Sozi Pedro Tulante
2018 Commencement Speaker
Sozi Pedro Tulante is a Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. From January 2016 to March 2018, he was Philadelphia’s City Solicitor. He oversaw the Law Department and its 215 attorneys. As the City’s head lawyer, he expanded the number of attorneys representing abused and neglected children in the Child Welfare Unit and created the an affirmative litigation unit, which filed major cases such as a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense for failing to report information necessary for local law enforcement to keep guns from the hands of people who have military convictions or have been dishonorably discharged. And a lawsuit against AG Jeff Sessions to challenge his attempt to withhold critical federal funds from Philadelphia based on the claim that it is a “sanctuary city.” He argued various matters, including in the lawsuit against AG Sessions and in a matter to confirm an abuse finding against the caregivers of a two-year-old child who had gonorrhea and chlamydia.
Before joining the City, he spent over five years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia, where he represented the government in criminal investigations and prosecutions. Prior to entering government service, he was a partner at Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller, focused on commercial litigation and high-profile pro bono cases including representing a detainee in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who was subsequently released. He began his legal career at another law firm and then clerked for the late Honorable Reginald C. Lindsay of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
He graduated cum laude from both Harvard Law School, and Harvard College. He is a graduate of Northeast High School and Russell H. Conwell Middle Magnet School, both in Philadelphia.
In 2017 he was named in “100 Most Influential Philadelphians,” by Philadelphia Magazine, and “Best of the Bar,” by the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Sozi was born in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) and moved to North Philadelphia with his family when he was 8 as a political refugee.