A driving cornerstone of NiaLena's success is her passionate advocacy and her belief in traveling "the road less traveled by" made so famous by the poet, Robert Frost.
• Spotlighted by Super Lawyers in a feature article entitled "Fierce"
* Featured on 2023 Super Lawyers 20th Anniversary Edition Cover and in Cover Story entitled “The Essence Of Being A Good Lawyer”
• Only Philadelphia criminal lawyer ever featured twice on Super Lawyers Cover
• Only criminal defense attorney ever featured on Super Lawyers cover in Philadelphia Magazine
• Honored repeatedly among "Top 100 PA" and "Top 100 Philadelphia" and "Top 50 Women" Super Lawyers
• Featured by international non-profit organization among the world's “Inspirational People”
NiaLena has tremendous compassion and focuses first on her clients as people. She utilizes a unique all-encompassing approach in an effort to help them during their representation because she realizes that clients who have been caught in the crosshairs of a criminal investigation are typically also dealing with a variety of other serious issues that transcend the confines of their specific legal case.
Differing again from most other criminal lawyers, NiaLena is a graduate from the renowned Wharton School and also has work experience in the international business world. Consequently, she is also able to identify with many of the challenges facing white collar crime defendants in a manner that her colleagues cannot. Often setting her own course, NiaLena is known for always putting her clients' interests first: that reputation was initially earned when she was the youngest and only female attorney representing a high-ranking organized crime figure in the federal RICO trial of U.S. v. Joseph Merlino and yet did not hesitate to separate her client, Frank Gambino, and go against the old-boys network of other criminal lawyers representing mafia co-defendants. Her client who emerged from the trial victorious through his acquittals of attempted murder and racketeering charges and with an outcome better than the other defendants was the beneficiary of NiaLena's individual courage, relentlessness, and strategic creativity. NiaLena's closing argument on behalf of Frank Gambino was then chosen in a nationwide contest and featured by the Center for Criminal Justice Advocacy in Houston, and it is still being used to this day by professors around the country as a way to instruct students.
• "Lifetime Achievement Membership", America’s Top 100 Attorneys® and America’s Top 100 Criminal Defense Attorneys®
• "Top 100 Trial Lawyers," The National Trial Lawyers
• "Best Attorneys Of America" Lifetime Charter Member, Rue Ratings
• "10 Best" Attorneys in PA and "10 Best" Law Firms in PA by American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys
• "Global Awards Winner - PA Criminal Defense Attorney of the Year" by Corporate INTL
• Three Best Rated, Top 3 Criminal Defense Lawyers in Philadelphia
NiaLena has also served not only as lead counsel in numerous serious multi-defendant federal and state criminal cases but also was the youngest and only female attorney representing Senator Vincent Fumo, long regarded as the most powerful politician in Pennsylvania, during his five-month high profile political corruption white collar federal trial.
NiaLena's federal criminal defense practice is primarily focused in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (including Philadelphia and surrounding counties) but also includes the Middle District of PA, the District of New Jersey, the Washington, D.C. Metro area, and multiple jurisdictions in the U.S. The depth of her experience includes the defense of cases under investigation by various government agencies, such as:
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security;
• United States Secret Service;
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI);
• Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA);
• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF);
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA);
• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE);
• Internal Revenue Service (IRS);
• U.S. Small Business Administration;
• United States Postal Inspection Service.
NiaLena's efforts to never leave a stone unturned have been publicly recognized by federal judges, the press, her colleagues, and her former clients. In this regard, NiaLena invites all readers to visit her website for a more comprehensive discussion on her career. A frequent guest speaker at The Wharton School regarding the ethics of white collar crime, NiaLena credits much of her success to her beloved mentor and former law partner, F. Emmett Fitzpatrick. NiaLena also very much appreciates the wonderful reviews posted by her clients and also by fellow lawyers.
