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 21^st 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.

The information contained in this article should not be construed as legal advice, is not a substitute for legal counsel, and should not be relied on as such. For legal advice or answers to specific questions, please contact one of our attorneys.