JOSEPH A. STARR, a principal with the Starr, Butler, Alexopoulos & Stoner, PLLC, located in Southfield, Michigan, leads the firm’s Employment Practices defense group.  Mr. Starr concentrates his practice on management-side labor & employment law and specializes in the defense of EPL claims.  He regularly appears before federal and state courts and administrative agencies including the EEOC, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and the NLRB.  Mr. Starr also regularly counsels and trains clients regarding such issues as: workplace violence, harassment policies, electronic privacy policies, unemployment claims, OSHA investigations and DOL wage and hour disputes.  Martindale-Hubbell named Mr. Starr an “A-V” rated lawyer and the publication Law & Politics selected Mr. Starr as a Michigan Super Lawyer from 2007 to present. From 2013 to present, The Best Lawyers in America, selected Mr. Starr for inclusion in the in the category of Litigation - Labor & Employment.  From 2007-2011, Mr. Starr sat as a Council Member for the Labor and Employment Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan.  He also serves as an Employment Panel Mediator for the Oakland and Wayne County Mediation Tribunals.  In December 2015, Mr. Starr co-authored the first chapter in the Third Edition of the Institute for Continuing Legal Education’s Employment Litigation in Michigan treatise, entitled: “Initial Considerations in the Employment Case: The Defense Perspective”.  Mr. Starr received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1989, cum laude and a degree from Washington University School of Law in 1992, where he served as a Notes and Comments Editor for the Washington University Journal of Urban and Contemporary Law.