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Alan
R. Brayton
Founding and Senior Partner; United States Air Force Academy (B.S. Economics, 1971), University of California at Los Angeles (M.S. Finance, 1972), Boalt Hall, University of California, Berkeley (J.D. 1976).
With over twenty–eight years of experience, Al Brayton is recognized as one of the West’s leading attorneys representing injured individuals and their families in all types of personal injury, products liability and mass tort litigation. He also enjoys a national reputation as one of the foremost attorneys representing victims of asbestos–related disease with clients in virtually every state. After Owens Corning filed for bankruptcy, Mr. Brayton was appointed to the Owens Corning Official Committee of Asbestos Claimants.
He has been recognized by the Consumer Attorneys of California for his particular talents as a Trial Lawyer in the areas of Products Liability and Professional Negligence. He has successfully tried numerous million dollar cases involving victims of mesothelioma and other asbestos–related diseases, products liability, medical malpractice and personal injury, and has handled and argued cases involving a wide range of issues before the California Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal and in various Federal Courts. Under his leadership, Brayton Purcell has become one of the premier trial firms in the West.
Born and raised in Northern California, Mr. Brayton graduated from Shasta High School in Redding, California before attending the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was commissioned a second lieutenant upon graduation, and spent the next twelve years on active duty in the USAF, serving in a variety of jobs both in the United States and overseas, including seven years as a Judge Advocate. Upon leaving the Air Force he entered private practice in Novato, California, concentrating initially on asbestos litigation and aviation cases.
Early in his career, Mr. Brayton won one of the first asbestos cases ever tried in San Francisco Superior Court, and he successfully tried the first asbestos case in Solano County. He has been instrumental in the development of General Orders that govern the conduct of asbestos litigation in various counties throughout the State of California.
Although most of his time is dedicated to asbestos litigation, he also has extensive experience in defective medical device litigation and other toxic tort litigation. He has served as Plaintiffs’ Statewide Coordinating Counsel in California cases involving defective Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) implants, served as plaintiffs’ co–counsel in Hawaii TMJ litigation, and has served on the TMJ Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the nationwide Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) “In Re TMJ Implants Products Liability Litigation.” He has negotiated key settlements in cases involving beryllium exposure and beryllium lung disease in plantworker and end–user cases across the United States.
In addition to supervising the firm and working as a trial lawyer, Mr. Brayton has served on the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys of California and reviews and comments on proposed legislation that affects consumer rights and access to the justice system. He has testified before Congress on behalf of asbestos victims to oppose industry efforts to relax stringent asbestos control standards and was invited to speak at a symposium on asbestos–related disease sponsored by the University of California at San Francisco Medical School. He also has been a speaker at various Consumer and Trial Lawyer organization functions. Mr. Brayton is the president of the Public Justice Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports Public Justice, a national public interest law firm protecting people, the environment and access to the courts.
An active member of the American Bar Association, Mr. Brayton holds various leadership positions in the Tort and Insurance Practice Section. He has served as the Chairman of the Plaintiffs’ Involvement Task Force and on the Task Force on Strategic Alliances, and is Vice–Chair of the Products, General Liability and Consumer Law Committee. He was previously the Vice–Chair of International Tort and Insurance Law and Practice and the Vice–Chair of the Medicine and Law Committee. He is a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the Marin County Trial Lawyers Association, the San Francisco County Trial Lawyers Association, and the Marin County Bar Association. He is also a Master in the American Inns of Court.
Mr. Brayton is admitted to the California Bar (1977), the United States Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth and Third Circuits, U.S. District Courts, Northern and Eastern Districts of California and Hawaii and the Court of Military Appeals. He is rated “AV” by Martindale–Hubbell, a rank that indicates that he has practiced law for many years and has achieved the highest level of skill and integrity.
