Joe Parsons defends clients against high-profile collective liability, class action, and unfair competition litigation. Joe has first-chair experience and regularly develops and executes complex case strategy from discovery to dispositive motions to trial, including across jurisdictions and with joint defense groups.
Joe has developed particular experience in defending product manufacturers against nationwide public nuisance litigation. He also leads the defense of significant individual and putative class action matters against a major credit reporting agency. Joe defends clients in cases seeking injunctive relief relating to allegations of trade secret misappropriation, tortious interference, violation of noncompetition and nondisclosure agreements, and other related business torts. He was also a key member of a defense team that obtained denial of class certification in a first-of-its-kind Lanham Act indirect competitor putative class action lawsuit brought against a major bottling company.
Joe devotes significant time and effort to pro bono matters and the Pittsburgh community. As part of the Firm's Border Project, he is representing a client with a claim for asylum. He serves as program coordinator for the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania's Pro Se Pro Bono Mediation Program and sits on the Allegheny County Bar Association's Federal Courts Section Council. Joe is also president of the board of directors of Pittsburgh International Classic Theatre and president of the American Constitution Society's Pittsburgh Lawyer Chapter.
Experience
Additional Speaking Engagements
- June 17, 2020
Moderator, Practical Voting Rights Issues for 2020: Using the Pennsylvania Primary to Look Ahead to November
- University of Pittsburgh (J.D. magna cum laude 2013; Civil Litigation Certificate; Order of the Coif; Articles Editor, University of Pittsburgh Law Review; Law School Trial Advocacy Award; Top Ten Advocate Award, 2012 Foreign Direct Investment International Arbitration Moot); The George Washington University (B.A. in International Affairs cum laude 2010)
- Pennsylvania, U.S. District Courts for the Western District of Pennsylvania and Eastern District of Wisconsin, and U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third and Fourth Circuits
- Selected by The Best Lawyers in America as "One to Watch" for commercial litigation (2021-2024)
- Law Clerk to the Honorable Mark R. Hornak, U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania (2013-2014)