Attorneys & STAFF

Joseph G. (Chip) Galagaza is an attorney in Stibbs & Co.’s alternative dispute resolution and employment law sections.  For over 40 years, Chip has provided clients with sound and practical advice and counsel, and he has represented clients before administrative agencies, in state and federal courts, and in arbitral forums on virtually every kind of issue impacting the employer/employee relationship under labor and employment laws, including statutory discrimination and retaliation claims (e.g., Title VII, TCHRA, ADA, FMLA, EPA, FLSA, ERISA, OSHA, the NLRA, and workers’ comp retaliation) and common law employment claims.  He has authored and presented papers at local and regional continuing legal education seminars and to human resource professional groups on a wide variety of employment law topics, including subject matters of current interest and on “nuts and bolts/how-to” topics.  Before joining the firm, Chip was a Principal in the Houston office of Jackson Lewis P.C.

As he entered his fourth decade as a labor and employment lawyer, Chip began shifting the focus of his practice to serving as a mediator and arbitrator of employment disputes and as an arbitrator of labor disputes, in addition to providing advice and counsel.  He believes that the years he spent as an advocate make him a knowledgeable neutral from both the legal and practical perspectives in the mediation or arbitral contexts.

Chip has been certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Labor & Employment Law since 1986.  He has also been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America© in 2021 as “Lawyer of the Year: Litigation – Labor and Employment Law” and as a “Best Lawyer” in the practice areas of Employment Law – Management, Labor Law – Management, and Litigation – Labor and Employment Professional Excellence since 2010 and as a “Super Lawyer” by Texas Super Lawyer® from 2003-Present.

Outside of the office, Chip enjoys spending time with his family doing just about anything, dabbling in the kitchen making the comfort foods he grew up with, singing enthusiastically but with profound mediocrity under his wife’s direction in the choir at St. Anthony the Great Orthodox Christian Church (where he served for years on the Parish Council and as its treasurer), watching movies of every genre and from the sublime to the absurd, solving the problems of the world hanging around the preeminent BBQ nerd and Stibb’s & Co.’s managing partner, Stuart Lapp, as he smokes brisket to culinary perfection, and telling stories to anyone who will listen.