YOUR STORY MATTERS HERE: Debbie Little

By Tim Wesley

As an attorney for more than 35 years, Debbie Little has been embroiled in countless courtroom dramas, backroom negotiations and conference room mediations.  But the most important issue she had to settle involved her personal life. 

And that was an open-and-shut case.

“Attorneys work crazy hours and clients are very demanding, so finding a work-life balance has been the biggest challenge,” she said. “Being a single, divorced mother made it very important for me not to let myself get over-committed at work, which meant that I did not climb the ladder as fast as I would have liked.  The trade off – time with my girls – was worth it.”

Proof-positive that she achieved that balance is demonstrated by not only her strong, enduring bonds with daughters Caitlin, 23, and Courtney, 22, but by Debbie’s lengthy and successful law career.  After 35 years with Buchanan Ingersoll, in 2020 she became a shareholder at Pittsburgh-based Dentons Cohen & Grigsby, a firm with offices throughout the U.S. and around the world.  She was inducted into the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County earlier this year and has been selected to The Best Lawyers in America© for Commercial Litigation. 

As for those bonds with Caitlin and Courtney, there are the typical mother-daughter connections – and then there’s Penn State football.  All three are PSU graduates, and over the years they have shared many tailgates and games in the place known as Happy Valley.  For Debbie, it’s an especially happy place, going back to her days of playing the clarinet in the Blue Band, the university’s marching band.

“I can talk Penn State football all day long,” she said, and then offered as evidence two of her favorite, in-person memories:  Penn State’s 1981 rout of No.1-ranked Pitt, 48-14; and its 1987 Fiesta Bowl win against Miami, 14-10, which gave the underdog Nittany Lions the National Championship.

As if to build a stronger case, Debbie then provided a bit of commentary on the latter game:  “We were ranked No.2, and Miami was ranked No.1.  Miami showed up that week in camouflage fatigues and later walked out of a dinner held for both teams. The Pete Giftopoulos interception [which saved the game for Penn State] happened right in front of me.”

A Meadville native, Debbie keeps a list of the top 15 days of her life – not counting the obvious ones such as weddings or births – and those two Penn State games currently rank in the top five.  So yeah, having her girls bleed blue and white along with mom has provided many bonding opportunities. 

She also credits Dutilh with offering similar bonding and growth opportunities to her family.

“Being a single mom, I relied upon the Dutilh family to help me raise my girls,” she said.  “They had great role models here, particularly Matt and Pam McCarrier [former youth pastor and his wife], with whom they still keep in touch.”

A member of Dutilh since moving to Cranberry Township in 2001, Debbie became involved initially by volunteering on Wednesday nights with the children’s programs and choir that met after dinner.  She also attended adult Sunday school classes, served on the board of trustees, and played in the bell choir.

“Dutilh is small enough that it’s possible to get to know most of the members and to get plugged in,” she said.  “Yet, Dutilh is large enough to support great ministries, including our children and youth ministries, music ministry, and The Nyadire Connection, all of which my family and I have been involved with.”

About five years ago, Debbie joined Dutilh’s international mission efforts through TNC (www.nyadire.org) when she hosted a fundraiser for the organization, which seeks to support the United Methodist Mission in Nyadire, Zimbabwe.  Dutilh’s Ralph Duckworth then invited her to TNC’s monthly meetings, and she was eventually asked to lead its friend-raising/fundraising initiatives.  When Dutilh organized a mission trip to Nyadire in 2019, Debbie traveled with the group and, starting in January, she will serve on TNC’s new five-person leadership team.  In her new role, she will be focused mainly on strengthening TNC’s existing relationships with its seven network churches, including Dutilh, and on expanding its reach to include other churches.

Growing in faith helped Debbie to become passionate about international mission work.

“TNC is often asked why we go all the way to Africa to help people when there is so much need at home,” she said.  “But we are all God’s children, no matter where we live.  Just as God ‘sent’ His Son because He ‘so loved the world,’ He sends TNC to show His love in Zimbabwe, and I am so blessed to be a part of that ministry.

“For lots of reasons, I finally came to realize that we are one big world and it’s important to see how the rest of the world lives.  TNC was such an easy way to plug into international mission work, and I like that it concentrates on making a difference in one place, over time, and works in partnership with people in Nyadire, allowing them to set the priorities, which we then try to enable.”

Debbie led the planning for TNC’s 15th Anniversary Celebration, which Dutilh hosted on Nov. 14.  About 125 people attended the event, which featured an auction to raise funds for TNC, guest speakers from TNC’s first trip in 2006, and speakers by video from Zimbabwe.

“The event was a great team effort, with a LOT of help from Dutilh,” she said.  “It was not only a celebration of our friendships in Nyadire and past successes, but also a look at what the future might hold and a re-commitment to continue working there, with our partners, and toward the goal of helping them to become self-sustaining over time.  Hopefully we not only raised valuable funds but introduced some new people to the work we are doing.  We would like to see more churches involved with TNC and more people from each church involved.  And I hear there may be another Dutilh trip to Zimbabwe in the future.”

Like most people, Debbie said it’s easier to talk about faith in her personal life rather than in her professional life, but she still finds plenty of ways to apply Christian principles, even in a law office or a courtroom.

“At work, there are people of all faiths,” she said.  “But in my professional life, I serve by mentoring young law students and lawyers, providing training for other lawyers, serving on various bar association committees and supporting pro bono work.  At one point, I ran our firm’s summer program for law students, with about 20 students each year.  They did legal research and writing for the firm. My co-leader and I mentored them through their assignments and evaluations and helped them to navigate the firm to see the breadth of the practice and get to know the lawyers.  We also planned and executed many social events each summer for them to get to know the city and the lawyers and to hopefully get job commitments from them after they graduated.”

Clients, too, benefit from her commitment to service and integrity.

“I try to treat clients, opposing parties and all counsel fairly and with civility,” she said.  “That’s required by the rules of ethics and professional conduct that govern attorneys, but I’d like to think that the way I treat others goes beyond the bare requirements.  It is the ultimate compliment when an opposing counsel refers a client to me not only because of my competence but also because of my professionalism.  I also seek to see that justice is done, by working to assure that everyone has access to counsel, that my clients are well represented, that I am an advocate for them, that I bill them fairly and that cases that should be settled are settled and unfair results are appealed.”

Case closed.

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If you or someone you know in the Dutilh family has an interesting story or profession, send us your ideas! We would love to help tell the story. Email: communications@dutilhumc.org.