Recent News:
Ira Bodenstein, Jack Carriglio, Janet Davis, John Dunn, Mitch Edlund, Wendy Enerson, Gary Gassman, Tia Ghattas, Jeremy Glenn, Erin Bolan Hines, Mark Rabinowitz, Peter Roberts, Brian Shaw, Joseph Tilson, Julie Trester, Peter Valeta, Anna Wermuth, and Brian Williams were recognized as Leading Lawyers, Christina Sanfelippo was recognized as an Emerging Lawyer.
Joe represents employers in large-scale employment litigation and labor arbitrations. He has tried more than 150 jury and non-jury cases before the full range of courts, administrative agencies, and labor arbitrators. His clients include a number of the country’s largest public and private employers, and Illinois’ most prestigious universities, whom he represents in both traditional labor law matters and employment litigation. Joe is nationally known for his knowledge and success in handling large wage and hour class action cases, but he also has vast experience in collective bargaining involving large and complex bargaining units.
As the former co-chair of the firm's Labor & Employment Department, Joe was instrumental in the growth of the practice, which has nearly tripled in size to more than 80 attorneys since 2015.
Joe has been recognized as one of the top labor and employment lawyers in Chicago. He was named the 2020 Chicago Employment Law “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers for the fifth time in the last nine years; he also twice received Lexology's Illinois Client Choice Award for outstanding client service; he has been named one of the Nation's Most Powerful Employment Attorneys by Human Resource Executive and Lawdragon each year since 2010; and he has consistently achieved a Band 1 Labor and Employment ranking from Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.
Joe is a past-chair of the ABA’s Labor and Employment Law Section, one of the largest sections of the ABA with over 12,000 members. He continues to serve on the ABA's council, the governing body of the ABA's Labor and Employment Section.
Joe is also a frequent lecturer, author, and bar association leader. He regularly speaks on labor and employment issues for the American Bar Association, Practicing Law Institute, Northwestern University's Corporate Council Institute, Chicago-Kent College of Law, and many other educational institutions and associations. Joe is a fellow of the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers (CLEL) and is the former chair of the American Bar Association’s Federal Labor Standards Legislation Committee. Joe also serves as vice-chair on the Board of Managers of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago.
Prior to entering private practice, Joe served as law clerk for the Honorable Stephanie K. Seymour, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.
Joe earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan in 1976 and his law degree, cum laude, from the University of Michigan School of Law in 1979.
News
March 05, 2024
Ira Bodenstein, Jack Carriglio, Janet Davis, John Dunn, Mitch Edlund, Wendy Enerson, Gary Gassman, Tia Ghattas, Jeremy Glenn, Erin Bolan Hines, Mark Rabinowitz, Peter Roberts, Brian Shaw, Joseph Tilson, Julie Trester, Peter Valeta, Anna Wermuth, and Brian Williams were recognized as Leading Lawyers, Christina Sanfelippo was recognized as an Emerging Lawyer.
January 29, 2024
The Cozen O’Connor attorneys who have been recognized by their peers in Illinois as Super Lawyers are Jack Carriglio, Janet Davis, Jeremy Glenn, Allen Guon, Peter Roberts, Brian Shaw, Joe Tilson, and Anna Wermuth. Amy Doig, David Doyle, and Corey Hickman were named to this year’s Illinois Rising Stars list. This is Hickman’s first year on the Rising Stars list.
September 27, 2023
Lawdragon has named six members of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department to its annual list of Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers.
August 17, 2023
Best Lawyers selected 232 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 24 of the firm’s U.S. offices for inclusion in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
July 28, 2023
These lists recognize lawyers “mastering,” “leading,” “revolutionizing,” and “dominating” their fields in their respective states and nationwide.
June 05, 2023
Of the 88 lawyers ranked, 17 lawyers have been recognized nationally, and eighteen were recognized in Band 1. Eight of the firm's practice areas have been recognized nationally, and nine were ranked Band 1.
February 22, 2023
Chambers Global has recognized six Cozen O’Connor attorneys: Susan Eisenberg (Miami – Labor & Employment), Geoffrey Ferrer (New York – Transportation & Trade), Shane Hardy (Toronto – Intellectual Property), Michael Osborne (Toronto – Antitrust & Competition), Joseph Tilson (Chicago – Labor & Employment), and Steven Weisz (Toronto – Bankruptcy & Restructuring) as worldwide leaders in their respective practices.
January 26, 2023
Super Lawyers has named 11 attorneys at Cozen O’Connor to its 2023 lists of top practitioners in Illinois.
August 24, 2022
Lawdragon has named six members of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department to its 2022 list of the Top 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers.
August 22, 2022
210 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 24 of the firm’s nationwide offices for inclusion in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
June 02, 2022
Chambers USA, the leading annual guide to the top lawyers and law firms in the United States, has ranked 86 Cozen O’Connor lawyers as leaders in their respective fields in the guide’s 2022 edition.
March 02, 2022
The Leading Lawyers Network has named 22 Cozen O’Connor lawyers to its annual list of Illinois’ top practitioners and named one other as an Emerging Lawyer in its 2022 survey results.
February 17, 2022
Chambers Global has recognized four Cozen O’Connor attorneys: Susan Eisenberg (Miami – Labor & Employment), Geoffrey Ferrer (New York – Transportation & Trade), Shane Hardy (Toronto – Intellectual Property), and Joseph Tilson (Chicago – Labor & Employment), as worldwide leaders in their respective practices.
