Hope A. Comisky

Hope A. Comisky

Member and General Counsel

Hope A. Comisky is a Member of Griesing Mazzeo Law and Chair of the Firm’s Employment and Ethics & Professional Responsibility practice groups. She also serves as General Counsel for the Firm, handling professional responsibility matters and risk management initiatives.​

What do you focus on?

I concentrate my practice on providing employment law advice and training to clients while also counseling clients in all aspects of employment law. On top of that,  I have substantial experience arbitrating and mediating employment and commercial disputes.

More than a lawyer

I am deeply passionate about education. I regularly give presentations to educate attorneys and clients on how to create a more welcoming place of employment. I also have served on the boards of several non-profit educational institutions – training attorneys on best practices, teaching adults how to read, providing quality education to students in primary and middle school, and teaching students and adults alike about fair treatment for all.  

In my off time, I am an avid reader, sing in a community chorus and volunteer as a docent at The Barnes Foundation.  


Biography

Hope A. Comisky is a Member of Griesing Mazzeo Law and Chair of the Firm’s Employment and Ethics & Professional Responsibility practice groups. She also serves as General Counsel for the Firm, handling professional responsibility matters and risk management initiatives. Hope is a top-ranked employment attorney and an experienced arbiter with over thirty-five years of employment and litigation experience. She counsels clients on employment issues, provides training to managers and staff and offers strategic advice on employment litigation matters. Furthermore, Hope has extensive experience arbitrating and mediating employment and commercial disputes. She is also included on the American Arbitration Association’s National Roster of Arbitrators, CPR’s Panel of Distinguished Neutrals, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program. She is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and the current chair of its selection committee for the Third Circuit. 

Hope has more than a decade of experience providing professional responsibility advice to lawyers and law firms. Hope previously served as the lead professional responsibility attorney and then as General Counsel for a 450+ attorney firm for over a decade, where she chaired the Professional Responsibility Committee, providing real-time advice and educational programs to hundreds of attorneys on all aspects of the rules of professional conduct. Hope also provides ethics opinions to lawyers and law firms and conducted training for in-house lawyers.

Hope has been regularly recognized by Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers for her work in employment law. Notably, she was named “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers for Labor and Employment and Employment Law – Management in Philadelphia. Hope was also chosen as a Philadelphia Business Journal Best of the Bar honoree for her work in employment litigation.  Furthermore, she was recognized as a Labor and Employment Star by Benchmark Litigation.  

Hope is also a frequent lecturer and author on employment law and professional responsibility topics. Hope has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, teaching professional responsibility seminars. She has also spoken at the Northeast Regional Employment Law Institute for many years, lecturing on various topics including sexual harassment, defamation in the employment context and tort claims arising from employee terminations. In addition, she has published several articles for the ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law.

Before joining the Firm, Hope was a partner at three prominent law firms in Philadelphia, including serving as general counsel at one of her prior firms.

Hope received her B.A. from Cornell University and J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. After law school, Hope was a law clerk for the Honorable Joseph L. McGlynn, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Education

  • University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D.
  • Cornell University, College of Arts and Sciences, B.A.
    – Phi Beta Kappa

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • New York
  • Pennsylvania
  • Supreme Court of the United States
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania

Awards

  • Philadelphia Business Journal
    – Best of the Bar, Employment Litigation, 2021
  • Benchmark Litigation
    – Labor and Employment Star, 2021
  • Best Lawyers
    – Employment Law – Management, 2011-2024
    – Litigation – Labor & Employment, 2011-2024
    – Lawyer of the Year – Employment Law – Management, 2022
    – Lawyer of the Year – Labor & Employment, 2017
  • Super Lawyers
    – Pennsylvania – Employment Litigation, 2004-2023

Community Involvement

  • American Bar Association
    – Section of Litigation, Ethics & Professionalism Committee, 2013-2022
    – Member, Center for Professional Responsibility, 2008-2022
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association
    – Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee, 2007-2022
    – Task Force to Examine Code of Judicial Conduct, 2012-2013
    – Board of Directors, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, 2007-2010
  • Philadelphia Bar Association
    – Fee Disputes Committee, 2012-2022; Co-Chair, 2020-2021
    – Professional Guidance Committee, 2007-2022; Co-Chair, 2008-2010, 2014-2015
    – Professional Responsibility Committee, 2007-2022; Co-Chair, 2009-2012
  • Anti-Defamation League (National)
    – DEI Task Force, 2021-2022
    – Global Leadership Council, 2022
  • Anti-Defamation League of Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey & Delaware
    – Board of Directors, 2010-2022; Board Chair, 2022; Executive Vice Chair, 2019-2020; Vice Chair, 2013-2019
    –Finance Committee, 2022
    –Nominating Committee, 2011-2022
    – Executive Committee, 2011-2022
  • Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocates
    – Board of Directors, 2015-2022
    – DEIAB Task Force, 2021
  • Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers
    – Member, 2007-2022
  • Center for Literacy
    – Board of Trustees, 1996-2015
    – Chair, 2006-2009
  • Federation Early Learning Services
    – Board of Directors, 2003-2010
    – Executive Committee, 2009-2010
  • The Philadelphia School
    – Board of Trustees, 1989-2004, 2007-2010; Chair, 2001-2003
  • Philadelphia Futures
    – Board of Trustees, 2009-2010
  • Women’s Law Project
    – Board of Directors, 1998-2004

Writing & Speaking