Cozen O'Connor member Elaine M. Rinaldi recently participated in BVR Legal and Mealey’s Women in the Legal Profession Summit: Rainmaking, Negotiating and Collaborative Development. The event focused on proven, practical techniques that successful female attorneys can use to climb the corporate ladder in the legal profession. Rinaldi moderated a panel on “Transitioning to Partner: The Next Steps Following Advancement from the Associate Ranks,” which discussed becoming a go-to lawyer, transitioning from second-chair to first-chair, thinking like a leader, finding non-legal leadership opportunities, sowing the seeds for future business growth, and understanding the importance of the bottom line.
Resident in the Philadelphia office, Rinaldi is a member in the General Litigation Department and the firm’s Director of Strategic Expansion, responsible for the implementation of the firm’s expansion plan and for continuing growth in key markets nationally and internationally. She has broad experience in complex litigation, focusing her practice on litigation in which she represents insurers and corporations who have sustained damages as a result of catastrophic events. Rinaldi has successfully handled litigation matters in more than 20 jurisdictions across 10 states. She is a frequent lecturer for the ABA tort and insurance practice (TIPS) committee.
Rinaldi is a member of the American Bar Association and its litigation and TIPS committees, as well as the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Bar Associations. She is president of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation and a member of the Pennsylvania Commission on Women in the Profession. She is a former board member of the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group and past co-chair of its Summer Associate Program.
Rinaldi is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University (B.A., cum laude, 1972) and Duquesne University School of Law (J.D., 1982), where she was awarded the Order of the Barristers and was the recent decisions editor of the Duquesne Law Review. She is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and before the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Western and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second, Third and Sixth Circuits.
Rinaldi has been recognized a "Pennsylvania Super Lawyer" by Law & Politics, and in 2005, she was named a "Women of Distinction" by the Philadelphia Business Journal and the National Association of Women Business Owners. Recently, she authored a chapter entitled "Pre-Litigation, Section 2.08 – Subrogation Evaluation" in the 2007 edition of the Property Insurance Litigator's Handbook.