Scranton Attorney Melissa Scartelli Board Certified as Civil Trial Advocate by National Board of Trial Advocacy

SCRANTON, PA, May 05, 2011 (Press-News.org) Scranton personal injury lawyer Melissa Scartelli of Scartelli, Distasio & Kowalski, P.C. has been recognized as a Board Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA). Scartelli is one of the select few female Pennsylvania attorneys to achieve this recognition, which is granted only to those attorneys who demonstrate an enhanced level of skill and expertise in civil trial advocacy by meeting rigorous objective quality standards. In addition to extensive experience, Board Certified Civil Trial Advocates must demonstrate integrity and dedication to the interests of their clients, thereby upholding the standards of the NBTA and elevating the standards of the profession as a whole. 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.

The president of Scartelli, Distasio & Kowalski, Scartelli founded the law firm in 2001 to protect the rights of accident and malpractice victims. Today, 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.

On April 1, 2011, Scartelli, with Scartelli, Distasio & Kowalski Shareholder and Managing Partner Peter Paul Olszewski, Jr., secured a $550,000 jury verdict in a medical malpractice case brought by a 79-year-old woman who suffered a 23-month delay in the diagnosis of her lung cancer. The verdict may be the largest verdict for an elderly patient in Lackawanna County history. Scartelli previously secured the largest recorded verdict in Luzerne County on behalf of an elderly patient when a jury awarded a then-91-year-old woman, who fell from a hospital bed, $970,000.

To achieve NBTA recognition as a Board Certified Civil Trial Advocate, applicants must meet an extensive list of objective requirements, including demonstrating substantial involvement in civil trial advocacy through personal participation in 45 days or more of trial. The applicant's trial experience must include, among numerous additional specifications, serving as lead counsel in at least five jury cases, substantially participating in at least five jury cases which proceeded to verdict and conducting direct and cross examination of at least 25 lay witnesses and 15 expert witnesses. Applicants for board certification are also required to have actively participated in at least 100 additional contested matters, provide extensive references, satisfactorily complete a written examination and submit a legal writing sample.

A leader within her profession, Scartelli is also a member of the exclusive Million Dollar Advocates Forum. She 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. She has also been 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.

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.

Furia Rubel is a certified woman-owned (WBE) Philadelphia-area public relations agency. We provide expert strategic planning and public relations / publicity services to lawyers and the legal industry, professional service firms, business-to-business organizations (B2B), education and nonprofit institutions. We also work with companies with unique service offerings such as internationally-acclaimed authors, special events and green initiatives.