Committed to continuous learning, Joe again enrolled in evening classes, this time earning an MBA from Xavier University. He earned tuition by serving as a graduate assistant, teaching technology to university students. As a teacher, Joe discovered he had a passion for helping others and achieving results together. This experience drove his decision to attend law school.

After earning his MBA, Joe attended law school …again in the evening while working full-time during the day. Joe earned a spot as an Associated Editor of the Law Review, and in 2009, Joe graduated magna cum laude, passed the bar exam, and became licensed to practice law.

Licensed to Practice in South Dakota

Today, Joe Juenger is licensed to practice law in South Dakota, in State Court as well as Federal Court in the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota.

Mass Tort & Class Action Experience

During law school, Joe Juenger joined (what was then) a small law firm in the Cincinnati area. During his 10-year tenure with the group, the firm grew exponentially, Joe earned a position as an equity Partner, and was blessed to have the opportunity to work on some of the largest mass tort and class action matters across the country. Two examples of high-profile mass tort and class action settlement matters include:

• In re: World Trade Center Disaster Site Litigation (MDL Docket MC100, MC102 and MC103, United States District Court, Southern District of New York)
  Joe Juenger is extremely proud to have worked on behalf of the court-appointed Allocation Neutral to support cleanup workers in the wake of the 9-11 World Trade Center tragedy. In this role, Joe worked hands-on with plaintiffs’ and defense counsel to design and implement various aspects of the settlement protocol. This protocol guided the distribution of over $700 million to more than 10,000 cleanup workers who claimed injury during rescue and cleanup activities following the 9-11 tragedy. This experience was formative: Joe Juenger met counsel in the iconic Empire State Building and earned the opportunity in this historic case to work with several of the most experienced, diligent, and courageous lawyers in the country.

• In re Deepwater Horizon Litigation, MDL 2179 (Eastern District Louisiana)
  In the settlement of medical claims related to the oil spill of the Deepwater Horizon (perhaps better known as the “BP oil spill”), Joe Juenger worked on behalf of the court-appointed Medical Benefits Settlement Claims Administrator to design and implement resolution plans, budgets, and protocol. Of note, among other responsibilities, while living and working out the historic Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans on weekdays (and flying home to be with his family on weekends), Joe helped launch the Gulf Region Health Outreach Program. This outreach program was established “to expand capacity for and access to high quality, sustainable community-based healthcare services, including primary care, behavioral and mental health care, and environmental medicine, in the Gulf Coast.”

Across nearly a decade, Joe Juenger worked to provide hands-on design of aggregate settlement allocation models, plaintiff communications, or resolution plans in the settlement of state and federal multi-district litigation across roughly 60 mass tort and class action settlements.

Criminal Law

After extraordinary experience across dozens of large-scale mass tort and class action matters, the firm was sold in 2016, and lawyer Joe Juenger moved on to establish The Juenger Law Firm.   He and his family had strong ties to the Black Hills - his children grew up camping in Custer State Park - and given the opportunity, Joe and his family relocated to the Black Hills of South Dakota.

There, Joe Juenger did what he considers to be the best work of his career — Joe Juenger served 4 years as a criminal defense lawyer with the Office of the Public Defender in Pennington County.  Lawyer Joe Juenger has a passion for criminal defense — the courtroom, the people, community, and above all, his clients.

Education

Juris Doctor – Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University, Kentucky

• Magna Cum Laude; Law Review Associate Editor

Master of Business Administration – Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio

• Graduate Assistant

Professional Designation in Applications Programming – University of California, Los Angeles

Bachelor of Science in Business – Operations Management – Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

Publishing & Speaking Engagements

Sample Publications & Speaking Engagements (List of additional engagements available upon request)

• Designing State Legislation to Protect the Recovery of Medicaid Expenses, 35 N. KY. L. REV. 103 (2008)

• Class Notice and Political Advertising; An Interview with Jim Messina (AAJ Newsletter Winter 2015)

• Speaker: Ohio Association for Justice (2011) (presenting Medicare Secondary Payer Act law and instruments)

• Speaker: Academy of Court Appointed Masters (2013) (presenting mass tort allocation methodologies)

• Speaker: Class Action/Complex Litigation Symposium, Louisiana State Bar Association (2013)

• Speaker: Ohio Association for Justice (2015) (presenting methodologies to allocate aggregate settlement funds)

• Speaker: Class Action Litigation (2017) (presenting the use of media testing in class notice)