Joseph McNelis

Joe is a member of the Constangy Cyber Team and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He works with our cyber litigation team, representing clients in class action matters arising from data security incidents, claims concerning wire fraud, and other privacy litigation matters. Joe has served as incident response counsel in over 150 cyber incidents and also has substantial experience advising clients about compliance with data privacy and information security laws, including HIPAA, FERPA and the GLBA.

Before becoming a data privacy attorney, Joe was an employment attorney with an AmLaw 100 firm, where he specialized in wage-and-hour class actions and provided advice and counsel to businesses on a wide array of workplace issues. He utilizes this blend of litigation and compliance expertise to assist clients in minimizing legal risk in the data privacy and cybersecurity arena, and helps them obtain the best possible result when faced with litigation arising out of a data privacy event.

Joe holds the Certified Information Privacy Professional credential for United States laws (CIPP/US) from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).  He is licensed to practice in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and is admitted to the New Jersey and Pennsylvania state and federal courts, as well as the U.S. District courts in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Joe is a graduate of the Temple University Beasley School of Law where he obtained his Juris Doctor, cum laude, served as an editor on the Temple Journal of Science, Technology & Environmental Law, and was admitted to the Order of the Coif.  He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Spanish Language & Literature at Fordham University, Fordham College at Rose Hill.