Pontrelli's known education began at Harvard, which provided both his undergraduate and legal training. Harvard College, founded in 1636, is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States and the undergraduate college of Harvard University. Its Cambridge setting lies across the Charles River from Boston, the city where his later legal career developed.
Pontrelli earned a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Harvard College in 1981 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a member of that class. Phi Beta Kappa, founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary, is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and election to it recognizes outstanding scholarship in the liberal arts and sciences.
He then studied at Harvard Law School, receiving a Juris Doctor with honors in 1985. Founded in 1817, the school is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States, and his legal training preceded his admission to the Massachusetts bar in 1986.
Pontrelli was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1986 and later became associated with Foley & Lardner LLP. The firm traces its origins to 1842, when it was established in Wisconsin as Finch & Lynde; it adopted the name Foley & Lardner LLP in 1969 and expanded through a series of acquisitions into a national practice. Its Boston office was established in 2005.
His casework concentrated on insurance and reinsurance disputes, including title insurance matters, ERISA claims, conflicts among owners of closely held businesses, and real estate litigation. He handled complex matters in federal and state courts across the country and had particular experience with the structuring, management, and resolution of large cases. He is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and before the U.S. District Courts for the District of Massachusetts and the Northern District of California.
The firm later identified him as a retired partner.
Secured a judgment worth US$200 million in a federal court case concerning rights to share in the compensation paid to policyholders when a mutual life insurance company converted to a stock company.
Defeated pension-related claims against a Fortune 500 company, brought by minority stockholders of close corporations, both at trial and on appeal.
