PHILADELPHIA – December 17, 2009–Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP is
pleased to announce that Joseph J. Centeno, a partner in the Labor and Relations
Employment Law Department and the Litigation Department, was recently elected as
President of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA).
NAPABA is the voice of 40,000 Asian Pacific American lawyers, judges and law
students. It has 61 affiliate organizations and a staff of 7 in Washington, D.C.
Centeno was sworn in for the upcoming bar year, at the NAPABA’s installation banquet
on November 21, 2009 during the 21st annual NAPABA convention in Boston,
Massachusetts. The Board is comprised of the Executive Committee which consists of
NAPABA’s nine officers and the Regional Governor’s who represent each of the nine
NAPABA regions across the United States.
Centeno has served as Vice President of Finance and Development for NAPABA,
President-Elect for NAPABA, President of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association
of Pennsylvania, a Senior Hearing Officer to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Disciplinary Board and Commissioner to the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission.
Centeno also served as a board member to the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group, the
NAPABA Law Foundation, the National Employment Lawyer’s Council and the
Homeless Advocacy Project as well as a two year term as a member of the Board of
Governors for the Philadelphia Bar Association. He currently serves on the Philadelphia
Bar Association’s Investigative Division for the Commission on Judicial Selection and
Retention Committee and a member of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and American Bar
Associations.
Centeno founded Obermayer’s Diversity Committee and serves as the firm’s Diversity
Partner. In 2006, Diversity & the Bar Magazine named Centeno one of “The Best of the Best” labor and employment lawyers in the country. He has also been recognized as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer and honored as one of NAPABA’s “Best Lawyers Under 40.”
Centeno’s practice includes commercial litigation, labor relations and employment litigation. He has extensive jury trial experience. He also has broad experience in defending claims before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and state and federal courts and agencies.
Centeno has received numerous defense verdicts in Federal Court jury trials and has been successful in appeals before the United States Supreme Court on employment law issues and the Superior Court of Pennsylvania on trade secrets issues.
He received his Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude, from Amherst College, Amherst, MA, (1990) and a member of the Amherst College Alumni Association. He received his Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School, Boston (1993). Prior to joining Obermayer, Centeno clerked for the Superior Court of Massachusetts. Centeno
is a Fellow of Temple University School of Law’s Academy of Advocacy. He is a frequent author and speaker having spoken before many organizations including the American Bar Association, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the National Employment Lawyers Council, Lorman Education Services and the Society for Human
Resources Management.
He is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. He has earned an AV ® rating from Martindale-Hubbell, indicating very high to
preeminent legal ability and very high ethical standards.
About Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP
Obermayer was founded in 1904 and is a full service law firm headquartered in Philadelphia with offices in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Altoona and Berwyn, Pennsylvania; Cherry Hill, New Jersey; Wilmington, Delaware, and affiliated offices in Denver, Colorado and New York. Throughout its history, Obermayer has provided comprehensive legal services to a diverse client base, including Fortune 100 corporations, technology companies, prominent businesses, banks, insurance and lending institutions, hospital and physician groups, charitable and non-profit institutions, municipalities, public utilities, fiduciaries and individuals. Obermayer is also a member of the International Alliance of Law Firms. The Alliance is an international network of select, business-oriented law firms that was founded to enable clients to obtain global legal services from the Alliance’s individual Members. Obermayer is one of only eight specially selected Alliance firms in the United States. For further information please visit www.obermayer.com
###
