Joseph J. Welter

Joseph J. Welter is chair of the firm’s Toxic Tort and Environmental Practice Groups. Over the past 28 years, Joe has successfully defended the interests of companies and insurers, serving as national, regional, and local trial counsel in toxic tort and environmental litigation across the country.

His experience has included cases involving alleged exposure to asbestos, Legionella bacteria, excess zinc, adulterated food, benzene and lead paint, pending in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan, and other jurisdictions.

Joe is a nationally recognized lecturer and author on emerging toxic tort issues, and a Continuing Education Instructor approved by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

He is also the editor of Goldberg Segalla’s Asbestos Case Tracker, which has been hailed as the “go-to” resource for significant asbestos decisions and developments throughout the country, and which was recently named to the ABA Journal’s prestigious Blawg 100 and named the Best Litigation Blog for 2016 by the Expert Institute in its annual legal blog contest.

Joe has also served as national science and trial counsel in mass toxic tort litigation, which has included federal court multi-district litigations and state court mass tort programs. Joe has also handled environmental contamination class action litigation.

FZJoe has worked with clients to develop effective litigation plans, trial strategies, and settlement matrixes for mass tort and class action claims in these litigation settings. On the science side, Joe has worked with clients to develop effective scientific and medical defenses, which includes extensive vetting and retention of expert witnesses and effective use of Daubert and Frye motions to preclude plaintiffs’ experts.

Professional Affiliations:

• Defense Research Institute: Insurance Law Committee; Product Liability Committee and Toxic Torts and Environmental Law Committee
• Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM)

Education:

• Hofstra University School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 1989
• City University of New York, B.A., summa cum laude, 1986