Joshua A. Stein

“The best accessibility solutions don't just resolve today's lawsuit—they build a compliance infrastructure that prevents tomorrow's problems. My job is to give clients both immediate protection and long-term peace of mind.” —Joshua A. Stein

Companies navigating the complex and ever-evolving landscape of accessibility law turn to Josh Stein to shut down class actions, lawsuits, and demand letters; resolve high-stakes regulatory investigations; and build the compliance programs that keep regulators, advocacy groups, and plaintiffs at bay.

With more than 25 years of experience focused almost entirely on accessibility (including Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)) compliance—across both physical and digital environments—Josh is a one-stop solution for his clients’ accessibility needs.

His practice spans the full range of accessibility issues: auditing design plans and construction builds of major venues; defending clients in class actions involving emerging and untested theories of liability; resolving bet-the-company regulatory investigations; developing accessibility policies and delivering related training; effectively and efficiently resolving trolling lawsuits and demand letters; and advising on both public accommodation and employee accommodation issues. Clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies—including high-end retailers, sports leagues and clubs, stadiums and arenas, theaters, cruise lines, hotels, financial services companies, health care systems, media companies, and technology firms—value Josh as a long-term partner whose good judgment, responsiveness, and sharp negotiating tactics protect their best interests. He also interfaces with advocacy groups seeking to expand accessibility for their constituents.

Drawing on his encyclopedic knowledge of the law and its supporting regulations and guidelines, along with his extensive network, Josh delivers practical solutions tailored to each client’s particular business concerns. To that end, Josh built an in-house solution with full-service technical and auditing capabilities for both physical and digital accessibility. The team is committed to resolving issues quickly and providing clients with the guidance and best practices they need to avoid recurring mistakes, achieve long-term compliance, and develop an accessibility-first mindset.

Josh co-chairs Epstein Becker Green’s ADA and Public Accommodations Group and is a regular author and speaker on all aspects of accessibility law, including employment and public accommodations issues. His commentary has appeared in firm publications and at industry forums, and he has been featured on firm podcasts discussing landmark developments.

What Josh Delivers for Clients

• Answers, Not Approximations: ADA compliance demands precision—ambiguous guidance costs clients time, money, and exposure. Josh’s deep immersion in accessibility law means he can deliver definitive answers to even the most complex compliance questions.
• One Team, Physical and Digital: Accessibility obligations do not stop at the front door or the website homepage. Josh's in-house team addresses both under one roof—integrating technical, auditing, remediation, and legal capabilities—so clients can act quickly and decisively on whatever accessibility challenge arises.
• Fast Resolution of Serial Claims: Website and mobile application accessibility claims arrive in waves, and every unresolved demand letter is a distraction. Josh’s established relationships with plaintiff-side counsel and his track record of negotiating cost-effective, favorable resolutions help clients put serial claims behind them.
• Programs That Reduce Future Exposure: A settlement closes a case; a well-designed compliance program closes the door to the next one. Josh works with clients to build the policies, training, and internal frameworks that address the root causes of claims—turning a reactive posture into a proactive one.
• Negotiating Leverage with Regulators: Federal accessibility investigations require more than legal arguments—they require credibility, creativity, and supporting data. Josh has negotiated landmark compliance agreements by combining architectural analysis, a strong grasp of digital landscapes, economic data, and a deep understanding of what regulators need to resolve a matter, achieving outcomes that protect clients without unnecessary concessions.

Digital Accessibility—Websites and Mobile Applications

• Resolved a relentless onslaught of website and mobile application accessibility lawsuits and demand letters for hundreds of clients, including global high-end retail companies, technology firms, sports and media companies, financial services companies, health care systems, and hotels. Josh promptly negotiated cost-effective resolutions to the cases and demand letters on highly advantageous terms, allowing his clients to focus their time and resources on enhancing their accessibility compliance.

Class Action Defense

• Defeated class action lawsuits alleging that global retailers’ failure to provide Braille gift cards violated federal, state, and local accessibility laws. Josh established not only that the claims had no basis in the law or regulations, but also that his clients had sufficiently provided access in other ways. Josh secured the dismissal of these cases, helping set industry precedent that the ADA does not require retail stores to provide Braille gift cards.
• Defeated a class action lawsuit brought against a national theater production company alleging that the company’s online "no outside food/drink" policy violated federal, state, and local accessibility laws. Josh established that the client could never have violated the law because it offered a way for individuals to request accommodations or modifications to policies, practices, and procedures, and the plaintiff never took advantage of that opportunity to engage the client.

Regulatory Investigations and Compliance Programs

• Resolved a significant regulatory accessibility investigation for a global cruise line. Josh reached a comprehensive, landmark agreement to enhance his client’s existing accessibility policies, practices, and procedures. In his extensive negotiations with the regulators, Josh offered new and creative approaches to resolving concerns, supported by architectural designs and economic data. He continues to manage the related long-term compliance program, overseeing audits, developing policies and training, and providing day-to-day and long-term planning counseling.
• Set the industry terms for vaccine portal digital accessibility by being the first to achieve a monumental agreement with government regulators for a major pharmaceutical company. Leveraging his deep technical experience, Josh was able to move quickly to ensure his client was the first company to reach a resolution with the regulator, which allowed the client to set the terms that subsequently became the bar by which all other companies were held in their dealings with regulators.

• Established COVID-19-related accessibility policies, practices, procedures, and training programs regarding social distancing, masks, and vaccinations, as well as the adoption of new contact-free technology, for clients across industries, including sports leagues, clubs, stadiums/arenas, cruise lines, high-end retail chains, hotels, and fitness chains.

Interactions with National Advocacy Groups

• Reached a “first of its kind” resolution, on behalf of a national fitness chain, with a conglomeration of advocacy groups that seamlessly integrated the potential adoption of additional accessible equipment into the company’s existing business plans.
• Forged a comprehensive agreement with a prominent advocacy group for a health care system that enhanced his client’s existing accessibility offerings regarding physical accessibility in accordance with its existing long-term planning and developed and delivered a new training program to support accessibility.

Sports, Entertainment, and Venue Counsel

• Serves as accessibility counsel for national sports leagues and related clubs, and stadiums/arenas, providing guidance in all facets of their business, from updating their policies to adopting new technology, hosting major public events, conducting location auditing, resolving threatened legal actions, serving as the liaison to advocacy groups and government regulators, and providing compliance training.

• The Legal 500 United States: Workplace and Employment Counseling (2016 to 2018), Labor and Employment Disputes (Including Collective Actions): Defense (2018 to 2020)
• New York Metro Super Lawyers, Employment & Labor: Employer (2024 to 2025)
• Who's Who Legal: Labour & Employment (2022)

Education

• Harvard Law School (J.D., 2000)
• Cornell University (B.S., 1997)
  • School of Industrial & Labor Relations