Joseph J. Welter is co-chair of the firm’s Product Liability practice group. For more than 30 years, Joe has successfully defended the interests of companies and insurers, serving as national, regional, and local trial counsel in product liability litigation across the country. His experience includes defending Fortune 500 companies in highly complex national product liability lawsuits in federal multi-district litigation and state court mass tort settings. Joe’s experience includes defending clients in product liability cases involving sports and recreational equipment, industrial equipment, health products, automotive products, forklifts, trucks, industrial vehicles and restaurant equipment, pending in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, California, and other jurisdictions. Joe works 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, he works 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.

As the founding chair of the firm’s toxic tort and environmental practice groups, Joe focused much of his practice defending product manufacturers in toxic exposure cases, which include asbestos, legionella, excess zinc, adulterated food, benzene, and lead paint. 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 was named to the ABA Journal’s prestigious Blawg 100 and named the Best Litigation Blog by the Expert Institute.