Miriam S. Edelstein is Counsel with Costello, Mains & Silverman, LLC, representing plaintiffs in civil rights and employment matters throughout New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania.  Miriam joined Costello, Mains & Silverman, LLC in 2020 after more than a dozen years of management-side Labor & Employment practice with Reed Smith LLP and Chubb Insurance, counseling corporate management and Human Resources professionals, as well as working with corporate partners and initiatives for Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. 

Miriam is admitted to practice in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York, as well as before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for all districts in Pennsylvania, the District of New Jersey and the Southern District of New York. 

As a member of the NJAJ Board of Governors, co-chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee and a member of the Women Trial Lawyers Caucus and Education Committee, Miriam regularly presents and writes about topics in employment law, civil rights, civil litigation and DE&I.

Q. What year did you join NJAJ?
A. 2020.

Q. Why did you join NJAJ?
A. I made the switch from Labor & Employment defense work based in Philadelphia to plaintiff-side employment and civil rights litigation based in New Jersey when I joined Costello, Mains & Silverman in 2020.  I quickly learned about the network, reach and resources that NJAJ provides that are so important, if not integral, to providing the strongest advocacy we can for our clients.

Q. Why did you become involved with the WTLC?
A. Women remain a marginalized group within the legal profession, most particularly at more senior ranks.  Without having a space where marginalized voices are the focus, they are drowned out unless they happen to catch the attention and interest of those with more power. 

Q. What is your favorite vacation spot?


A. Hawai’i. It’s like a different planet, with every view almost too beautiful to believe it’s real. I also gained about one pound per day, and every ounce and bite was worth it.

Q. Why did you become a lawyer?
A. I went through years of immigration hurdles with my ex-girlfriend starting in the late 1990s. I hated how powerless I felt, not just because of how horribly inequitable the laws were, but because I could not even figure out what the laws were without paying thousands of dollars to an attorney. At a minimum, I wanted the ability to know what laws control fundamental aspects of my life, and begin to understand how to improve them.

Q. What is your favorite quote?
A. “What we do is more important than what we say or what we say we believe.” - Bell Hooks