Cathy O’Donnell is a dedicated attorney, community leader, and business manager at O’Donnell Law Offices, celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2025. A longtime practicing lawyer in Pennsylvania, she is also a member of the DC Bar and a former District Justice. She earned her undergraduate degree, Juris Doctorate, and MBA from the University of Pittsburgh, graduating cum laude with each. Beyond the courtroom, Cathy is a passionate advocate for education, social justice, and community service, serving on several boards throughout her career.

She currently chairs the Luzerne County Community College Board and is an Emeritus Board Member of the Luzerne County Bar Charitable Foundation Board. She is also the former Assistant Secretary of the Friedman Jewish Community Center Board and a board member of the North Branch Land Trust, Junior Leadership Northeast, and Dress for Success Luzerne County.

In 2023, Leadership Northeast honored her dedication to the community with the Distinguished Alumni Award. That same year, she received the Community Service Award from the Pennsylvania Association for Justice and the President’s Award from the Friedman JCC. At home, Cathy and her husband, Neil, celebrated 35 years of marriage in 2024. She cherishes time with their adult children, Neil and Renata, daughter-in-law Mehak, and grandson, Adam. 

Through her legal expertise and dedication to service, Cathy O’Donnell exemplifies how advocacy extends beyond the courtroom, strengthening her community in lasting ways. 

In your professional and personal lives, what achievements and successes have made you feel powerful?  How can other women learn from these stories?

When I know I am helping others, I feel my best. Whether on the job helping those who have been hurt or lost someone they love, or volunteering with helping hands delivering food, clothes or blankets, those moments of satisfaction give me the power and strength to continue to want to help even more. Moments of power and strength do not usually come directly to me.  It is in doing the new and perhaps uncomfortable, putting myself out there and listening and meeting new people, that I best learn how to give my best self and truly help. I try not to listen to naysayers who tell me “This is the way it’s always been done.” Sometimes a new set of eyes can see a way to make something better and stronger and able to service even more people. So have the confidence in yourself and your skills to accomplish the task at hand, and the humility to receive help from others.

What does Accelerate Action (this year’s theme for IWD day) mean for you and how can you use your voice to help Accelerate Action?

Accelerate Action-means to me “get up and do rather than wish you did more.” It is difficult to find time to make it all happen in a day—work, family, friends, leisure—and still find a way to help the community. For me, it’s a matter of scheduling and calendaring all of it, including my community service time. When I see a way I might be able to help or I am asked to help, I am grateful for the opportunity and try my best “to answer the call” rather than put it off. I should not complain about something if I might be able to help solve the problem, either in part or in whole.  

How have you acted as a mentor to other women, either in your personal life or in the workplace?  What makes this kind of mentorship important?

I volunteer for structured mentor programs on a regular basis, such as the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Women In the Profession and the Wilkes-Barre Law & Library Association. I also mentor young people at the O’Donnell Law Office, which has interns from college and law school throughout the year. We work together on various projects, and I stay in communication with them throughout their career progression. When I was still in my educational journey, I had many questions on how to move forward not only in choosing my career path, but also how to even consider managing a professional and personal life. It is important to be able to have those discussions with someone who has had those experiences in order to not only feel some comfort but also to potentially make some helpful choices.

What barriers have you faced in your life (professionally and/or personally that you feel comfortable sharing) and how did you overcome them?

In 1984, when I started law school, I was 20-years old and the class was about 2/3’s male at that time (it’s about 51% female now). I definitely had doubts as to whether or not I could do it. My mother, who did not go to college, dispelled my fears in her continued firm reassurances throughout my first year. She was my touchstone of encouragement every day to go and listen. Some days that first year were intimidating, but realizing that other classmates (male and female) had similar fears and doubts really helped. I made new friends and each day got a little better, so I felt a little stronger, and I ended up doing well. One of my friends that year was Neil O’Donnell, and by my second year, he came to be the love of my life. It was truly one day at a time showing up and listening with a lot of personal support.

As a powerful woman, what would you tell a woman who is struggling in her career and/or having a hard time moving ahead and achieving her goals?

First, you are not alone. Very few women can just set a goal or know what they want and find a direct path to the perfect ending. So, please do not feel like you did anything wrong. Goals are ever changing so really evaluate that goal and why you want it. I still like to write things out on a sheet of paper and make lists. Then, with the end goal in sight, flow chart your way backwards. Do you need another skill or degree or work experience to get to the end goal? End with where you are now in your career. Is another person at your current job in your way? Is there just no space for you to move forward? Be real with yourself and not “poor me.” Before you leave your current job, look at that flow chart to decide what you need to fill in that next block to move forward, then do it. It will not necessarily be easy, but be focused and have confidence in yourself.  Good luck!

About Dress for Success

Dress for Success ® is an international not-for-profit organization that empowers women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire, and the development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. Since starting operations in 1997, Dress for Success has expanded to nearly 150 cities in 30 countries. To date, Dress for Success has helped more than 2,000,000 women work towards self-sufficiency.

Since Dress for Success Luzerne County became operational in December of 2010, the program has reached 2,500 economically challenged women from the area by providing clothing, job interview support and workforce guidance. Dress for Success Luzerne County continues to create programs to enhance economic and social development, encouraging self-sufficiency through career development and employment retention.