Attorney Joey Aiello
Joseph “Joey” D. Aiello had his sights set on becoming a lawyer since he was a boy growing up in Huntsville. One day, his Boy Scout Explorers group invited a group of veteran judges to talk about the court system and the legal profession and for Aiello, his career die was cast.
While in high school, he worked part-time for an earlier incarnation of Morris, King & Hodge, P.C., and he knew that he’d like to work there someday as a bar-certified attorney. Since joining the Morris firm in 2004, Aiello has worked on several, highly visible Appellate court cases.
For the fourth consecutive year, in 2018, Aiello was also named in the 2019 edition of Best Lawyers in America® for his accomplishments in Appellate practice. Aiello has also been recognized as one of the Top 100 trial lawyers by the National Trial Lawyers. Mr. Aiello is also Distinguished rated (BV) by Martindale-Hubbell, which is an excellent rating for a lawyer with some experience. This rating indicates the attorney is widely respected by their peers for high professional achievement and ethical standards. Aiello was elected Treasurer of the Huntsville-Madison County Bar Association for 2015-2016. In 2012, Aiello was honored by the Alabama Law Institute for his contributions to the Alabama Uniform Interstate Deposition and Discovery Act.
While obtaining his undergraduate degree in political science, magna cum laude, from the University of Alabama in 1998, he interned with Madison County Circuit Judge Joe Battle. He then attended the university’s School of Law, where he interned for Federal Magistrate Judge Michael Putnam. He got his law degree, cum laude, in 2001, and returned to Huntsville to practice law.
He spent the first three years of his legal career working as an attorney at two other firms. While working at the first firm, Fees & Burgess, Aiello first realized that what he likes most in law is writing briefs in motion practice and appeals. After two years, he joined the firm of Leo & Brooks, where he continued to focus on writing but also handled litigation.
After joining the Morris firm in 2004, it was his first venture into plaintiff’s personal-injury law. While he’s been co-counsel in numerous trials, he quickly took on the role of being the chief brief writer and appellate attorney in the office.
In 2007, he was co-counsel in a case that resulted in a $3.1-million verdict against an ambulance company that was found liable in causing a collision that killed a Madison County teenager. The ambulance company appealed, and Aiello handled the brief writing as the case went to the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which upheld the verdict.
He also successfully briefed an appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court in the case of Ex parte U.S. Innovations Group, Inc., in a case involving whether Madison Circuit Court had subject-matter jurisdiction over a wrongful-death claim stemming from an explosion on federal property.
To Aiello, the most appealing aspect of law is the intellectual challenge it poses and the challenge of making his side’s position clear.
“I really like thinking how to frame the argument to make it unassailable,” he says.
In addition to his busy law practice, Aiello is also heavily involved in the community, serving on the City of Huntsville’s Air Pollution Control Board and on the board of directors of United Cerebral Palsy for Huntsville and North Alabama.
He also is active in his church and coaches baseball and soccer for the Southeast Huntsville YMCA.
- University of Alabama, degree in Political Science, graduated Magna Cum Laude, 1998
- University of Alabama, School of Law, graduated Cum Laude, 2001
- City of Huntsville’s Air Pollution Control Board
- Board of Directors of United Cerebral Palsy for Huntsville and North Alabama
