and an Edgar Allan Poe Award in the same year. Accolades, however, were not on the attorney’s mind when he penned Dry Bones in the Valley, the first in a three-part series centering on Officer Henry Farrell. Instead, Bouman was looking for a different kind of story. He had been working in publishing for more than a decade, first as a sales assistant and …
Unwritten
In law and fiction, Walter “Skip” Walker explores moral ambiguityA curious thing happened when Walter “Skip” Walker began searching for a literary agent: He got rejected. Sometimes quickly, but often enough, in thoughtful, encouraging dissections of his work. He kept trying. Eventually, through a friend of a friend, Walker found an agent in New York and said, “You’re probably not looking for new clients, but if you just read my rejection letters, you might be interested in what I’ve written.” The agent was intrigued, and wound up signing on. …
A Daughter’s Love
Angel Brown Reveles sees herself in every clientCruel taunts about her mother’s addiction changed the course of Angel Brown Reveles’ life. “Making me feel bad about what my mom did, and making me feel like I wasn’t going to be good enough to be anything,” she says, “made me want to be the absolute best I could be.” Today, the Dallas-based attorney practices family law and child welfare at Brown Reveles Law Group, taking on nearly 100 cases each year. Her clients range from newborn twins weaning off fetal drug addiction, …
Flat-Fee Will Get You Somewhere
With Sheri Hoidra, what clients see is what they getAs a flat-fee attorney, Sheri Hoidra is no stranger to disbelief from fellow lawyers. They ask: “How do you do it? How do you sustain it? Aren’t you getting taken advantage of? You realize you could be billing more, right? What’s your incentive?” She answers: “My incentive is not making a client pore over something I’ve done 20 times and know I can handle.” Hoidra’s eponymous solo firm handles matters related to immigration, family law, auto-related personal injury, criminal …
An Evolutionary Career
Pete Saucier is living his childhood dreamsPete Saucier has sipped scotch with Jane Goodall and stood on the site of a famous human fossil. He has sat beside gorillas in Rwanda and within the prehistoric caverns of France. He has witnessed the cradle of civilization in its majesty, sought deeper understanding of humankind’s origin, and rubbed shoulders with creatures most only read about in books or observe in captivity. Saucier’s love of paleoanthropology, the study of human evolution through fossils and archeologic records, began …
The Art of Law
Corinne Smith’s work has bridged her two passionsOlana State Historic Site is a wonder to behold. Its villa overlooks the Catskills, the Hudson Valley—even the vast expanse where the Appalachians enter New England. Fittingly, it is also where Corinne Smith discovered her love of law. While an undergraduate at SUNY Geneseo, Smith interned at the breathtaking former home of landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church. She marveled at both the majesty of the space and the extensive legal work that went into preserving Olana as a National Historic …
The Diner Lawyer
Jack Schulz wants to litigate cases that make you put down your cup of coffeeJack Schulz was standing in line at a New York City delicatessen when the people beside him started discussing a legal case—one of Schulz’s. “Did you hear about the guy who wouldn’t admit that Michael Jordan is Black?” one man said to the other, as the attorney listened in. By then, Schulz’s case had already made national headlines, not just for the lawsuit, which highlighted overt workplace discrimination, but for its bizarre deposition, in which one of the defendants refused to …
People First
Charlene Morring went from being a single mom on welfare to launching a solo firm and paying kindness forwardA $75 check arrives in the mail. Charlene Morring is not yet the lawyer who will champion the rights of the injured and infirmed; or the board member who will assist children and families experiencing homelessness; or the woman who will feed the forgotten members of her community. She is a 20-year-old single mother on government assistance, holding a check from a local nonprofit that will provide clothes and Christmas presents for her 2-year-old, truck-loving son. She stands at the mailbox and …
Find top lawyers with confidence
The Super Lawyers patented selection process is peer influenced and research driven, selecting the top 5% of attorneys to the Super Lawyers lists each year. We know lawyers and make it easy to connect with them.
Find a lawyer near you