Past President
Joe Peiffer is the founding Partner of Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise, LLP. Based in the firm’s New Orleans headquarters, Joe has a wide-ranging practice focusing on cases that change lives.
His practice consists of representing individuals and institutions that have been harmed by investment banks, brokerage firms, insurance agents and other financial advisors, prosecuting ERISA class actions, representing families affected by IVF clinic malfeasance, representing victims of sexual assault, labor trafficking, unscrupulous drug companies and those who have suffered catastrophic injury.
In his financial services practice, Joe represents investors and institutions in claims against their financial advisors. At the beginning of his career, he represented 32 Exxon retirees in a 90-day trial that resulted in a $22 million verdict – one of the largest ever awarded by a FINRA arbitration panel. Since then, he has gone on to represent thousands of investors, mostly retirees, who have been the victim of conflicted advice.
His financial services practice also included representing approximately 25 municipalities and hospitals around the country in cases involving their issuance of auction rate securities. He also has litigated several ERISA class actions against large financial services firms regarding their imprudent investments of retirement money and conflicts of interest.
Joe currently represents many families that have had their dreams of having biological children taken from them due to the carelessness of IVF clinics. He is passionate about this work and understands the devastation that this causes individuals and families, who have lost eggs or embryos due to the malfeasance of these clinics.
Joe, who is a child sexual assault survivor, represents both childhood and adult victims of sexual assault. His firm was recently named co-lead in the MDL arising out of the numerous sexual assaults that take place in Ubers.
Finally, Joe represents victims of human trafficking and labor exploitation. In one such case, his clients allege that the defendants have failed to pay overtime, improperly deducted for employee housing, and wrongfully held the plaintiffs’ passports while in the United States. He traveled extensively to the Philippines for this case and another involving a rig explosion.
The co-author of a treatise published by Thompson West, Litigating Business and Commercial Tort Cases, which is updated yearly since 2011. Joe teaches and lectures extensively throughout the country. He created and/or taught law school classes ranging from The Basics of Arbitration and Trial Advocacy, to Storytelling and Advocacy. He has spoken at many national conventions on a variety of topics, including prosecuting large and multi-client claims, brokers’ deficient advice to retire, and voir dire and ERISA class actions and FINRA arbitration.
Joe is frequently quoted by national and international publications.
Joe has received various awards and accolades. He was named as one of the fifty Leaders in Law by New Orleans City Business Magazine. He is AV rated by Martindale Hubbel. And, he has been selected by his peers to appear in The Best Lawyers in America in the practice area of Commercial Litigation.
Joe is a leader of several national bar associations. He twice served as the chairman of the Business Torts Section of the American Association for Justice. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Public Investors Advocate Bar Association (PIABA) – a nationwide bar association of lawyers. He was elected President of PIABA and served in that capacity from 2014-15 and again from 2023-24. He is only the second PIABA member to serve as President twice.
Joe graduated from Tulane School of Law, cum laude, in 1999. While at Tulane, he served on the Tulane Law Review and was involved with the Tulane Legal Assistance Program. Prior to attending Tulane, he graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1996, with a major in communications. While at Bowling Green, he worked as the General Manager of the campus radio station and City Editor of the daily newspaper.
Currently, Joe loves to spend time with his 11 year old daughter, CJay, who is the smartest, funniest kid on planet Earth. When Joe was building Peiffer Wolf, CJay accompanied Joe to press conferences, mediations and trials. So, in addition to being bright and funny, CJay has both the patience of a saint and a strong grasp on justice that will serve them well.
