2024 Woman of the Year and Recent Graduate of the Year honored at 32nd annual event

Veith was recognized as the 2024 Woman of the Year. The annual award is given to a female alumna who promotes gender equality, gives back to the community, demonstrates professionalism and leadership, and raises awareness about issues affecting women. She maintains a meaningful connection with female Duquesne Kline Law students and pioneers a new path for women in the legal profession.

“As a first-generation lawyer, Duquesne Kline Law gave me the tools and the opportunities that continue to shape my legal career,” said Veith.

Veith is a partner at K&L Gates in Pittsburgh where she practices insurance coverage and commercial disputes. She represents clients in high-stakes disputes and litigation to obtain favorable resolution or through trial. 

Veith is very active at K&L Gates, serving on the hiring committee and is a participant in the LCLD mentoring program. She has also received awards from K&L Gates. Most notably she was named the first recipient of Mary L. Thibadeau Excellence in Practice Award and received the 2023 Associate Mentor of the Year Award.

Before working at K&L Gates, Veith served as a Pre-Trial Chamber Legal Intern for International Judges for the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She currently volunteers for the United Way Bridges Society and the National MS Society, Keystone Chapter.

Veith was honored to be named the 2024 Woman of the Year. She said, “Receiving the Woman of the Year Award from Duquesne Kline Law is very meaningful and humbling, considering the outstanding community of lawyers that Duquesne has produced. I am grateful for the foundation that Duquesne Kline Law provided and the community that I continue to be a part of in this profession and in this great city.”

Parise received the Recent Graduate of the Year award, given to a female alumna who exemplifies the characteristics of the Woman of the Year and who has graduated in the last five years. 

“I am grateful for the tools and opportunities provided to me by Duquesne Kline that have allowed for a solid start to my career and the privilege to be a member of the Duquesne Kline community,” said Parise.  

She is an associate attorney at Williams Coulson Johnson Lloyd Parker & Tedesco, LLC and focuses her practice on estate planning, business matters, and real estate.    

While earning her Juris Doctor degree as an evening student, Parise served on the Duquesne Law Review, on the Student Bar Association, as a research assistant, and as a student attorney and student manager of the Unemployment Compensation Clinic and competed in the trial advocacy program.  She graduated summa cum laude and received the Distinguished Student Award.

Parise is active in the Allegheny County Bar Association where she serves as a county coordinator of the Wills for Heroes program, which provides basic estate planning documents to first responders and military veterans free of charge.  She also served as a member of the Young Lawyers Division Council and as a co-chair of the Young Lawyers Division Diversity Committee. In her community, she volunteers as a firefighter and emergency medical technician.    

Parise was grateful to be recognized for her accomplishments with this award. “I am honored to be considered to possess the qualities associated with the award by fellow members of the Duquesne Kline community,” she said.   

Dean April Barton, who gave remarks at the event, was impressed by the accomplishments of Veith and Parise. “They both exemplify the service and scholarship of a Duquesne Kline lawyer. They serve their clients with justice. On behalf of the whole Duquesne Kline community, I congratulate them for these deserving honors, and I look forward to seeing what they will continue to accomplish in their careers,” she said.