Joe is the managing partner of the Vorys Washington, D.C. office and Vorys’ chief environment litigation partner. His environmental trial experience is comprehensive defending corporations in actions involving: toxic torts, major federal statutes (CERCLA, RCRA, CWA, CAA) and companion state laws, federal and state citizen suits, contractual indemnity claims, bankruptcy environmental claims,
workplace exposure claims, UST contamination, and common law damage actions.

Joe’s clients include some of America’s best known companies in fields as diverse as: chemical manufacture, tire manufacture, rubber industry, the manufacture of products for the automotive, metal
fabrication, appliance, and medical industries; petroleum distribution; aerospace; oil and gas development; and commercial development.

Joe has significant experience in parent/subsidiary and corporate structure liability, including the defense of foreign parents of American subsidiaries sued for environmental liabilities.

Career highlights include:

• Defending chemical and manufacturing companies in state and federal courts across the country in cases alleging personal injury and property damage due to workplace or environmental exposures
• Trying cases under RCRA and CERCLA brought by the United States, corporations, or individual plaintiffs seeking statutory relief, damages, and penalties
• Defending business and financial institutions which have included the winning argument before the Ohio Supreme Court striking down legislation creating lender environmental liability. He also
  advises lenders on environmental liability issues in specific transactions
• Serving as common counsel to groups of corporate defendants involved in National Priorities List (NPL) sites on liability, allocation, and resource damage issues
• Being involved in some of the nation’s first major Superfund cases and negotiating numerous judicial and administrative settlements with USEPA in Superfund and Natural Resource Damage cases. He currently has a leadership role in a major case involving remediation of contaminated waterway sediments under the Great Lakes Legacy Act and WRDA.

Joe is a member of the American Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar, the Columbus Bar Association and the Defense Research Institute. Joe is admitted to
practice in the District of Columbia.

Joe has spoken at seminars on environmental law, including toxic tort litigation issues and practice, CERCLA and RCRA liability and defense issues, natural resource damage issues and settlements, and bankruptcy in the context of environmental issues and claims.

Joe received his J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School and his B.A. from Georgetown University.

Insights

“Liability of Third Parties and Successors Under United States Environmental Laws,” The International Business Climate and Environmental Regulation Conference, 1996

“Defense of CERCLA Enforcement Actions and Related Toxic Tort Claims,” Executive Enterprises, 1993

“Allocation of Liability and Assertion of Defenses to Liability under CERCLA,” International Hazardous Waste Clean-Up Seminar, 1992

“The Impecunious Co-Defendant: The Impact of Bankruptcy and Orphan Shares in Superfund Litigation,” Law and Science Institute, 1992

“Environmental Law for the General Practitioner,” The Fifteenth Annual Ohio Northern Law Review Symposium, October 1991

“Anspec Co. v. Johnson Controls, Inc.: CERCLA Successor LiabilitySaga Continued,” Environmental Law Journal of Ohio, May-June 1991

“The Veil Transparent: The Emerging Liability of Officers, Directors, Parents and Successors Under CERCLA,” Law and Science Institute, 1991

Professional and Community Activities

Board of Directors, National Italian American Foundation(NIAF),
2012-present
Georgetown University, Alumni Admissions Program, Board of Advisors,
1982-present; Chairman, 1997-2000
Georgetown University, Board of Regents, 2000-2006
Georgetown University, Alumni Association, Board of Governors, 1990-1996

Honors and Awards
Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, 2003-present
Washington D.C. Super Lawyers, Environmental Litigation, 2007
Chambers and Partners, Leading Lawyer in Environmental Law and Litigation
Best Lawyers in America, Environmental Law and Litigation, 1991-2006
Martindale-Hubbell AV Peer Review Rated

Events
HarrisMartin National Benzene Litigation Conference

Bar and Court Admissions
District of Columbia
Ohio
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio