Practice Areas
Practice Accolades
Labor and EmploymentThe American Lawyer Magazine's Litigation Department of the Year - Labor and Employment Law Finalist 2004, Winner 2006, and Finalist 2008
Listed in the highest tier for National Labor and Employment Practice in Chambers USA 2008
Ranked #1 for "Most Prestigious" Labor and Employment Practice, Vault 2008 Associate Survey
ERISA Litigation
Listed in the highest tier for National ERISA Litigation Practice in Chambers USA 2008
Honors + Affiliations
Member, American Bar Association; American Bar Association, Employee Benefits Committee; American Bar Association, Committee on the Development of the Law Under the National Labor Relations Act
Listed, Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2004–2008) and The Best Lawyers in America (2005–2009)
Noted in The Legal 500 for Employment and Labor (2007)
Noted in The Legal 500 for Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation—ERISA Litigation (2007)
Noted in The Legal 500 for Labor and Employment—ERISA Litigation (2008)
Bar Admissions
- Pennsylvania
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fifth, and Tenth Circuits
Joseph J. Costello Partner
- Philadelphia
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1701 Market St.
Philadelphia, PA 19103-2921
Phone: 215.963.5295
Fax: 215.963.5001
Joseph J. Costello is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Labor and Employment Practice and serves as the Deputy Practice Group Leader. Mr. Costello represents employers in a broad range of employment litigation matters and administrative agency proceedings, and provides counseling in connection with strategic and day-to-day human resources decisions.
As former chair of the ERISA Litigation Practice, Mr. Costello has extensive experience handling complex class actions and litigation involving multiple parties. This experience has included class actions in which benefit plan design decisions have been challenged or breach of fiduciary duty claims have been asserted under ERISA, multi-plaintiff employment discrimination cases under Title VII, the ADEA, and the ADA, and trade secret and non-compete agreement disputes.
Mr. Costello has advised employers on legal and practical issues associated with reduction-in-force programs, mergers and acquisitions, sexual harassment investigations, employee discipline, and union-management relations. He has represented employers before various administrative agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Department of Labor.
From 2004 through 2008, Mr. Costello was named one of the leading U.S. lawyers for employment law by Chambers USA, based on the views of clients, peers, and other industry professionals. Chambers called Mr. Costello "one of the premier ERISA attorneys in the country," and noted that his clients value his ability to "reduce the subject to a user-friendly form so no one comes out of a meeting not understanding."
Mr. Costello is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania.
Education
- Stanford University Law School, 1985, J.D.
- Cornell University, 1980, M.I.L.R.
- Pennsylvania State University, 1978, B.A.