Patricia L. Glaser

Glaser is consistently ranked among the top business trial lawyers in the country. One reason, she believes, is that she and her team don't specialize.

"We are generalists," she said. "I am a generalist as far as business litigation is concerned." While many of her clients are in the entertainment industry, she also tries cases involving real estate, securities, sports, intellectual property, board games, employment and even family law. "Almost any imaginable matter related to business disputes."

The wide variety of cases keeps her practice interesting. But it also is good for her clients, Glaser said.

"I think it benefits the client because I have a fresh and different perspective." Sometimes lawyers who specialize in one type of matter "don't go to the precipice to explore avenues that haven't been explored before."

Glaser does. A good example is a bankruptcy adversary proceeding she tried earlier this year in Delaware. Working with experienced bankruptcy attorneys, she led the defense of the Yucaipa Companies LLC, the private equity firm of billionaire investor Ron Burkle, against claims by the trustee for debtor Allied Systems. 1:12-bk-11564 (Bankr. D. Del., filed May 17, 2012).

"I'm not a bankruptcy lawyer, so I'm entitled to ask all the stupid questions. It turns out that five of the 10 questions are really stupid, and the other five are 'Gee, I really hadn't thought of that,'" she said. "I don't care about looking stupid if I get to the right result."

This time, her useful questions concerned how to try the case, what witnesses to put on when and "how to tell our story in a way that is both truthful, appropriate and going to have the most impact," she said. "I think we bring that to the table with almost every case we handle."

Glaser also sometimes tries business disputes that arise in family law cases. "I don't pretend to be a dissolution of marriage lawyer," she said. But she is brought into cases by family law attorneys "who can't read a balance sheet," as she put it.

"It's not uncommon that I first-chair a family law trial," Glaser said.

- Don DeBenedictis