PROFILE

Patricia “Penny” Zobel has been a member of the law firm of Delisio, Moran, Geraghty & Zobel PC since March of 1979.  She recently became of counsel to the firm, handling discrete employment matters and acting as a mediator in workers' compensation claim cases.  When active, her law practice was concentrated in the area of employment law, serving many of the firm’s large institutional clients in this area.

Ms. Zobel has been actively involved in the formulation of the State of Alaska workers' compensation regulations and has testified regarding changes in the Alaska Workers' Compensation Act for over 20 years. Ms. Zobel was a member of the legislative committee for the Workers' Compensation Committee of Alaska, which was instrumental in preparing modifications to the Workers' Compensation Act adopted in the year 2000. Ms. Zobel participated in a legislative audit of the workers' compensation system in Alaska and she has been a frequent lecturer in the areas of workers' compensation, employment law and the Americans With Disabilities Act Amendment Act and Family and Medical Leave Act. For the last 17 years she and one other attorney have been responsible for preparing and presenting an annual workers' compensation seminar for the Alaska Bar Association. Ms. Zobel has also been a state reporter for the National Committee of the American Bar Association for Workers' Compensation and Employer Liability, a committee whose purpose is to provide continuing legal education.

Ms. Zobel has an A-V rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating an attorney can obtain under this independent rating system. She was the first female attorney in Alaska to be conferred this rating. In addition, Ms. Zobel has been selected by her peers as a Best Lawyer in America consistently since 1998, a period of 13 years. She has been selected by Washington Law and Politics Magazine as an “Alaska Super Lawyer" for 2007-2011.

She was selected to represent the state of Alaska in the Employment Law Alliance, a premier group of attorneys practicing in the employment law area. She was also selected as an attorney from the state of Alaska to be a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel.

PRACTICE EXPERIENCE

Ms. Zobel centered her practice in the area of employment law. She supervised the firm's workers' compensation defense practice group for over 33 years. In addition to her many years of practice before the Alaska Workers' Compensation Board, Ms. Zobel also actively practiced before the EEOC, Alaska Human Rights Commission and in federal and state courts in the area of employment law. This included cases on wrongful discharge, discrimination claims and ADAAA defense. She has also been involved in medical malpractice, attorney malpractice and complex personal injury cases in Alaska state court trials. In the area of workers' compensation, her practice has been exclusively on behalf of employers. In addition to her litigation practice she also had a large practice entailing advice to employers in the area of employment law, including the creation of a mandatory arbitration program, writing personnel manuals and helping to guide employers through employment issues.

PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

• Alaska Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Section
• International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC)
• Employment Law Alliance
• Three Year member Advisory Board, Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery
• Six-year member Board of Directors, Susitna Council of Girl Scouts
• Six-year member (three years President), Anchorage Library Advisory Board
• Six-year member, Alaska Women's Resource Center
• Alaska Bead Society

EDUCATION

• Gonzaga University School of Law, J.D., Summa Cum Laude and first in her class, 1978, Winner of the Linden Cup Moot Court Award, Law Review Associate Editor, and winner of numerous American Jurisprudence awards
• University of Iowa, B.A., Communications, 1971
• Carlton College, 1967-68 

BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS

• Alaska Bar Association
• United States District Court for the District of Alaska
• United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• United States Supreme Court

INTERESTS

Penny is a nationally exhibited bead artist specializing in large beaded sculptures.  She has won a number of prizes including People’s Choice Award, Best of Show and Best in Class. Her pieces have been exhibited in Ohio, Alaska, Delaware and Michigan. She has been published in Bead and Button magazine and Lapidary Journal. 

She has one son and a lovely daughter-in-law.  She spends most of her leisure time in the summers boating and fishing on Prince William Sound.