Joel Fishbein is Of Counsel with Hall Booth Smith and focuses his practice on aging services, health care, medical malpractice defense, dental, long-term care litigation, products liability, appellate matters, arbitration & mediation, employment, and business litigation.
With more than three decades of litigation and risk management experience, Joel represents long-term care providers, assisted living facilities, skilled nursing facilities, hospitals, physicians, and businesses in complex disputes throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. His practice is concentrated on the defense of medical malpractice and professional liability claims, with a particular emphasis on defending long-term care facilities, post-acute care providers, and health care professionals in high-exposure litigation. Joel routinely handles matters involving allegations of negligence, wrongful death, regulatory compliance, resident care issues, staffing concerns, and claims involving complex medical issues and catastrophic injury.
Drawing on his extensive background in both litigation and operational risk management, Joel provides strategic counsel to clients facing high-stakes claims and guides them through every stage of litigation, arbitration, mediation, and trial. He is particularly skilled at developing practical defense strategies that align legal objectives with the operational realities of health care and long-term care providers. Joel also has significant appellate experience, having successfully argued precedent setting matters involving the enforceability of arbitration agreements in assisted living and long-term care settings.
Before joining HBS, Joel served as Senior Vice President and Director of Litigation and Risk at Complete Care Management, where he supervised outside counsel and implemented litigation and risk management strategies designed to reduce claim frequency and severity across a multi-facility long-term care organization. This in-house leadership experience gives him a unique perspective into the legal, regulatory, and operational challenges faced by health care and aging services providers.
Earlier in his career, Joel practiced as a partner at several law firms, where he built an extensive litigation practice defending physicians, hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other health care providers in medical malpractice and long-term care matters. He has tried and arbitrated numerous cases to successful outcomes, including obtaining a multi-million-dollar arbitration award on behalf of a business owner.
He obtained a certification in Mediation by Harvard Law School and earned his J.D. from Temple University’s James E. Beasley School of Law, where he served as note and comment editor for the Temple Law Review. He also holds a B.S. in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University.
Recognition
•AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell
•Best Lawyers in America, 2022
•Pennsylvania Super Lawyer 2006, 2010, 2013, 2014
•Philadelphia Business Journal as a “Forty (Philadelphians to Watch) Under 40”
Presentations
•Torts 101 for Claims Professionals
Internal Client Webinar, December 2021
•Building Blocks for a Comprehensive Risk Management Program in Assisted Living
DRI Nursing Home and Assisted Living Litigation Conference, New Orleans, LA, September 2018
•Putting Your Neutral Foot Forward: Arbitration in Healthcare
DRI Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, 2016
•PSO, What LTC Providers Need to Know
Long Term Care Risk Legal Forum, Las Vegas, 2016
•PSO, What LTC Providers Need to Know
American Health Care Association Meeting, San Antonio, TX, 2015
•Arbitration Drafting
ACI Nursing Home Litigation Meeting, Miami, FL, 2015
•Federal Actions to Compel Arbitration
DRI Nursing Home and Assisted Living Litigation Meeting, Scottsdale, AZ, 2014
Publications
•Nursing Home/Alf Cases: Federal Actions to Compel Arbitration
DRI, For the Defense, November 2014
•Not Inherently Unfair, Arbitration in the Long-Term Care Setting
DRI, For the Defense, 54 No. 8, August 2012
•Products Liability Industry Custom Evidence: Its Relevance in Design Defect Products Liability Cases-Lewis v. Coffing Hoist Division, Duff-Norton Co.61 Temp. L. Rev. 627
In the Press
Venue Without Borders: How Pennsylvania’s 2023 Rule Amendment Reshaped Long-Term Care Litigation
August 7, 2026
In a recent article published by The Legal Intelligencer, Joel Fishbein analyzes the Pennsylvania venue ruling and how it has and will continue to affect senior living facilities throughout the state
