Founding Partner
Josh Van Kampen
Protecting People with Purpose and Passion at Work
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About Josh
Joshua Van Kampen is a multi-award winning employment attorney, solely dedicated to protecting those who have been wronged by their employers. Recognized statewide for his niche specialization in plaintiff-side employment representation, Josh has consistently been ranked one of the Top 100 attorneys in the state of North Caroline by SuperLawyers from 2017-2025, and has been named one of Charlotte’s Top 25 attorneys, across all areas of practice, from 2018-2023 and again in 2025. Josh is proud to be among the youngest attorneys in North Carolina to belong to this elite group and receive these recognitions so consistently.
Management Trained
The road to plaintiff-side employment representation began on the opposite side of the negotiation table. Having started his career in Chicago in 1998, Josh cut his teeth at two nationally recognized employment law defense firms: Seyfarth Shaw and Franczek Sullivan. During his six years as a defense attorney, Josh represented companies ranging from Fortune 500s to SMBs, counseling them on matters related to age, race, gender, disability, compensation, litigation avoidance, and sexual harassment training.
Plaintiff Focused
From the onset, Josh knew that he sought more from his law career. Despite winning major cases for his defense clients, he felt increasingly dissatisfied by his personal misalignment with the outcomes: working in a profession where success for a client often came at the expense of honest, hardworking people and their families, who simply lacked the resources to adequately defend themselves against a large employer. The emotional toll of feeling like he was defending the wrong party finally led Josh to leave Chicago and move to North Carolina in 2004, forgoing a comfortable salary to start his own firm and transition his practice from defending employers to exclusively representing victims of employment law cases. Today, Van Kampen Law is regarded as one of the most effective and aggressive plaintiff-side employment law firms in the state. Josh’s experience working for large defense firms has proven to be invaluable in shaping the perspective he brings to his plaintiff clients today, allowing him to anticipate defense tactics well in advance, bringing proactive strategies and invaluable opposing perspectives to every client’s case.
Heart Centered
After visiting Costa Rica in 2021, Josh had a realization that would profoundly alter his approach towards his vocation, and building his practice. Spending time in unobstructed nature helped reawakened Josh to the truth of his own: that more than an attorney, he sees himself as a brave, compassionate, heart-centered leader and companion to those whom he employs and the clients that he represents. In a profession that beats the heart out of law students and teaches them to think only with their minds, Josh had a vision to build a firm that would blaze the trail for the next generation of heart-centered legal professionals who see their work not only as a livelihood-sustaining, but soul-sustaining as well.
Passionate Advocate
In addition to building a law firm for the next generation, Josh is active in the legal community as a frequent lecturer on employment law issues and negotiation strategy. He has also assumed several leadership roles within the plaintiff-side employment law bar in North Carolina, currently serving as vice-chairman of the Mecklenburg County Bar Association’s Labor and Employment section and previously serving as chairman and ethics chair of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice’s Employment Law Section. Josh has served on the North Carolina Bar Association’s Employment Law Executive Committee for several years. He is also a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association and Southern Trial Lawyers Association.
Josh’s Approach to Employment Law
Van Kampen Law’s primary clients are professional and executive-level victims of employment discrimination and sexual harassment. Josh leverages his training as a management-side employment attorney to anticipate and counteract strategies and tactics utilized by employers. Being a member of the defense bar has also been useful to Josh in helping clients to properly value their cases, and to assess when to push and when to concede during settlement negotiations.
The firm also strategically takes on fewer cases so that it can devote sufficient resources to match up favorably against the large defense firms employers invariably hire. By concentrating his practice exclusively on employment law in North Carolina for the last fifteen years, Josh has also established close working relationships with many of the area’s employment law defense attorneys and in-house counsels, which can sometimes facilitate early settlement. To that end, many of the cases referred to Josh are from defense attorneys against whom he has litigated. Josh was even retained by a large law firm in Charlotte, which he litigated against many times, to join its defense team when it was sued for discrimination.
Ultimately, Van Kampen Law strives to be regarded as the most aggressive employment litigation firm in the state and a firm to be feared at trial. That said, the firm also works effectively and in good faith with area employers to settle matters amicably and confidentially where possible. While litigation is ultimately often necessary, Van Kampen Law’s initial approach with employers emphasizes diplomacy, open-mindedness and mutual interests.
Josh has assumed several leadership roles within the plaintiff-side employment law bar in North Carolina. He is currently vice-chairman of the Mecklenburg County Bar Association’s Labor and Employment section and has previously served as chairman and ethics chair of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice’s Employment Law Section. Josh has served on the North Carolina Bar Association’s Employment Law Executive Committee for several years. He is also a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association and Southern Trial Lawyers Association. Josh is a frequent lecturer on employment law issues and negotiation strategy.
Costa Rica
How Costa Rica has been critical to our firm’s development
Two years ago and on the verge of burnout – like many career litigators – Josh took a trip to the jungle, hoping for a rest and revitalization to rekindle what got him started in this profession in the first place. It wasn’t until the last few days of his trip that a communal spiritual experience led to the reawakening of something that years of legal training taught Josh to put to rest: his heart. Connecting with nature helped reunite Josh with his own: one of radical love and compassion that doesn’t get checked at the door when we walks into the office, but instead gets worn on his sleeves – in front of clients and opposing counsel alike.
Today, Costa Rica holds a special place in our firm’s heart: a place where we send our team to reconnect with the deepest parts of themselves that nurture their ability to show up as a full person, and as a fit partner for the clients we serve. With our Nosara office well underway, Costa Rica will eventually be the second home for our growing team of legal professionals.