Carla M. Castello

Area of Emphasis

Carla Castello is a shareholder in the Litigation, Emerging Technologies, and Employment and Labor Groups at Babst Calland. Ms. Castello has a broad range of litigation experience in several practice areas including commercial, labor and employment, consumer protection, antitrust, energy, and toxic tort. Her experience includes assisting corporate clients in defending a variety of matters, including environmental and toxic tort disputes, commercial contract disputes regarding the manufacture, design, installation and testing of large industrial equipment, and conflicts between shareholders in closely-held businesses.

Ms. Castello has experience in all stages of litigation, including complex commercial and class action litigation involving extensive electronic and foreign language discovery. She has represented clients in various federal and state courts and before single and three-judge arbitration panels.

Background

Ms. Castello graduated from the University of Maryland in 2011 with a B.A. in Economics and received her J.D. from the George Washington University Law School in 2014. While at GW Law, Ms. Castello served as a Managing Editor of the Federal Communications Law Journal and Assistant Director of Weekly Programming for the Student Bar Association. She also served as a teaching assistant for the first-year student Legal Research and Writing program, research assistant for a visiting law professor, an Alternative Dispute Resolution Board Member, and a legal intern at the Superior Court for the District of Columbia.

Prior to joining Babst Calland, Ms. Castello served as a law clerk to the Honorable Nora Barry Fischer in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. She also worked as an associate at a law firm in northern Virginia litigating antitrust and consumer protection class action cases on behalf of nationwide and statewide classes.

Memberships and Affiliations

Ms. Castello is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia and Virginia, as well as before the United States District Courts for the Eastern District of Virginia, the Western District of Virginia, and the Western District of Pennsylvania and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She is a member of the Allegheny County, Virginia, District of Columbia, and American Bar associations. Ms. Castello is the current chair of the Babst Calland Women’s Initiative. As part of this role, she led the Firm’s participation in the inaugural cohort of the Allegheny County Bar Association ALLY Initiative to further promote gender equity and diversity both at the firm and in the community. After successfully completing 10 goals in four different categories, the firm earned its ALLY certification.

Ms. Castello also serves on the Advisory Board of the Hazelwood and Thelma Lovette YMCA, is a member of the United Way Women’s Leadership Council and volunteers with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh Mentor 2.0 Program.  She is also a member of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) Advocacy Committee, and completed the NAWL 2023 Leadership Program.

Ms. Castello received a Best Lawyers®: Ones to Watch recognition from BL Rankings for Commercial Litigation and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants since 2021 and for Litigation – Labor and Employment since 2022.  She is also an Associate Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and a member of the Wendell G. Freeland Society.

Publications/Presentations