Stephen H. Oleskey

Stephen Oleskey "is a partner in the Litigation and Real Estate Departments at WilmerHale, and a member of the firm’s Pro Bono and Community Service Committee. Mr. Oleskey originally joined Hale and Dorr, WilmerHale’s predecessor, in 1968. In 1987-88 he served as Massachusetts Deputy Attorney General and Chief of the Public Protection Bureau where, he supervised 140 attorneys, investigators, paralegals and support personnel in the Antitrust, Civil Rights, Consumer Protection, Environmental Protection, Insurance, Public Charities, Utilities, Nuclear Safety and Special Litigation Divisions. He returned to Hale and Dorr as a partner in late 1988. Mr. Oleskey has been consistently committed to pro bono service throughout his legal career. He has received numerous awards for his service to indigent clients in his local community and abroad, among them WilmerHale’s “John H. Pickering Award for Pro Bono Activities,” for significant work with numerous organizations and individuals, including Pact; the Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services’ “Distinguished Service Award,” in “recognition of [his] tireless efforts on behalf of otherwise forgotten prisoners;” and the Boston Bar Association’s “Thurgood Marshall Award” for “exemplary commitment to public service and outstanding advocacy on behalf of low-income citizens of Massachusetts.” Mr. Oleskey is past director and president of Greater Boston Legal Services as well as a past director and chairman of the board of the Boston Bar Association's Volunteer Lawyers Project. In addition to his board membership with Pact, Mr. Oleskey currently serves as chair of the Massachusetts Equal Justice Coalition. He was appointed to the board of the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation in 1995 by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and served as chair from 2003-2005. He also served for eight years on the Board of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund (now Legal Momentum). Mr. Oleskey received a B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1964 where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and later received a Distinguished Alumnus award as well as serving as a trustee, and a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1968."

He is a director of Pact.