Atty. Joseph Victor Schaeffer
Area of Emphasis Joseph Schaeffer is a shareholder in the Litigation Group of Babst Calland. He focuses his practice on environmental, energy, and complex commercial litigation and has tried these cases before environmental hearings boards, courts, and juries.
Profile Summary
About Joseph Victor Schaeffer at a glance
Joseph Victor Schaeffer is a Shareholder based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, practicing at Babst Calland. They have 13+ years of legal experience, licensed to practice since 2013. Their practice focuses on business, litigation, and energy. Admitted to practice in West Virginia (2013), Pennsylvania Virginia (2016), and District of Columbia United States District Courts for the Northern District of West Virginia United (2018). Educated at University of Pittsburgh School of Law (J.D., 2012) and West Virginia University (B.A., 2009). Active member of Co-Chair, Litigation Section's Pretrial Practice & Discovery Committee) and Federal Bar Associations (Secretary, Western District of Pennsylvania Chapter, Allegheny County, American. Serands clients in Pittsburgh, PA and the surrounding metropolitan area.
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About
- Area of Emphasis Joseph Schaeffer is a shareholder in the Litigation Group of Babst Calland
- He focuses his practice on environmental, energy, and complex commercial litigation and has tried these cases before environmental hearings boards, courts, and juries
- Mr. Schaeffer also has an active appellate practice and has served as co-counsel or lead counsel in appellate matters before Pennsylvania and West Virginia State Courts, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third and Fourth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States
- Mr. Schaeffer has significant experience working with clients on overcoming obstacles that can hinder their commercial development projects
- He has served as lead trial counsel in several land use disputes involving zoning ordinances and was lead appellate counsel in a precedent-setting West Virginia Supreme Court decision that established the constitutional limits of municipal zoning
- He has counseled clients on other land use disputes involving annexation, deannexation, and state and federal preemption issues
- Mr. Schaeffer developed the legal strategy and served as co-trial counsel for an industrial manufacturer in a successful constitutional challenge to a government agency’s attempted misuse of eminent domain powers to take a facility
- And he has represented clients in multiple property tax valuation and exemption appeals, including service as co-counsel or lead counsel in three precedent-setting West Virginia Supreme Court decisions affirming the legal structure used by state economic development authorities to offer property tax incentives
- Mr. Schaeffer regularly represents clients on regulatory matters that can affect their businesses
- He has served as lead trial counsel for an industrial manufacturer in the defense of citizen appeals from environmental enforcement orders, construction stormwater permit registrations, and multisector permit registrations before the West Virginia Environmental Quality Board
- Mr. Schaeffer has served as co-counsel for industrial manufacturers and oil and gas companies in regulatory disputes before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board
- He has represented a commercial developer in the negotiation of stream mitigation credits with the EPA under the Clean Water Act and defended clients against toxic tort claims arising from industrial operations
- Mr. Schaeffer has been lead counsel for a coal-fired power plant in a petition for review of an EPA rulemaking before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- And he has represented electrical utilities in various matters within the jurisdiction of PennDOT
- Mr. Schaeffer also regularly advises clients on commercial disputes and tort claims
- He has worked on several royalty and quiet title disputes for producers and individuals in the natural gas and extractive industries
- He served as lead counsel for an industrial manufacturer in an arbitration over a uniform services contract
- And Mr. Schaeffer has assisted businesses in a wide variety of complex litigation matters involving products liability, construction errors and omissions, bid protests, and breach-of-contract
- Mr. Schaeffer volunteers with Neighborhood Legal Services’ Protection from Abuse Program in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and has provided pro bono representation to individuals and organizations, including a national voluntary bar association in amicus curiae filings in the Supreme Court of the United States
- In 2025, he was recognized by the Virginia Access to Justice Commission as a member of the “Pro Bono Service Honor Roll” for his pro bono contributions to the Virginia State Bar from 2023 to 2024
