Andrew Gayoso

Asbestos litigation isn’t just a career for Andrew Gayoso. It’s much more personal.

Mr. Gayoso always planned to follow in his father’s footsteps, practicing complex business litigation law. Instead, while still a law student, he followed his father into a doctor’s office in 2014 and everything changed.

As Mr. Gayoso listened, he heard the doctor confirm his worst nightmare. His father was diagnosed with cancer. The cancer was mesothelioma and the Gayoso family was told that the cancer had been caused years earlier by exposure to asbestos .

“Initially, I thought it (asbestos) was a chemical company, we had never heard of asbestos in our entire lives,” Mr. Gayoso said. “We didn’t know what mesothelioma was.”

To receive this news, Mr. Gayoso had driven for two straight days from law school in Wisconsin to his family’s home in Miami, so he could accompany his father to the doctor that day. Now, he is driven to make a difference in the lives of mesothelioma victims like his father. His father’s diagnosis determined Mr. Gayoso’s future career path.

A Personal Path to Asbestos Litigation

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin Law School, Mr. Gayoso joined Weitz & Luxenberg as an associate attorney on its Asbestos litigation team. It’s where he believes he can make the most difference for mesothelioma victims. The firm pioneered mesothelioma litigation, winning a remarkable $8.5 billion from asbestos-related verdicts and settlements across the United States over the last three decades.

Mr. Gayoso is one of very few asbestos attorneys in the country with such a deeply personal connection to mesothelioma and the toll it takes on victims and their families.

Following his father’s diagnosis, Mr. Gayoso immersed himself into researching mesothelioma, absorbing every possible detail about the disease. This included the history of asbestos, treatment options, and future clinical options.

“I tried to make myself into a walking encyclopedia on asbestos and its relationship to mesothelioma.”

“I had to quickly learn about everything,” he said. “I had to.”

But Mr. Gayoso tempers his knowledge of mesothelioma with empathy for victims and their families.

“I am in the best position out of anybody to help the members of our community who are diagnosed with mesothelioma in the future,” he said. “I thought to myself, ‘Look, something bad happened to me and my family, so I might as well turn it around and make a bad situation into a manageable situation for somebody else.’”