Peter Paul Olszewski, Jr. Certified as Member of Prestigious Million Dollar Advocates Forum

June 22, 2011 - PRLog -- SCRANTON, PA (June 2011) – Scranton medical malpractice and criminal defense attorney Peter Paul Olszewski, Jr. 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 one 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.

A shareholder and managing partner with Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, Pa. law firm Scartelli, Distasio & Kowalski, P.C., Olszewski possesses more than 25 years of litigation experience. Prior to joining Scartelli, Distasio & Kowalski, Olszewski served as District Attorney of Luzerne County and a Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas judge. He currently focuses his practice on medical malpractice, criminal defense, and personal injury matters.

Olszewski recently teamed with Scartelli, Distasio & Kowalski Founder and President Melissa A. Scartelli – also a certified member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum – to secure a $550,000 jury verdict in a medical malpractice case brought by 79-year-old Irene Doherty of Scranton, Pa., 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.

As District Attorney, Olszewski tried 18 jury trials to verdict, including seven first-degree murder verdicts. During his tenure as a common pleas judge, he tried more than 180 criminal jury trials, including five capital homicide trials, and was named Criminal Court Administrator. Prior to presiding over both criminal and civil jury trials, Olszewski served in the court’s family division and handled equity and civil non-jury trials. Olszewski was previously engaged in private practice handling criminal, civil and family law trials throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania. He is an active member of professional and community organizations, serving as co-chairman of the Wilkes-Barre Law & Library Association and on the board of directors of the Anthracite Golf Association. He is also an Eagle Scout and past president of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Council of the Boy Scouts of America, a founding member of the District Attorney’s Committee on Youth and Violence and a founding member of the Luzerne County Heroin Task Force.

Olszewski is admitted to practice before Pennsylvania’s state courts, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the Pennsylvania State Police’s Special Commendation, the Pennsylvania Homicide Investigators Association’s Special Recognition for Outstanding Work and the Boy Scouts of America Silver Beaver Award. Olszewski is a 1984 graduate of The Dickinson School of Law. He is married to Scartelli and resides in Dallas, Pa.

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.

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