- Background Mr. Schaeffer graduated from West Virginia University, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, with a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Languages (German) and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies
- While at West Virginia University, Mr. Schaeffer interned for the West Virginia European Office in Munich, Germany, and studied abroad at the Technical University Dortmund in Dortmund, Germany
- His capstone, Vergangeinheitsbewältigung and the Danzig Trilogy, an exploration of post-war Germany’s reckoning through the work of Nobel Prize-winner Günter Grass, received the Honors College Award for Exceptional Inquiries into the Humanities and was selected for publication in the Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review
- Mr. Schaeffer graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law cum laude with his Juris Doctorate
- While in law school, he was the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation Scholar and a Managing Editor with the Journal of Environmental & Public Health Law
- Mr. Schaeffer was also an editor with JURIST, a legal intern with the law school’s Environmental Law Clinic, and the recipient of the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Evidence
- In his free time, Mr. Schaeffer is an avid reader and enjoys spending time with his family and dogs, hiking, photography, and skiing
- Memberships and Affiliations Mr. Schaeffer is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia
- He is also admitted to practice before numerous federal courts, including the United States Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Third and Fourth Circuits, and the Supreme Court of the United States
- Mr. Schaeffer is a member of the Allegheny County, American and Federal Bar associations
- He currently serves as the co-chair of the ABA Litigation Section’s Pretrial Practice & Discovery Committee and was a co-author of the West Virginia chapter in the 2021 edition of the American Bar Association’s Property Tax Deskbook
- Mr. Schaeffer is also the secretary of the Western District of Pennsylvania Chapter of the Federal Bar Association
- In 2025, Mr. Schaeffer was selected by The Legal Intelligencer as one of only 12 “2025 Lawyers on the Fast Track, Small/Midsize Winners” statewide in Pennsylvania
- This recognition is only given to attorneys under the age of 40 who have demonstrated excellence in four categories: development of the law
- advocacy and community contributions
- service to the bar
- and peer and public recognition
- In 2024, he was invited to become a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation
- In addition, Mr. Schaeffer received a Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America recognition for Commercial Litigation in 2024-2025
- Selected Cases • University Park at Evansdale, LLC v
- Musick, 238 W. Va. 106, 792 S.E.2d 605 (2016) • Musick v
- University Park at Evansdale, LLC, 241 W. Va. 194, 820 S.E.2d 901 (2018) • City of Morgantown v
- Calvary Baptist Church, 243 W. Va. 578, 849 S.E.2d 150 (2020) • Jefferson County Foundation, Inc. v
- West Virginia Economic Development Authority, 247 W. Va. 24, 875 S.E.2d 162 (2022)
Practice Areas Explained
Joseph Victor Schaeffer's Areas of Practice
Each practice area below reflects the types of cases Joseph Victor Schaeffer handles, with a brief overview of what that area of law covers.
Business attorneys advise founders and growing companies on entity formation, contracts, financing, M&A, and dispute resolution.
Joseph Victor Schaeffer is one of 501,317 business attorneys indexed nationally. Browse business attorneys in Pennsylvania →
Civil litigation attorneys for breach of contract, business disputes, civil rights, and class action lawsuits.
Joseph Victor Schaeffer is one of 454,532 litigation attorneys indexed nationally. Browse litigation attorneys in Pennsylvania →
Energy attorneys for oil & gas, renewables, utility regulation, and energy sector transactions.
Joseph Victor Schaeffer is one of 36,230 energy attorneys indexed nationally. Browse energy attorneys in Pennsylvania →
Jurisdictional Context
Why local counsel matters in Pennsylvania
Practicing law in Pennsylvania. Legal matters in Pennsylvania are governed by state-specific rules of civil and criminal procedure, statutes of limitations, and substantive law. Cases originating in Pittsburgh are typically filed in the local municipal court or the appropriate Pennsylvania state district court, depending on subject matter and amount in controversy. An attorney licensed in Pennsylvania brings working knowledge of local procedural deadlines, judicial practices in this andnue, and the substantive law that applies to cases brought here. Out-of-state attorneys generally cannot represent clients in Pennsylvania courts without local counsel or pro hac vice admission.
Looking for additional Pennsylvania attorneys? Browse all attorneys in Pittsburgh or all attorneys in Pennsylvania.
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