Brendan Sweeney is an Executive Partner at Joseph & Norinsberg LLC and Chief of Operations for the firm’s downtown Manhattan office. A senior employment litigator with more than 30 years of experience, Brendan has represented every major constituency in the employment arena—ranging from employees and executives asserting their rights to the senior leadership of multinational corporations. That breadth of experience gives him an uncommon vantage point on workplace disputes and a proven ability to resolve them through strategic negotiation, mediation, and litigation.
Much of Brendan’s career has been spent inside the rooms where employers decide whether to settle, fight, or litigate. He most recently served as Head of Employment Law at Thermo Fisher Scientific, and previously as Deputy General Counsel and Global Head of Litigation and Employment Law at Luxottica Group, where he led the global employment litigation function for a multinational retail and manufacturing business. He has also practiced at leading management-side firms, including Jackson Lewis P.C., Seyfarth Shaw LLP, and Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP. Having advised corporate decision-makers on litigation risk, exposure, and settlement value, Brendan understands how employers evaluate cases—and how to position a matter to maximize leverage for the employees he now represents.
On the plaintiff side, Brendan has served as lead counsel in complex employment disputes involving discrimination, retaliation, restrictive covenants, equal pay, WARN Act, whistleblower, and executive compensation claims as well as wage-and-hour and independent contractor misclassification class and collective actions. He has handled matters at every stage—from agency charges before the EEOC and the New York State Division of Human Rights through litigation in state and federal court—and brings particular strength to pre-suit strategy, damages analysis, mediation, and the development of high-impact demand packages that drive early, favorable resolutions.
As Executive Partner and Chief of Operations for the downtown Manhattan office, Brendan leads a team of attorneys dedicated to maximizing results for the firm’s clients. He works closely with the firm’s leadership to advance strategic initiatives, strengthen the firm’s operational capabilities, and expand its pre-litigation practice as Joseph & Norinsberg continues to grow.
Brendan earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from Villanova University School of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif, and his B.A., magna cum laude, from St. John Fisher College. He is admitted to practice in New York, and serves as a Village Justice for Bellerose Village, New York.
