About Pat Olsen
Articles written by Pat Olsen
Opening Doors
Kassem Lucas isn’t just kind to old ladiesThe young Kassem Lucas could only dream of having a mentor like the Kassem Lucas of today. “I saw a lot of hopelessness, despair and negativity growing up in the Bronx,” says the 36-year-old commercial litigator at Pepper Hamilton. “I once saw a dead body in the elevator in my building.” His mother did the best she could, but she was only 16 when she had him and didn’t get much help from her husband, who died of a drug overdose when Lucas was 4. It forced him to grow up quickly. “My …
Man of Steel
William Caroselli was driven by one motivation: not to work in a millWilliam Caroselli was two years out of law school when he got an opportunity that would thrill some lawyers and scare the bejeezus out of others. He was working at McArdle Harrington, a personal injury and white-collar crime firm in western Pennsylvania, and assisting on the Pritchard v. Liggett & Myers cigarette trial. Senior partner Jim McArdle gave the opening argument but was sidelined with complications from emphysema brought on by smoking. Then the other senior partner, Jim …
Master of Disaster
If you pass Daniel Gallucci’s office at the RodaNast law firm in Lancaster, you’ll likely find him on the floor. Not stretching his back or searching for a contact lens. Working. “I’m cross-referencing standard operating procedures and medical protocols with other documents, such as pre-trial statements,” he explains as he sits amidst an Everest of files. The cases are often overwhelmingly technical, and the best way he knows of getting at the truth is to get all …
American Dreamer
Zulima Farber arrived from Cuba at age 16 and today is New Jersey’s first Hispanic attorney generalIt’s a story as old as America itself. An immigrant raised in a country with a repressive regime makes it to the United States, puts in long hours learning the language and culture and rises to heights scarcely imaginable in her native land. Zulima Farber, New Jersey’s attorney general, is such a success story. In 1961, two years after Fidel Castro came to power, Farber’s family decided to leave their homeland of Cuba. She was 16. Her 13-year-old brother had been arrested for having …
Mr. Right
Pete Gleason learned politics from two pros — Governors Ridge and Schweiker. Now he’s the pro, heading up the government affairs practice at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart"You and your wife are just like James Carville and Mary Matalin.” Pete Gleason hears this all the time. And sure, there are similarities. Both he and Carville are experienced political advisers, the Ragin’ Cajun for the left and Gleason for the right. And like Carville, he is married to someone from across the political aisle (his wife, Shannon, worked for 15 years for Democrat State Rep. Bob Belfanti before leaving to stay at home with their children, Maggie, 4, and Patrick, 3). …
The Lady Thatcher of Pittsburgh
In the fall of 1997, the members of Pittsburgh law firm Meyer Darragh Buckler Bebenek & Eck gathered at Oglebay Resort in West Virginia for a strategic planning retreat. It had been a rough year for the firm; the managing partner and a few other lawyers had left to hang their own shingle. Those at the retreat had a huge task in front of them: to elect a partner to lead the firm. As Marie Milie Jones remembers it, 15 equity partners were in a conference room, seated in a …
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