Joseph J. Costello

Partner

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.