Mary Kostel, of counsel in the firm's Litigation Department, concentrates her practice primarily on civil litigation involving issues of products liability and toxic torts.

Publications/Presentations

While in law school, Ms. Kostel served as Editor-in-Chief of the Virginia Law Review.

Professional Experience

Ms. Kostel was an attorney at Shea & Gardner prior to its combination with Goodwin Procter in 2004.  Previous to joining Shea & Gardner, Ms. Kostel was in the Communications and Electronic Commerce group at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, where she represented a variety of clients in federal court as well as before the Federal Communications Commission and several state public utility commissions.  Before that, Ms. Kostel was a Trial Attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she defended federal statutes against constitutional challenges, advocated federal agencies’ construction and application of complex statutory and regulatory schemes, and represented federal agencies in employment discrimination actions.

Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Kostel clerked for the Honorable Sam C. Pointer, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, and the Honorable James R. Browning of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Bar and Court Admissions

Ms. Kostel is admitted to the bars of the District of Columbia  and Virginia.

Honors and Awards

At the University of Virginia School of Law, Ms. Kostel received the school’s Margaret G. Hyde award.

Education

J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 1993
A.B., Princeton University, 1986