Individuals contending with legal matters such as serious injury, wrongful death, and commercial disputes find an unrelenting champion in the law firm led by Charles D. Mandracchia.
Charles D. Mandracchia has built his career on his ability to listen to people’s stories, perceive their pain, and then use every resource available to help them on the road to recovery. Thanks to a personal experience from earlier this year, he now has an even clearer picture of the struggles endured by the individuals whose rights he has spent most of his life defending.
“I have been pretty fortunate in that I’ve always been healthy, and never had an injury of any significance,” says Mandracchia, the founder and managing partner of Mandracchia Law LLC, a full-service law firm based in Skippack. “That changed about a year and a half ago, when the back issues I had been having started to result in pain that became intolerable.”
Recently he met with Alexander R. Vaccaro, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., the president of Rothman Orthopaedics and also one of the nation’s premier spine surgeons. After the meeting, Mandracchia learned that his condition would be best served by surgery—specifically, a lumbar decompression and fusion. Mandracchia had the surgery in November. He is happy to report that he is making good progress in his recuperation, all while continuing to fight on behalf of his clients.
“This whole experience has given me a better understanding of the pain people go through, both mentally and physically,” he says. “An injury can take a lot out of you. I think I’ve always been able to understand what my clients are going through, but I think I now understand a lot better how an injury can affect almost every aspect of your life.”
Mandracchia Law serves clients throughout Montgomery County and other parts of suburban Philadelphia. With more than 100 years of combined legal experience, Mandracchia’s legal team has represented clients in a wide range of delicate legal matters—personal injury and wrongful death, civil and commercial litigation, criminal defense, and more. Regardless of the case, Mandracchia realizes the depth of his responsibility to help each client find resolution.
“Part of being a good lawyer involves setting expectations, and being able to help someone separate grief from reality,” he says. “Each case involves a set of facts, and the facts dictate the outcome. Sometimes you have to work very hard to get someone other than yourself to see your side of the story. You have 12 people or someone in a black robe, a judge, making a decision, and you have to build the case in a way in which they are receptive to your story.”
In his work with business owners, Mandracchia handles everything from contract disputes and breaches of contract to real estate disputes and land development issues. He likes the fact that each case is unique; even though he has seen a great deal in a legal career that has spanned more than 30 years, each case brings with it a whole new set of challenging facts. In fact, he likens his career to being part detective, part storyteller, and part therapist, the last of which is especially important when representing a client in a case involving someone who has been gravely injured or killed.
“I’ve also represented clients in cases where people in higher positions of authority take advantage of people,” he adds. “People don’t always have the means or the resources to handle a situation that has affected them. You see it with a lot of small businesses, some of which are out of business as a result.”
Getting Results
Although Mandracchia “always had a desire” to be an attorney, he initially thought he would follow his father into the restaurant business. He spent two years studying at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America before he decided he could no longer deny his true passion: using the law to help people who could not help themselves.
“Ever since I was a young boy, I enjoyed helping other people,” he says. “I also enjoy a good battle. People tell me my greatest asset is my passion, and it has served me well over the years.”
Mandracchia received his undergraduate degree from Villanova University, and he earned his Juris Doctor from the Villanova School of Law. He has been admitted to practice in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the New Jersey Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, the U.S. District Court, Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Prior to founding his own firm in 1991, Mandracchia chose a position as a public defender over an offer to work as a prosecutor. He describes the decision as “one of the best I have ever made” because it prepared him to branch out on his own.
Mandracchia prides himself on his ability to represent each client with honesty, integrity, and creativity. Clients appreciate his no-nonsense approach, as evidenced by the many reviews on the firm’s website, mmattorneys.com. Likewise, Martindale-Hubbell has bestowed Mandracchia with an AV Preeminent rating—the highest level of professional excellence, as voted on by peers—and he was also selected as one of the “Top Attorneys of North America” for the 2021-22 edition of The Who’s Who Directories.
In addition to Mandracchia, the firm’s legal team includes Jeffrey W. Soderberg, who has significant experience in civil and commercial litigation. Soderberg, who deals with all types of real estate and business transactions, has litigated the gamut of commercial cases—from straightforward matters to complex litigation involving multimillion-dollar disputes.
Soderberg graduated with honors from Pennsylvania State University, and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Villanova University School of Law, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and a managing editor of the Villanova Law Review. He is admitted to practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Mandracchia says his firm looks forward to helping more individuals find resolution to the problems that keep them awake at night with pain or worry.
“We may be a small firm, but we offer big-firm representation,” he adds. “Whether a case involves someone who has been seriously injured or a small business that’s involved in a commercial dispute, we treat every case with the respect it deserves, and we always put every resource we have toward getting the best possible result.”
Mandracchia Law LLC
2024 Cressman Road
P.O. Box 1229
Skippack, PA 19474-1229
(610) 584-0700
mmattorneys.com
Photograph by Jody Robinson
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Life magazine, April 2022.