Advocacy and Empathy
Attorney Brian Fritz, co-founder of Fritz & Bianculli LLC, uses compassion and diligence to uplift others, whether in the courtroom or out in his community.
Brian Fritz attributes much of his success to growing up in Northeast Philadelphia. His neighborhood was a mix of blue collar and white collar, and coming of age near people of so many different means and backgrounds helped him relate to all people. Those early experiences also taught him compassion and gave him “a different perspective on the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of different groups.”
“When I represent a union worker or construction workers who may never be able to go to work again, it’s more meaningful,” says Fritz, co-founder of Fritz & Bianculli LLC, which represents plaintiffs in matters of catastrophic personal injury. “If things had taken a different turn, I could very well be that person. Being able to remember people who have struggled to make ends meet—and I may have been that person myself—makes me better able to tell their story. I’m not foreign to what they’re going through.”
Father Judge High School, Fritz’s alma mater, had an equally profound impact on his life. In fact, he believes Father Judge “made a huge difference” on his career trajectory.
“Philadelphia brings a unique blend of things, and this was really represented by my high school experience,” he says. “The school had people from all different walks of life, all different backgrounds, with their own sets of gifts and talents—academics, athletics, trade work. You come to learn to respect people and know that nobody sits at a different stratosphere than anybody else.”
Fritz, who is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, emphasizes that such guiding principles are built into the firm’s foundation. He and Pasquale (“Pat”) Bianculli, the firm’s co-founder and partner, felt passionately about the universal scope of their work—that everyone is entitled to fair, honest, and zealous representation. Furthermore, they believe their approach is a central reason why their firm continues to thrive.
“My partner Pat is someone I knew for probably 12 to 15 years before we started this firm,” Fritz shares. “We come from similar backgrounds—him from South Philadelphia—and we share a similar philosophy. We thought we might be able to provide something different in terms of our own firm, and we elected to take that chance when we started up in 2015.
“Each human, each person, deserves the same level of effort,” he continues. “If you’re not empathetic to that, you can’t transition to be in that person’s shoes. Whether a case involves someone who has a back injury from a car accident or someone who lost a husband in an industrial accident, that person is injured. They might feel helpless, hopeless, alienated. If you’re not able to understand that, I don’t know how you can adequately tell that person’s story to get the result they need.”
In less than 10 years, the firm has grown to include partners Kristy E. McCabe and Kevin Durkan as well as attorneys Meghan McCormack, Natalie DeMeis, Ciarra Bianculli, Ana Ferreira, and Debra Moshinski. Each member of the legal team shares Fritz and Bianculli’s commitment to fairness and justice.
“We don’t forget where we came from,” Fritz says. “Our strength is in empathy, relatability, and us remaining in the communities we first started in. You don’t get the opportunity to get a swelled head because your status hasn’t changed among the people who’ve known you through thick and thin, good times and bad.”
This investment in the community extends to more than just client relationships. The firm has been involved in all manner of outreach, from partnering with struggling restaurants during the pandemic and providing free meals to frontline workers, to supporting benefits for causes that might uplift a neighborhood in a quieter way; one recent example involves a fitness facility that provides a haven for children in need of structure and mentorship. Fritz also gives back generously to the institution that so influenced him as a young man, Father Judge, through four partial scholarships.
“We really try to take the blessings we have experienced and provide other people with as much help as we can,” he says. “We believe in helping good people with good causes. A lot of times, the people that call us have both.”
Between his extensive work to uplift communities in dire need and his heartfelt dedication to each client’s unique plight, it is only natural to wonder how Fritz remains optimistic, hardworking, and charitable. He believes working on behalf of those who need it most is its own reward. Furthermore, he sees it as a personal responsibility.
“This isn’t for everybody,” he acknowledges. “Some people would be too wiped out, too emotionally taxed, seeing this kind of tragedy day in and day out. For those of us that are able to do it, avenging the wrong that happened becomes a kind of shield against that. We don’t have the luxury of succumbing to emotions.”
Fritz says he also draws courage from his late father, who passed away in 2015.
“That man sacrificed a lot of what he could have done for himself to go down a stable road to maximize what he could do for his family,” Fritz says. “I felt I owed it to him to take the next step. I’m inspired by my dad’s sacrifice. Since we established the firm in 2015, it has been a very successful venture.
“When you spend so much time doing something, it has to matter,” he continues. “Altruistic work beats the hell out of just a paycheck any day.”
For more information on Fritz & Bianculli, LLC, which has offices throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, call (215) 458-2222 or visit FBesq.com.
Photography by Alison Dunlap
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Life magazine, April 2022.
