Scranton Attorney Melissa Scartelli Certified as Member of Prestigious Million Dollar Advocates Forum

SCRANTON, PA, February 18, 2011 (Press-News.org) Scranton personal injury lawyer Melissa Scartelli has been certified as a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. One of the most prestigious groups
of trial lawyers in the U.S., the Million Dollar Advocates Forum limits its membership to those attorneys who have won million and multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements. With fewer than 1 percent of U.S. lawyers qualifying for membership, this highly selective group also requires its members to have demonstrated an ability to accomplish superior results in complex
cases. The president and founder of Scartelli, Distasio & Kowalski, P.C., Scartelli - along with her law firm - is known for tackling difficult cases that require exceptional effort and creative lawyering. For more than 20 years, she has handled a wide range of complex personal injury matters on behalf of seriously injured plaintiffs throughout the state and federal courts of Pennsylvania.

As a personal injury lawyer, Scartelli firmly believes that products and health care are made safer in the U.S. through legitimate lawsuits that reveal and curtail unsafe products and practices. She founded Scartelli, Distasio & Kowalski (then known as the Scartelli Law Firm) in 2001 to further protect the rights of accident and malpractice victims. The firm's attorneys provide personal injury and criminal defense services to clients in the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre regions of Pennsylvania. Scartelli's areas of practice include automobile accidents, auto defects, construction and workplace accidents, defective drugs and medical devices, insurance bad faith, liquor liability, medical malpractice, nursing home negligence, premises liability, product liability, professional liability and psychiatric malpractice.

Scartelli is admitted to practice in all of Pennsylvania's state courts, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. A leader within her profession, Scartelli has served on the Lackawanna Bar Association Board of Directors, sits on the Social Committee of the Luzerne County Bar Association and has served as President of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association. In 2011, Scartelli was recognized as a Board Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, a nonprofit organization devoted to improving the quality of trial advocacy and to aiding clients in choosing experienced legal representation. She was also recognized by Thomas Reuters, published annually in Philadelphia magazine, as a 2009 and 2010 Pennsylvania Super Lawyer . In 2005, Scartelli received the Pennsylvania State Police's Highest Citizenship Award. She is a 1987 graduate of The Dickinson School of Law, where she was captain of the moot court team and received the International Academy of Trial Lawyers "Award for Excellence in Trial Advocacy."

About Scartelli, Distasio & Kowalski, P.C.: Scartelli, Distasio & Kowalski, P.C. was founded in 2001. The firm handles a range of complex matters on behalf of accident victims, malpractice victims and other injured individuals and their families. The firm also represents criminal defendants. Practice areas include automobile accidents, auto defects, construction and
workplace accidents, criminal defense, defective drugs and medical devices, insurance bad faith, liquor liability, medical malpractice, nursing home negligence, premises liability, product liability, professional liability and psychiatric malpractice. Scartelli, Distasio & Kowalski is small enough to care yet large enough to win for their clients in the Scranton and
Wilkes-Barre, Pa., region. To learn more about the firm, visit http://www.sdklawfirm.com.