MALIBU, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gilbert L. Purcell, a champion for asbestos victims, has been selected to deliver the commencement address for the Pepperdine University School of Law. Purcell has obtained more verdicts in favor of asbestos disease victims than any other attorney.
“The sense of purpose Gilbert Purcell brings to achieving justice for asbestos victims moves beyond the courtroom into the communities with which he works,” notes Deanell Reece Tacha, dean and professor of law, School of Law, Pepperdine University. “We are honored to have a commencement speaker, and alumnus, who has achieved so much with an ethic of service.”
Admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, Purcell has earned many “firsts” and hundreds of millions of dollars in jury verdicts for asbestos victims. Purcell brought the first successful property damage action in California, also the first of many multimillion-dollar verdicts. He tried the first asbestos-related non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cases in Washington State and Oregon, as well as the first colorectal cancer case in California.
In addition to his work with asbestos victims, Purcell secured a separate California statute of limitations trigger for latent diseases. This victory ensured significant numbers of Californians access to trial for determination of potential tobacco-related causes of their cancer cases.
Purcell has received numerous legal accolades and awards. The American Trial Lawyers Association recognized Purcell with the Trial Lawyers Care Hero Award for his pro bono representation of the families of 9/11 victims before Special Master Kenneth Feinberg. In 2011, The Recorder named Purcell Attorney of the Year. The National Trial Lawyers Association has named Purcell one of the Top 100 trial lawyers in California each of the past six years, and he has been selected as a Northern California Super Lawyer annually since 2004. He holds the designation of diplomat from the American Board of Trial Advocates and was named to Lawdragon’s Top 500 Attorneys for 2012.
Dedicated to representing people injured by corporations, Purcell cofounded Brayton Purcell, LLC with partner Alan Brayton in 1984, never straying from his mission. Since that time, the firm has emerged as a premier mesothelioma and asbestos injury firm in the United States and the largest plaintiff law firm in California.
Mr. Purcell earned his bachelor’s degree with alumni scholar honors from UCLA, graduating from its Pembroke College oversees program at Cambridge University. He completed his juris doctor in 1983 at Pepperdine University School of Law where he was a member of the Law Review.
The Pepperdine University School of Law commencement ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. Friday, May 17, 2013, at the Alumni Park on Pepperdine University’s Malibu, California, campus. Pepperdine University commencements are hosted outdoors with the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop. They are open to the public.
