Costello, Mains & Silverman, LLC

Kevin M. Costello

Kevin Costello put himself through college (Brandies University, 1988) and law school (Suffolk University, 1991) working as a tennis pro, truck loader, bouncer, bartender, personal trainer and aide in the New York Department of Health and Human Services.

After serving a judicial clerkship with the Honorable Barry M. Weinberg in Camden, New Jersey, Kevin began a jury litigation practice in 1992 which continues to the present, concentrating in employment and civil rights, personal injury, consumer protection and criminal defense. He has been representing individuals, their families and their small businesses for his entire career.

Kevin is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney, a designation given to less than four percent of New Jersey lawyers.

He is a member of the Board of Governors of the American Trial Lawyers Association of New Jersey, and, for ATLA, Chairs the " Meadowlands Seminar" and "Boardwalk Seminar" Employment Programs., The Labor and Employment Section of ATLA-NJ, and the Listserv Committee for the Board of Governors.

He serves as an instructor for the New Jersey Institute of Continuing Legal Education, has been published in the area of employment and civil rights law, is a 2008-2009 Vice Chair for the LGBTI rights section of the New Jersey State Bar Association, has served as a faculty member teaching other lawyers trial law, and has served as a Chairman of both the Camden County Bar Association's Labor and Employment Law Committee and Personal Injury Committees.

Kevin has been named a "Champion of Equality" by the Garden State Equality Advocacy Organization. He has been named a 2005 "Super Lawyer", a 2006 "Top Lawyer Under Forty" a "Top 5% of New Jersey Lawyers" for 2007 and a 2008 Super Lawyer by New Jersey Super Lawyers Magazine.

He has been named to the Board of the Garden State Equality Organization in recognition of his service to the GLBT community.

Kevin has appeared in print for numerous causes and cases, most recently for the Toga Bartenders litigation against Harrah's Casino in Atlantic City. He has appeared on, among other broadcasts, the "Morning Show with Mike and Juliet", on the Fox network, a nationally televised morning program.

Kevin has served as a Board Member for the South Jersey Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, has volunteered for, and has consistently supported, a number of South Jersey charities and public interest organizations, and remains committed to the community and constituency he serves.

Deborah L. Mains

Deborah Mains graduated from the State University of New York at Albany in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in Russian Studies and obtained her J.D. from Rutgers School of Law - Camden in 1995. After completing a judicial clerkship with the Honorable Mary E. Colalillo in Camden, NJ, she joined the labor department of a large South Jersey Union-side litigation law firm, representing unions and employee benefit funds before state and federal courts. In addition, she represented individual workers in a variety of state and municipal court actions, assisting them with everything from unemployment benefits to criminal charges. Deborah continued to represent unions, benefit funds and individuals in labor and employment matters.

Deborah comes to the firm fresh from her tenure as Associate General Counsel of the largest property services union in the United States. As Associate General Counsel, Deborah provided legal counsel to the Union on organizing campaigns and strikes; represented the Union before the federal courts and the National Labor Relations Board and, most important to her, arbitrated hundreds of grievances on behalf of individual members of the Union who had been unjustly discharged, disciplined or otherwise deprived of benefits.

Ms. Mains is a member of the New Jersey and New York bars, about to apply for waive-in admission of the Pennsylvania Bar. She is also a member of the American Association for Justice - NJ, of the State Bar and of the Camden County Bar Associations.

Edward A. Lopez

Edward A. Lopez graduated from Lehigh University in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. He obtained his Juris Doctor from Rutgers University School of Law at Camden in 1993.

After graduating, Edward joined an Atlantic County firm that specialized in plaintiff’s personal injury and workers’ compensation claims. Additionally, he represented injured workers and other individuals pursuing disability benefits through the Social Security Administration.

After a short period working as in-house counsel for a large regional workers’ compensation carrier, Edward made the switch back to the injured worker’s side. He has spent the last 25 years pursuing the rights of injured worker’s and disabled individuals for various firms before founding Stopper Lopez Law in 2010.

Edward is a member of the New Jersey Association for Justice, the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey and the National Organization of Social Security Claimant’s Representatives.