Carla M. Castello

Area of Emphasis

Carla Castello is a shareholder in the Litigation, Emerging Technologies, and Employment and Labor Groups at Babst Calland. She concentrates her practice on complex commercial and class action litigation.

Ms. Castello has a broad range of litigation experience in several practice areas including commercial, employment, consumer protection, antitrust, environmental, energy, and toxic tort. She regularly represents corporate clients in defending environmental and toxic tort class actions in federal and state court and commercial contract disputes. Ms. Castello has also managed confidential internal corporate investigations concerning the conduct of officers and employees, and represents businesses, trade associations, and other clients in Pennsylvania state and federal appellate courts, including as a party and as amicus curiae.

Ms. Castello’s practice encompasses all phases of litigation, from early alternative dispute resolution through appeals. She has represented clients in various federal and state courts, before the EEOC, and before single and three-judge arbitration panels.

Background

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 litigating antitrust and consumer protection class action cases on behalf of nationwide and statewide classes.

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, she 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.

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.

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, the NAWL SCOTUS Committee, and completed the NAWL 2023 Leadership Program. She is also an Associate Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and a member of the Wendell G. Freeland Society.

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.

Publications/Presentations