Joe Hamid is the Co-Chair of the firm’s Litigation Department, Co-Chair of the Employment Litigation Practice and co-leader of the People Solutions Group. He has previously served as the firm’s Chief Financial Officer and a member of its Management Committee.
Mr. Hamid is a seasoned litigator with extensive courtroom experience, handling a diverse array of complex commercial litigation matters, with a particular focus on employment-related disputes. He has successfully handled numerous whistleblower, discrimination, contract, compensation and employee mobility litigations involving high-level executives in a broad range of industries. Mr. Hamid also counsels employers on their most sensitive personnel matters, including investigations of alleged executive misconduct. He is also deeply involved in Debevoise’s market-leading intellectual property practice, and he has litigated trademark and trade dress cases involving some of the most well-known brands in the world.
Mr. Hamid is recommended as an employment lawyer by Chambers USA (2012–2024), which notes that “he is extremely dedicated” with “a high work ethic.” He is also said to be “an excellent communicator, incredibly patient, practical” and “thorough, diligent and committed to his client’s cause.” Clients highlight his “excellent understanding of business needs,” and he has received further praise as “very reflective and responsive, a good listener, an excellent writer and good at interpreting what [clients] are trying to accomplish.” The Legal 500 US (2013–2024) has noted that clients describe him as a “mastermind,” and “exceptional in terms of service level, value and professionalism.” Mr. Hamid was recognized as a “Labor & Employment Star” by Benchmark Litigation Labor & Employment every year the editorial was published. He is also recommended as an employment lawyer by SuperLawyers (2014–2024). In 2010, Employment Law360 recognized Mr. Hamid as a Rising Star —one of “10 employment lawyers under 40 to watch.”
Mr. Hamid is a prominent member of the employment law bar. He served as Chair of the Labor & Employment Law Committee for the New York City Bar Association (2015–2018), and he is also a member of the Labor & Employment Sections of the New York State and American Bar Associations. He serves on the American Arbitration Association’s panel of arbitrators qualified to arbitrate employment cases. Mr. Hamid lectures and publishes frequently on developments in employment law.
Mr. Hamid joined Debevoise in 1998 and became a partner in 2007. He received his J.D. in 1998 from Yale Law School, where he was a member of the Journal of International Law, and his B.A. summa cum laude in 1995 from Tulane University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Hamid is admitted to appear before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of New York and for the Northern District of Indiana, as well as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits.
Mr. Hamid is also active in the pro bono legal services community. He is Chair of the Board of the Urban Justice Center and a member of the Boards of Directors of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Brooklyn Legal Services. He also serves as counsel to Catalyst, the global nonprofit supported by many of the world’s most powerful CEOs, leading companies to help build workplaces that work for women.