Joseph Duffy is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice. Mr. Duffy focuses his practice on commercial, product liability, and consumer matters for retailers, financial services organizations, manufacturers, and other businesses. He counsels clients in a number of substantive areas, including consumer class actions, mass tort litigation, privacy and data collection issues, litigation involving retailers, consumer protection claims, contract and indemnification matters, and fraud and RICO lawsuits.
Mr. Duffy is co-head of the Litigation Practice's Retail Industry initiative, which focuses on the unique challenges facing retail companies. In this position, he represents retail clients with respect to state and nationwide consumer class actions, contract disputes, compliance issues, and other similar matters. Mr. Duffy has counseled retailers on various matters including gift cards, loyalty programs, sale advertising, data collection, and credit card compliance, including Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) issues. He has also successfully defended a retailer in one of the few California consumer class actions to have been tried to judgment and his retail trial experience also includes a defense verdict in a matter brought by a supplier against a national retail chain. Mr. Duffy also has experience counseling both food and retail companies in issues related to labeling and warnings. He is an active member in the firm's food industry program.
Mr. Duffy also has represented clients in many matters involving the financial services industry. He has handled class actions in many states related to lending practices, foreclosure activity, and debt collection. In this capacity, he has defended various claims brought under state and federal statutes that have arisen around the country following the recent financial crisis. Mr. Duffy, through this work, has developed broad experience with class action procedures and applicable law on a national basis.
In addition, Mr. Duffy has also focused on products liability and mass tort litigation. His practice in this area includes acting as national, coordinating, and trial counsel. His experience in product liability matters includes serving as a first- or second-chair trial counsel on more than a dozen cases. Generally, he has represented chemical, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, and construction products companies in numerous product liability matters, including those related to asbestos, silica, and benzene.
Mr. Duffy was one of five attorneys in the nation selected to Law360's Rising Stars for 2013 list for the Class Actions category. Helping a global financial services firm defeat class actions over alleged foreclosure and debt collection practices and securing a verdict for an international toy retailer in the first consumer class action trial under California's gift card law are some of the wins that have earned Mr. Duffy a place on Law360's list of top class action attorneys under 40.
Mr. Duffy earned his J.D., cum laude, from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2000, where he served as president of the International Law Society. He earned his B.A., cum laude, in political science from the College of New Jersey in 1996. He was a master's candidate in international relations at Villanova University in 1997.
Mr. Duffy is admitted to practice in California and Pennsylvania.
