Joseph B Espo

Joe Espo has devoted much of his career to representing individuals who have suffered serious personal injuries, including brain-damaged children in toxic tort cases, in both Maryland and the District of Columbia. He has represented more than 100 children who were victims of childhood lead poisoning caused by decaying paint in older homes and successfully challenged a Maryland regulation exempting certain housing repairs from lead-safe work rules. As an outgrowth of his representation of lead-poisoned children, Joe has represented families who have been denied housing because of landlords’ concerns of lead poisoning.

Joe has also represented numerous individuals with disabilities in asserting their rights regarding housing, employment, and access to public accommodations. He successfully represented deaf sports fans in their case against the Washington Redskins’ FedEx Field to gain equal access to all aural content, including the lyrics to the music played during the game. Joe’s disability rights experience also includes representing clients when hospitals have failed to provide sign language interpreters during the administration of medical care.

Since 2013, Joe has been selected annually by his peers to the Maryland Super Lawyers.  Only five percent of the lawyers in the state are chosen for inclusion in Super Lawyers.

A member of the state and federal bars of Maryland and the District of Columbia, Joe has taught Maryland Civil Procedure at the University of Maryland School of Law and taught classes on handling lead poisoning cases for the Maryland Institute for Continuing Professional Education of Lawyers. Before attending law school, Joe was the labor reporter at the Flint (Michigan) Journal.