Joseph L. Messa, Jr. is the Founding Partner of Messa & Associates, P.C. He is an AV-rated attorney (highest rating available), listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. Mr. Messa has represented clients across the nation and has received seven- and eight-figure verdicts and settlements in catastrophic injury litigation involving medical malpractice, products liability, transportation accidents, construction and workplace injuries, fire, defective pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and other fields of complex personal injury. Mr. Messa also serves the legal community by presenting lectures on medical malpractice, products liability, managed care liability, drugs and medical devices, and transportation accidents.

Mr. Messa was born and raised in the Germantown section of the city and got an early lesson in the virtues of hard work by working with his father on weekends with different construction projects. He grew up in a union household, where his father at different times was a member of the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), Railroad Trains Workers Union, and AFSCME, while employed for 30 years by Penn Dot. He attended Chestnut Hill Academy and worked his way through college and law school with a house painting business he founded. He began his legal education as an honors graduate of Tulane University in 1984,and went on to graduate cum laude from Temple University School of Law in 1988, where he was honored with the Horace Stern Award for Excellence in Products Liability and the American Jurisprudence Award for Products Liability.

Mr. Messa is an active member of the American Association for Justice; American Bar Association; a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation; Pennsylvania Association for Justice – Board of Governors; Philadelphia Bar Association; New Jersey Association for Justice; Camden and Burlington County, NJ Bar Associations; and the Justinian Society. He is also an elected Advocate of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). In addition, Mr. Messa has served the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association in many aspects, including Board of Directors (2006 – present) Assistant Secretary (2009-2011),Secretary (2011-2012), Treasurer (2012-2013), Vice President (2013-2014), President Elect (2014-2015), and President (2015-2016).

Mr. Messa is a Diplomat of the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys and was board certified by the organization as a medical malpractice attorney. He is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, an invited member of the Verdict Club, Premier Trial Lawyers, and named a Top 100 Trial Lawyer by The National Trial Lawyers. In 2017, Mr. Messa was invited for membership in America’s Top 100 Attorneys, an invitation that is extended to only one-half of one percent of attorneys in the nation. In 2018, Mr. Messa accepted a Fellowship with the International Society of Barristers, an exclusive group of less than 700 elite attorneys around the globe. He has been selected to the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers list every year from 2009-2024 – an honor awarded to only the top five percent of attorneys in the state. He was also selected to the Top 100 Pennsylvania and Top 100 Philadelphia lists from 2012-2024.

He was selected to the New Jersey Super Lawyers list from 2017-2024 and by New Jersey’s Top Rated Lawyers as a Top Lawyer in the areas of personal injury and medical malpractice from 2012-2024. In 2018, Joe Messa was designated a Legal Eagle by Philly Style magazine as a Best Lawyer in personal injury and products liability litigation every year since 2017.