PROFILE: DAN PETROCELLI, CHATSWORTH : NOW HE PLAYS IN THE BIG LEAGUES FAME HAS NOT SHAKEN LAWYER'S COOL.

Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Staff Writer

Before Dan Petrocelli questioned O.J. Simpson on the witness stand, he was no stranger to battles of another kind - as a coach of little league teams throughout the Valley.

A family man and sports fan, Petrocelli managed teams of 10-year-old ``all-stars'' in youth baseball.

``I'm as proud of that as I am of anything,'' said the lawyer known for a take-no-prisoners courtroom style that drew praise from legal pundits and the media alike during the four-month wrongful death case against Simpson.

Less than a month after a jury unanimously found Simpson liable for the June 1994 killings of his ex-wife and Fred Goldman's son, Petrocelli is bemused by his newfound celebrity.

``I stopped into Winchell's this morning for a doughnut and people stopped me as if to say, `What are you doing here?' '' Petrocelli said. ``People come up to me at Ralphs and on the street. I never imagined the verdict would have this bonus effect of making people feel good about the justice system again.''

The New Jersey-born Petrocelli is only now getting back to a normal routine after spending four months holed up with his colleagues at the Doubletree Guest Suites Hotel, just across the street from the Santa Monica Courthouse where Simpson was tried.

A Valley resident since 1981, Petrocelli lives in Chatsworth with his wife, Marian, and son, Adam, a freshman at Granada Hills High School. A daughter, Rachel, is a freshman at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

``I absolutely love living in the San Fernando Valley,'' Petrocelli said without prompting. ``I love living in a normal suburban community. In terms of bringing up a family, there's no better place.''

During a recent visit to New York, Petrocelli was stunned by reactions on the street that included spontaneous applause, bottles of champagne sent to his table and a steady stream of congratulatory handshakes.

But despite the national obsession with the Simpson criminal proceedings, Petrocelli didn't follow the first trial closely.

``I watched a little TV coverage at night,'' he said. ``I had no clue I would ever be involved.''

That changed when one of Petrocelli's longtime clients, Paul Marciano, chief executive officer of garment manufacturer Guess? Inc., recommended Petrocelli and his West Los Angeles firm of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp to the Goldman family.

``I went over to the Goldmans' home a few weeks after the acquittal and we all connected,'' Petrocelli explained. ``By the end of the three hours, they wanted to hire me and I wanted to represent them. My other clients were very supportive in encouraging me to take this case.''

For his part, Goldman says that Petrocelli's ``passion, devotion and dedication were the driving force of our case.''

High marks in court

Leading an aggressive eight-member legal team that included Ed Medvene, Tom Lambert, Peter Gelblum and Yvette Molinaro, Petrocelli received high marks for his no-nonsense courtroom demeanor and relentless examination of Simpson during two days of grueling questioning in November that centered on the events of June 12, 1994, the night Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were slashed to death.

``That was do or die for us,'' Petrocelli said over pasta last week at a restaurant near his office. ``It was crucial to put him on the stand and make sure that he was not believed and demonstrate to the jury that he was lying. That was the most challenging part of the case for us. A lot of work went into preparing that cross-examination.''

Simpson, found not guilty of murder Oct. 3, 1995, in a criminal trial, was held liable Feb. 4 and ordered to pay $33.5 million in damages to the families of the victims. Last week, Ronald Goldman's divorced parents agreed to split the $8.5 million compensatory damage award with 85 percent going to Fred Goldman and 15 percent to Sharon Rufo, the slain man's biological mother.

A $12.5 million punitive damage award will be split equally by Goldman and Rufo; attorneys for Nicole Brown Simpson's estate filed judgment claims last week for the $12.5 million in punitive damages earmarked by the jury for her heirs.

Simpson's lawyers have until March 6 to file any objections to the proposed judgments before they are signed by Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki and entered in the court record.

Petrocelli's firm worked on the case on a contingency basis and will be getting a percentage of the jury award. But the attorney estimated the firm spent about $3 million on the trial and its preparation.

``When the clerk read back that first verdict that said Simpson was responsible for killing Ron, that was it for us,'' the 43-year-old Petrocelli said. ``That was what we had worked so hard for. That was what Fred Goldman and his family had wanted so desperately. It meant everything to us and that moment was the ultimate high point of the entire trial.''

Thorough on, off the field

Several years ago, Petrocelli was a familiar figure on local baseball fields when he managed a team of preteens.

``He's a very meticulous guy,'' said Stuart Goodman, president of North Valley Youth Baseball and a former manager whose team competed with Petrocelli's. ``Very thorough even on the level of our baseball teams. The thing about Dan is, he's very unpretentious. He knows what he's talking about, but he doesn't throw it in your face.''

Goodman, owner of American Lighting Products in Northridge, has remained friends with Petrocelli over the years.

``We used to meet at this little doughnut place,'' Goodman joked. ``Now that he's been on CNN, we meet at Starbucks.''

Before he turned to law, Petrocelli just wanted to play the trumpet, which he studied at UCLA, with a view toward becoming a professional musician. After switching to an economics major, he landed a job at City National Bank in Beverly Hills as an auditor while attending Southwestern University School of Law at night.

After graduating from law school, he was hired by the 100-lawyer Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, where he discovered he wanted to be a trial attorney. Along with Guess? Inc., he has represented the estate of Armand Hammer.

Petrocelli, who had never tried a wrongful death case before, says he is considering writing a book on the Simpson civil trial.

``This was a much purer search for the truth than the criminal case because of the nature of civil trials,'' he said. ``This case is the definitive statement about what happened that night. It really represents all the trustworthy evidence on both sides. Everything was put out there. We wanted this to be tried as a good old-fashioned trial without any shenanigans because we knew we could win.''

Since the verdict, prospective clients have been beating a trail to Petrocelli's door.

``It includes a lot of wrongful death cases, cases involving domestic violence, people who feel they've been treated unfairly in the justice system, companies of various sizes,'' Petrocelli said. ``My phone's been ringing off the hook.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Attorney Dan Petrocelli arrives at the Santa Monica Courthouse with the Goldman family during the civil trial.

David Sprague/Daily News

(2) I never imagined the verdict would have this bonus effect of making people feel good about the justice system again.''

_ Dan Petrocelli, Goldman family's lawyer

John McCoy/Daily News