January 28, 2022
Nine were recognized as Super Lawyers and two were named to its list of "Rising Stars," a list that recognizes attorneys under the age of 40.
November 19, 2021
Lawdragon has named six members of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department to its 2021 list of the Top 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers.
August 19, 2021
Best Lawyers selected 210 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 23 of the firm’s nationwide offices for inclusion in the 2022 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
May 26, 2021
Chambers USA, the leading annual guide to the top lawyers and law firms in the United States, has ranked 82 Cozen O’Connor lawyers as leaders in their respective fields in the guide’s 2021 edition; of those, 15 lawyers have been recognized nationally.
February 18, 2021
Chambers Global has recognized four Cozen O’ Connor attorneys, Susan Eisenberg (Miami – Labor & Employment), Geoffrey Ferrer (New York – Transportation & Trade), Thomas Giotto (Pittsburgh – Labor and Employment) and Joseph Tilson (Chicago – Labor & Employment), as worldwide leaders in their respective practices. All four attorneys are also ranked in the Chambers USA Guide.
January 29, 2021
Super Lawyers has named eleven attorneys at Cozen O’Connor to its 2021 lists of top practitioners in Illinois.
January 26, 2021
The Leading Lawyers Network has named 24 Cozen O’Connor lawyers to its annual list of Illinois’ top practitioners and named two others as Emerging Lawyers in its 2021 survey results.
December 14, 2020
Lawdragon has named six members of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department to its 2020 list of the Top 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers.
August 20, 2020
Cozen O’Connor is proud to announce that nine of the firm’s lawyers have been recognized as “Lawyers of the Year” in their respective practices by Best Lawyers in America.
August 20, 2020
Best Lawyers selected 200 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 23 of the firm’s nationwide offices for inclusion in the 2021 edition of The Best Lawyers in America© (Copyright 2020 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, SC).
May 14, 2020
Chambers USA, the leading annual guide to the top lawyers and law firms in the United States, has ranked 63 Cozen O’Connor lawyers as leaders in their respective fields in the guide’s 2020 edition.
February 17, 2020
Chambers Global has recognized four Cozen O’ Connor attorneys, Susan Eisenberg (Miami – Labor & Employment), Geoffrey Ferrer (New York – Transportation & Trade), Thomas Giotto (Pittsburgh – Labor and Employment), and Joseph Tilson (Chicago – Labor & Employment), as worldwide leaders in their respective practices. All four attorneys are also ranked in the Chambers USA Guide.
January 29, 2020
Super Lawyers has recognized six Cozen O'Connor attorneys to its 2020 lists of top practitioners in Illinois, including Joe Tilson who was again named one of the "Top 100" Illinois Super Lawyers.
December 03, 2019
Anna Wermuth and Joe Tilson led the ABA Student Trial Advocacy Competition Midwest Regionals in Chicago, Illinois.
November 21, 2019
Joe Tilson will be honored on December 12 with a Distinguished Service Award from the Chicago Chapter of the Labor and Employment Relations Association.
August 28, 2019
Best Lawyers selected 138 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 21 of the firm’s national offices for inclusion in the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
August 20, 2019
Joe Tilson shared his experience as Chair of the ABA Labor and Employment section with the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.
June 07, 2019
Four members of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department have been named to the 2019 LawDragon/Human Resource Executive (HRE) magazine’s top Labor & Employment lists.
May 21, 2019
The Leading Lawyers Network has named 17 Cozen O’Connor lawyers to its annual list of Illinois’ top practitioners - including one Emerging Lawyer - in its 2019 survey results.
April 25, 2019
Chambers USA, the leading annual guide to the top lawyers and law firms in the USA, has ranked 57 Cozen O’Connor lawyers as leaders in their respective fields in the Guide’s 2019 edition.
August 25, 2015
Joe Tilson discusses the merger of MBT and Cozen O’Connor and explains the Northwestern ruling from his vantage point, offering a vision of how a unionized Wildcats team could have spelled chaos for college athletics.
August 18, 2015
Cozen O'Connor's Labor & Employment attorneys were successful in thwarting the Northwestern University’s Football Team’s attempt to unionize, when the NLRB declined to assert jurisdiction.
Publications
August 28, 2017
Joseph E. Tilson and Anna Wermuth discuss why Governor Rauner’s veto is good news for Illinois employers.
February 07, 2017
Joseph Tilson and Anna Wermuth discuss the NLRB General Counsel Richard Griffin's announced that scholarship football players at Division I FBS private colleges and universities are employees entitled to protection under the National Labor Relations Act.
December 08, 2016
Joseph Tilson, Anna Wermuth, and Jeremy Glenn discuss a recent decision by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that student athletes are not employees of the college or university they attend and therefore are not entitled to a minimum wage or overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
August 24, 2016
Joseph E. Tilson and Anna Wermuth discuss the NLRB decision yesterday that student teaching and research assistants at private colleges and universities are statutory employees who can unionize under the National Labor Relations Act.
January 06, 2016
The 2015/2016 Labor and Employment Observer looks back at significant developments in labor and employment law over the past year and forward to what employers can expect in 2016.
Events & Seminars
Past Events
June 06, 2018
- Minneapolis, MN
October 20, 2017
- Dana Point, CA
October 05, 2017
- Chicago, IL
October 03, 2017
- New York, NY
June 14, 2017
- Philadelphia, PA