Gerald Reisenbach of Cozen O'Connor. Courtesy photo

E. Gerald Riesenbach, Cozen O'Connor

Riesenbach is senior counsel at the firm, co-founder of its business law department, and a true icon of the Philadelphia bar. Over six decades, he has built a vast network of friendships, renown practice groups, and a legacy of legal innovation. Indeed, there are few attorneys of his generation more accomplished or more beloved.

When he started at the University of Pennsylvania in 1956, Riesenbach was just a skinny kid from Coatesville with smarts and enthusiasm. By 1969—two degrees, one clerkship, and five years of legal practice later—he was being hired as WolfBlock's first-ever lateral. WolfBlock was then among the most sophisticated firms in Philadelphia—but it was still a Jewish firm, and various subspecialties, including public finance, remained closed. His first accomplishment was toppling that unwritten prohibition.

What's the most important thing you've learned during the course of your career that you wish you had known as a young lawyer?