Marla Presley is a force to be reckoned with in the courtroom and on the ice.
As a labor and employment lawyer at the Jackson Lewis law firm Downtown, she fights for clients during the day. In the evenings, she laces up her skates to play on a women’s hockey team where aggression takes on a whole new meaning.
“By nature, I’m an assertive person and that suits itself well for the law,” said Ms. Presley, 45. “Hockey is not a sport that lends itself to the meek or wallflowers. So my assertive personality serves me well on the ice, too.”
On July 1, she began serving the 5,500 members of the Allegheny County Bar Association as their 115th president. She’s the 10th woman to hold the position.
It’s an organization that has been part of her life and career for the past 20 years, since Ms. Presley, an Ohio native, graduated from Duquesne University.
I've been able to secure new jobs through it, and meet new connections that have ultimately given me work,” she said calling it a “critical piece of my success.
For the past 10 years, she’s also been lacing up her skates for the Pittsburgh Puffins, a recreational ice hockey team that served as Ms. Presley’s introduction to the sport.
She was hooked from the day she was invited to a practice session with the team — although she admits age 35 is a tough time to pick up any sport, especially one as physically demanding as ice hockey.
“I do like ice skating. I like the Pittsburgh Penguins and I like watching hockey,” she said. “It was something about the challenge of seeing if I could do the aerobic part.”
“It’s a strategic sport, too. You’re not just ... trying to hit a ball. You’re mapping out what the game looks like in your head and it also takes some strategy.”
Ms. Presley has always had a knack for strategic thinking.
My mom would say I’ve been arguing cases for 45 years,” said Ms. Presley, the first lawyer in her family.
As a child, when she broke rules, she would often try to negotiate lesser punishments that were more commensurate with the crime.
“Truly, I don’t think that you should be grounded for a week for cutting off all of your Barbie’s hair,” Ms. Presley said. “The punishment is that my Barbies were bald. That’s punishment itself.”
She likes that winning a legal argument requires more than just facts — it calls for creativity.
“At least in labor and employment law, I come across very few issues that are just cut and dry, where we will absolutely win or lose this case,” she said. “Instead, our jobs as lawyers is to interpret the law and formulate arguments to help be successful.”
At Jackson Lewis,national law firm with 56 offices across the U.S., Ms. Presley is a managing partner who, in addition to arguing her own employment cases, oversees all litigation at the Pittsburgh office of the firm.
On weekends, she travels with her team for matches in Ohio, Washington, D.C., and Maryland.
In addition to professional groups, she’s also involved in community service, such as the Children’s Trust at Children’s Hospital of UPMC and as a volunteer with the Wills for Heroes program.
More women on the ice
Ms. Presley has good company in the sport. Hockey is attracting a growing number of female participants in the Pittsburgh region.
Bob Mock, a Turtle Creek-based skating coach, described the growth as “phenomenal.”
“There are now more female hockey players than there are total figure skaters in the U.S. That’s how fast female hockey is growing,” he said.
He remembers as early as 1973 when a female hockey team called the Pittsburgh Pennies organized, but had no one locally to play against. Around 2011, Mr. Mock remembered watching a female hockey match and telling people he thought it would take off like a rocket.
“They dismissed it and laughed,” Mr. Mock said. “Well, I was right. And they were wrong.”
According to the latest data available from USA Hockey, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2018 to 2019, more women participated in ice hockey than ever before — 83,000.
Mr. Mock said women’s hockey is nowhere near as intense as men’s hockey, but there’s an audience for it and it creates an opportunity for women in the sport of skating that they didn’t have before.
“And it’s just a great stress reliever,” Ms. Presley said.
For her, hockey and the law are two halves of a whole — with hockey being an athletic expression of her aggressive personality.
“I spend a lot of time in the penalty box,” she said.
Tim Grant: tgrant@post-gazette.com or 412-779-5834
First Published: July 22, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: July 24, 2023, 8:07 p.m.
