For the Love of the Law

After graduating from Chartiers Valley High School in 1978, Stacey Vernallis – then Stacey Fleckenstein – knew she wanted to pursue a law career. 

“Mr. Oliverio was my homeroom teacher at Chartiers Valley and every morning I would challenge him on some point,” said Stacey. “After four years of homeroom, he said that I was getting so good at defending my points, I should consider going to law school.” 

Taking Mr. Oliverio’s advice to heart, Stacey went to Penn State where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science. After that she went to law school at the University of Pittsburgh and graduated on law review in 1985. Today, Stacey is a shareholder at Goehring Rutter & Boehm and manages the litigation practice. 

“After graduation I started working and haven’t stopped since,” said Stacey, who specializes in product liability defense work.

Stacey formulates trail and defense strategies as well as writes product warnings on behalf of the manufacturer. Currently, Stacey is heavily involved in the helmet industry and creates the warnings based on data and feedback from UPMC Sports Medicine to help prevent athletic related head injuries such as concussions. 

“I really enjoy working with helmet manufacturers to keep athletes – many of whom are in high school – safe,” said Stacey. 

But Stacey says her favorite part of the job is teaching young lawyers how to think – a skill she first learned at Chartiers Valley.

“Mr. Sopko and Miss Hannon (later known as Dr. Gori) taught history and English. They taught me how to think and how to write,” explained Stacey. “Then Miss Lutz made sure my grammar and syntax were excellent. I came out of CV with exceptionally strong skills.”

“The other extraordinary thing about Chartiers Valley is that there were extensive leadership opportunities,” said Stacey. “I took advantage of as many of those opportunities as possible.”

Stacey is also grateful for the strong role models she found in many of the Chartiers Valley teachers who were working mothers. 

“As a young woman in the 70s, you might not have unified support when you told people you wanted to be a lawyer,” said Stacey. “But the working mothers who were teachers at CV assured me I could – and should – pursue my dreams.”