Stradley Ronon’s William Sasso steps down as chair, remains with law firm
Sasso will focus in part on helping Stradley Ronon's client redevelop the1,300-acre former refinery site in South Philadelphia.
After 27 years running the Philadelphia law firm Stradley Ronon, William R. Sasso has stepped down as chairman and turned its leadership over to two firm veterans to serve as co-chairs.
Sasso, 73, active in Philadelphia civic life and long a political power, has turned over authority to litigator Jeffrey A. Lutsky and the firm’s former financial partner Kevin R. Boyle. They will sit on Stradley Ronon’s management committee with Bruce Leto, of the firm’s investment practice group.
In an interview Friday, Sasso said he had worked to strengthen the firm’s concentration on providing legal advice to financial-services businesses, especially in the mutual-funds and asset management sectors.
Sasso joined the firm in 1972 as a tax lawyer after graduating from LaSalle University and Harvard Law School. He will keep working as one of 250 or so lawyers at Stradley Ronon. The midsize firm was founded in 1926 in part by Philadelphia lawyers Leighton Stradley and Gerald Ronon.
“My ‘departure’ is no big deal,” Sasso said. “I think people have given me far more credit than I deserve. Managing this firm has been a team effort. The new co-chairs are exceptional: managing partner Jeff Lutsky is a stellar litigator and Kevin Boyle is one of the best financial guys I know.”
As for Leto, Sasso said he had “built the investment practice group, and now it’s one of the major things we’re known for worldwide.”
In his new role, Sasso said he would focus on the redevelopment of the 1,300-acre former PES refinery site in South Philadelphia recently bought by Hilco Global, a Chicago firm.
“It will be transformational for both Philadelphia and the entire region,” Sasso said. “It’s not just remediating an eyesore. It entails 20,000 plus jobs, 9,000 of them in construction.“
Sasso has been a force in Pennsylvania politics for many years. He’s been a generous political donor over the decades. In the last five years, federal campaign-finance records shows, he has donated more than $200,000 to both Democratic and Republican candidates and committees, though mostly to GOP hopefuls. He supported presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016, but not last year, records show.
He served on the transition teams of former Republican Gov. Tom Corbett and later for Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
In one of his more public roles, he represented the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 2005 when then-District Attorney Lynne Abraham released a 418-page grand jury report on on the abuse of children by priests. Sasso called the report “incredibly biased and anti-Catholic.”
Lutsky and Boyle said they will maintain active practices, Lutsky in pursuing court cases and Boyle in business.
“In terms of management, we reach consensus quite easily,” Boyle said. ”That’s why we agreed to be co-chairs.”
Free of the bureaucratic demands of running the firm day-to-day, Sasso also will have time to work on client relationships, existing and new, Lutsky said.
“Bill Sasso is a hall-of-fame networker, and he does it with great sincerity,” said Boyle. “There are many people who identify him as a close and personal friend, from long-term clients to the guys who work in the garage.”