About Natalie Pompilio
Natalie Pompilio is an award-winning freelance writer based in Philadelphia. Formerly a staff writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Daily News and The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, Natalie was on the ground in Iraq in 2003 and in New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. She’s collaborated on four Philadelphia-centric books: More Philadelphia Murals and The Stories They Tell (with Jane Golden and Robin Rice); Philadelphia A to Z (with photographer Jennifer Zdon); Walking Philadelphia: 30 Walking Tours Featuring Art, History, Architecture, and Little Known Gems (with photographer Tricia Pompilio) and This Used to Be Philadelphia (with photographer Tricia Pompilio. She holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, and she’s a rabid New York Yankees fan.
Articles written by Natalie Pompilio
Major Gains
Armand Leonelli lifts up clients and weights alikeIn the world of competitive powerlifting, the top prizes go to the competitor who can handle the most weight while performing three lifts: squat, deadlift and bench press. But it takes more than muscles to come out on top. “Everybody’s strong,” says personal injury lawyer Armand Leonelli, the CEO of Edgar Snyder & Associates in Pittsburgh, of his competition. So he takes a similar approach as he does in the courtroom, where he knows he’ll be facing off against someone who is …
The Problem Solver
First as a nurse, now as a litigator, Tammy White-Farrell has put analytical thinking to good useTammy White-Farrell has practiced law for more than 30 years, but she still uses the skills she honed during her time as a registered nurse. Both jobs, she notes, require focus, creative problem-solving and compassion. “A good nurse, like a good counselor, is an analyst and an educator as well as a caregiver,” says White-Farrell, 61, co-founder of Farrell & Farrell in Huntington, where she works with husband Michael Farrell and son Robert White. “I’m a very analytical thinker …
Deep Waters
Water law attorneys stay afloat in the practice area’s constant flowWhen David Mielke began practicing water rights law in Albuquerque 27 years ago, he inherited a case that had been in dispute for more than a dozen years. It concerns quantifying the water rights of three pueblos—Jemez, Zia and Santa Ana—in the Jemez River Basin. More than two decades later, it still hasn’t been concluded. “Water rights settlements typically take a long time to litigate or negotiate,” says Mielke, a partner at Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Mielke & Brownell. …
Better Together
Three young attorneys discuss the present and future of lawWhen Chelsea K. Mork says she’s an associate at a female-founded and -operated law firm in Denver, “my grandmothers just beam. “They just can’t believe it,” says Mork, an associate with GEM Family Law since 2023. “Our generation welcomes more voices and more diverse perspectives. We’re openingup the field and giving more people access to justice.” Denver solo practitioner Marquiel Cade has also seen growing diversity in the legal field since launching CadeMarq Law a year ago and …
‘The Next Person’s Journey’
Omar Bareentto is all about paying it forwardOmar Bareentto is an investor—but not the kind focused just on finance. The Newark attorney believes in putting time into people. In his current portfolio are: Aaron, a 17-year-old he connected with through Big Brothers Big Sisters of America a decade ago; fellow members of The Collective, a loose association of lawyers of color that he helped launch; and the next generation of African-American legal leaders. “Black lawyers in the ‘70s and ‘80s … didn’t have people that came before …
As Easy as Beethoven’s 9th
Brett Weiss stays composed whether he’s in court or Carnegie HallBrett Weiss believes singing at some of the nation’s best-known venues helped prepare him for his career as a lawyer. Both jobs “share a performative aspect,” he says. “Knowing how to hold the stage is something that helps me every time I stand up in court,” says Weiss, 65, who has performed with choirs in venues like Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. “You’re able to tell a story, to command the scene, to hold your audience. You’re not worried, ‘Oh my …
‘Do It For Them’
For Ben Rubinowitz, the client comes firstBen Rubinowitz celebrated his 68th birthday last June by delivering an opening statement in New York State Supreme Court on behalf of clients injured and killed in the worst crash in Metro-North Railroad’s history. He wouldn’t have it any other way. “The client’s plight is everything, and if you’re not going to do it that way, don’t do it all,” says Rubinowitz, managing partner at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf, which he joined in 1989. …
The Long Tongue of the Law
Ronita Bahri’s path to advocacy went through Iraq and JordanOne of Ronita Bahri’s first personal injury clients was a teenage refugee who was “physically destroyed” after being hit by a truck, Bahri remembers. The boy and his family were Chaldean Catholics who spoke little English and had settled in the U.S. two years earlier from northern Iraq. “When it’s someone not American, doesn’t speak the language or know his rights or have people in his corner, the insurance companies love taking advantage,” says Bahri, 35, an associate at Goodman …
Bravissimo!
Diego Matamoros trades the opera house for the courthouseThese days, when Diego Matamoros sings, it’s often in the kitchen to an audience of four: his wife and three children. But during his eight-year career as an opera singer, the baritone performed on some of the world’s biggest stages, including New York’s Metropolitan Opera House and Italy’s Teatro Regio Torino. He received thunderous applause and calls for encores playing such roles as Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly. When he lived and worked in …
The Attorney Who Doesn’t Sleep
Could that be why Stephanie E. Grana fits more into a day than seems doable?The day before last Thanksgiving, Stephanie E. Grana braved I-95 holiday traffic to meet two new clients. Normally, the journey from her Richmond office to the clients’ Fredericksburg home would take about an hour each way. On Thanksgiving eve, each leg took more than three hours. She could, of course, have arranged for a phone chat or video call. But these clients had recently lost their adult son in a collision, and Grana, 54, a plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer with Cantor Grana Buckner …
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