Haley K. Costello-Essig

Visiting Assistant Professor of Law 

Haley K. Costello-Essig comes to Penn State Dickinson Law as visiting assistant professor of law after a decade in complex commercial and civil rights litigation. Most recently, Professor Costello-Essig served as counsel at Elias Law Group LLP in Washington, D.C., where she had the privilege of engaging in voting rights litigation around the country. Prior to joining Elias Law Group, Professor Costello-Essig practiced complex commercial litigation as a senior associate at Hogan Lovells US LLP, maintained an active pro bono practice, including serving as class counsel in the matter of M.M.M. et al. v. Sessions et al. to obtain a temporary restraining order and settlement relief for migrant children forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Professor Costello-Essig began her practice as an Associate at Hunton & Williams LLP in Virginia. She also previously served clerkships with the Supreme Court of North Carolina and for the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Professor Costello-Essig received her J.D. with High Honors, Order of the Coif, from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where she had the pleasure of serving as an Articles Editor on the North Carolina Law Review and a member of the Broun National Trial Team. She graduated from Fordham University with a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science and a M.A. in Political Science with a concentration in Political Theory. Prior to law school, Professor Costello-Essig worked in clinical research supporting HIV/AIDS clinical trials.

Professor Costello-Essig’s research interests concern the rights of women in the U.S. legal, political, and healthcare systems.