Joseph A. Carroll is an Associate in Meyer, Unkovic & Scott’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group. Joe focuses his practice on commercial disputes in both state and federal court.
Joe has experience in a wide array of civil litigation matters, including breach of contract, negligence, nuisance, other tort matters, intellectual property, employment law, restrictive covenants, non-competition agreements, residential and commercial real estate litigation, opening or striking confessed judgements, and collection matters. Joe handles insurance coverage matters including property, business interruption, contingent business interruption, civil authority, event cancellation, and general liability coverage. He has frequently dealt with service animal and emotional support animal issues.
Joe received his J.D. from the Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law in May 2017. Joe graduated second in his class and earned a number of awards, including CALI Excellence for the Future Awards for the highest grade in fourteen of his classes and the American Legal Institute’s Scholarship & Leadership Award. He served as the Managing Editor for the Penn State Law Review, as well as a research assistant for multiple professors.
During law school, Joe worked as a summer intern at a small general practice law firm in Somerset, Pennsylvania and at the Somerset County Public Defender’s Office. He also served as a summer law clerk for President Judge D. Gregory Geary and Judge Scott Bittner of the Somerset County Court of Common Pleas. Following law school, Joe served as a federal law clerk for Judge Kim R. Gibson of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Joe grew up in Somerset, Pennsylvania, where he attended Somerset Area Senior High School. He currently resides in Mt. Lebanon with his wife and his ludicrously spoiled cat. Joe is an avid musician and enjoys following Pittsburgh sports and playing and watching tennis.
- Included in Best Lawyers of America® 2023 Ones to Watch list for Commercial Litigation
- Penn State Dickinson School of Law
- Ranked second in his graduating law school class of one hundred and sixty-nine.
- Penn State Law Review, Managing Editor
- ALI CLE Scholarship & Leadership Award
- Student graduation speaker (elected by graduating class)
- First Place Winner of the American Bar Association’s 2017 Schwab Essay Contest for his essay Family Law Is Not “Civil”: The Faulty Foundation of the Domestic Relations Exception To Federal Jurisdiction.
- Woolsack Honor Society (for students in top fifteen percent of their class)
- CALI Excellence for the Future Award for the highest grades in:
- Elements of Law
- Property
- Legal Analysis, Research and Writing II
- Evidence
- Elder Law
- Family Law
- Federal Court Practice
- Pennsylvania Practice
- Electronic Evidence
- Agency, Partnerships, and Limited Liability Entities
- State and Local Government Law
- Law Practice Management
- Remedies
- Saint Vincent College
- Maria Leonard Book Award for the Highest GPA of the Graduating Class
- English Department Award
- Saint Vincent Law Scholar
- Wimmer Scholar (Saint Vincent College’s highest undergraduate academic scholarship)
- Publication of literary criticism essay on Henry James in The Sigma Tau Delta Review International Journal of Critical Writing (Volume 12, 2015).
- American Bar Association, Member
- Pennsylvania Bar Association, Member
- Allegheny County Bar Association, Member
- Civil Litigation Section, Member
- Construction Law Section, Member
- Federal Court Section, Member
- Young Lawyers Division, Member
- Somerset County Bar Association, Member
- Pittsburgh Pro Bono Partnership, Administrative Board Member
- Landlord Tenant Project and Landlord Tenant Pro Se Assistance Project, Volunteer
- Pro bono representation of low-income tenants for appeals of housing determinations
- Pro bono representation of low-income tenants at Housing Court mediations
- Pennsylvania
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
- United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- J.D., The Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law, 2017, summa cum laude
- B.A., English, Saint Vincent College, 2014, summa cum laude
- CLE Co-Presenter, Association of Corporate Counsel-Western Pennsylvania, “The Practical Approach to Privilege and Work Production Protections Under Pennsylvania Law: Common Pitfalls and how to Avoid Them,” August 3, 2022.
- Guest Lecturer, Penn State Law School, “Federal Courts” taught by Judge Kim R. Gibson of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on the topics of federal clerkships, transitioning from law school and clerkships to private practice, and civil litigation, 2018-2022.
- “Assessing Animal-Related Reasonable Accommodation Requests: Step-By-Step Guide.” Residential Resource, Volume 31, Number 6, June 2020, 16-17, 30.
- “Insurance and COVID-19: Do Business Insurance Policies Cover COVID-19 Losses?” MUS Client Alert, March 27, 2020.
- CLE Co-Presenter, Meyer Unkovic & Scott LLP, “Effective Arbitration Agreements: Commercial Litigators’ Perspective,” February 10, 2020.
- “They Aren’t A Different Animal: Online ESA Letters,” Residential Resource (31)1, January 2020: 14-15.
- “Client Alert: Oil and Gas Operators Now Subject to UTPCPL Claims by Attorney General,” MUS Client Alert, May 13, 2019.
- “Real Estate Client Alert: HUD Issues New Guidance on Service and Support Animals in Housing,” MUS Client Alert, February 10, 2020.
- Joseph A. Carroll, Family Law is Not “Civil”: The Faculty Foundation of the Domestic Relations Exception to Federal Jurisdiction, 52 A.B.A. Fam. L. Q. 125 (2019).