Joe Johnston is a partner at Goodell DeVries, and his practice is concentrated primarily in the defense of physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers against claims of alleged medical negligence. Joe has great admiration for the healthcare profession, and he considers it an honor to represent those who devote their careers to caring for others. He has litigated to successful resolution a variety of medical malpractice claims, including claims of alleged birth injury, catastrophic brain injury arising from alleged medication errors, complications during and after surgery, and failure to diagnose or delay in diagnosis and treatment of conditions such as cancer, pulmonary embolism, and sepsis.
Joe also has experience in other types of personal injury defense litigation, including claims arising out of general premises liability, lead paint exposure, construction worksite accidents, auto accidents, and commercial trucking accidents.
Joe relishes every opportunity to be in the courtroom. As an associate and while serving as second chair counsel, he tried to defense verdict several medical and dental malpractice cases and one non-medical malpractice intentional tort case involving a claim for punitive damages - all before juries in Maryland Circuit Courts. Joe has experience arguing motions in Maryland Circuit Courts and appellate court experience arguing appeals in the Appellate Court of Maryland and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He also has extensive experience participating in mediation and experience with other forms of alternative dispute resolution such as binding arbitration. Although Joe has spent most of his career practicing in Maryland and the District of Columbia, his wife's career in medicine led him to the Research Triangle in North Carolina, where he spent three years as an associate at what is now Cranfill Sumner, LLP in Raleigh. While in North Carolina, Joe gained first-chair jury trial experience.
Joe has been honored as a Maryland Super Lawyer in Personal Injury - Medical Malpractice: Defense and Best Lawyers in America Ones to Watch in Medical Malpractice Law - Defendants. A Baltimore native, Joe graduated cum laude from the University of Baltimore School of Law. After law school, he completed a judicial clerkship with the Honorable James R. Eyler at the Maryland Court of Special Appeals (now the Appellate Court of Maryland).
