If you’re working with an attorney from Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba, a firm headquartered in downtown Allentown, there’s a 14% chance that your attorney went to Muhlenberg.
The practice has 43 attorneys total, and six of them are Mules:
Doug Smillie ’78, shareholder and co-chair, litigation and trial practice group
Jake Sitman ’94, shareholder and chair, employment law and labor relations group
Marie McConnell ’05, shareholder and chair, corporate, business and banking group
Gretchen Geisser Petersen ’08, shareholder
Sam Morgan ’21, associate
Max Allanson-Dundon ’22, associate
The late Jim Kellar ’52 and John Mondschein ’60 were also integral members of the firm’s legal team during their careers, and Camryn Griffon ’23 will be joining the team as an associate in a few months.
Smillie, who has been with the firm for 30 years, was a student at Muhlenberg when Emeritus Professor of Political Science Alton Slane was starting the pre-law program. That coursework and the Pre-Law Society helped Smillie know what to expect in law school, but it was the overall rigor of a Muhlenberg education that prepared him for his studies at the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law.
“Muhlenberg’s a pretty intense school,” says Smillie, who studied political science at Muhlenberg. “The workload and expectations were really high, and when I eventually did get to law school, I realized I was much more prepared than a lot of the other students because I had a very rigorous undergraduate experience that really paid off. I was mentally in shape for the amount of work they were going to throw at me in law school.”
“Muhlenberg’s a pretty intense school. The workload and expectations were really high, and when I eventually did get to law school, I realized I was much more prepared than a lot of the other students.”
—Doug Smillie ’78
Sitman, who has been with the firm for 13 years, remembers the residential experience at Muhlenberg as key to his personal and professional development. He joined the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, eventually serving as its vice president, and developed both leadership skills and lifelong friendships there.
“When I think of Muhlenberg, I think of the practical reality of learning to live generally,” says Sitman, an international studies and economics double major who attended Rutgers Law School. “I have the fondest memories of Muhlenberg, mostly because of the friends that I met and have been blessed to keep in touch with over the course of decades.”
“Muhlenberg really set me up for what came next. It gave me the academic foundation and confidence I needed for law school, but it also reinforced something I already felt — the Lehigh Valley is where I belong. It’s a growing, energetic community with a strong professional network, and I’ve always wanted to build my career here.”
—Marie McConnell ’05
McConnell, a Lehigh Valley native, transferred to Muhlenberg to study political science and economics after two years at another local institution. She also went on to Villanova’s law school before returning to start her career with Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba 17 years ago.
“Muhlenberg really set me up for what came next,” she says. “It gave me the academic foundation and confidence I needed for law school, but it also reinforced something I already felt — the Lehigh Valley is where I belong. It’s a growing, energetic community with a strong professional network, and I’ve always wanted to build my career here.”
The presence of so many Mules at Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba is more than just a statistical quirk; it is a testament to the college’s role as an engine for the Allentown professional community. The walk from 24th and Chew to downtown Allentown may only be two miles, but the professional bridge between the college and this workplace remains one of the strongest in the region.
With her mother and brother, Emma Rosenthal ’18 built @ItsTheRosenthals, a slice-of-life comedy brand that now has 1.7 million followers on TikTok and 838,000 on Instagram.
In 2025, Ali Calamoneri ’18 and Noah Fulcomer ’19 spent five months hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches along the West Coast from Mexico to Canada.
