Why Choose Us?
When it comes to asbestos litigation, your choice of law firm isn’t just important—it’s everything. The right team can mean the difference between a frustrating process and a life-changing result.
At The Law Offices of Justinian C. Lane, Esq. – PLLC, we’ve recovered nearly $400 million dollars for asbestos victims and their families. But we don’t just fight hard—we fight smart. We’ve built one of the most comprehensive asbestos research operations in the country. We collaborate with top medical and legal experts. And we structure our cases to maximize compensation while protecting your financial recovery at every step.
We’re not just another asbestos law firm. We’re the strategic partner that helps you stake your claim—and keep more of what’s rightfully yours.
Expertise with Asbestos Trust Claims
We don’t just file trust claims—we build them from the ground up with precision, evidence, and strategy.
Asbestos trust claims may sound “administrative,” but maximizing their value requires deep research, airtight documentation, and an understanding of how each trust operates. Many firms treat these claims as an afterthought because they prefer the human drama of a courtroom. We treat them as a critical part of your financial recovery—and we approach them like we're preparing a case for trial.
A Database That Makes the Difference
15+ Years of Investigation, Available to Your Family in Minutes
While other law firms start each mesothelioma case from scratch, we've spent almost two decades building the most comprehensive asbestos exposure intelligence system in the United States. Our proprietary database doesn't just track exposure sites—it's a strategic weapon that can identify liable companies, locate crucial evidence, and accelerate your compensation in ways that would be impossible without this massive head start.
What Our Database Contains:
200,000+ Verified Exposure Sites: From major industrial facilities to small-town schools, we've documented where asbestos products were used across America. Each entry includes specific product details, installation dates, and company suppliers.
50+ Years of Court Records: We've digitized thousands of depositions, trial transcripts, and internal company documents dating back to the 1960s. When companies try to deny responsibility, we often have their own executives' sworn testimony proving they knew about asbestos dangers.
Military Exposure Archive: Complete records of asbestos use across Navy ships, Air Force bases, Army installations, and defense contractors. We can tell you which ships used which insulation, which bases had asbestos construction, and which military contractors supplied dangerous products.
Corporate Knowledge Timeline: Internal memos, scientific studies, and executive communications showing exactly what each company knew about asbestos dangers—and when they knew it. This evidence is crucial for punitive damage claims.
Product Identification System: Detailed catalogs of thousands of asbestos-containing products, including part numbers, installation manuals, and supplier relationships. We can often identify the exact products you worked with decades ago.
How This Transforms Your Case
Instant Exposure Analysis: Where other firms spend months investigating your work history, we can often identify potential defendants and trust claims within hours. Our database cross-references your job sites with known exposure locations and immediately flags compensation opportunities.
Buried Evidence Uncovered: Companies have spent millions trying to hide evidence of their knowledge about asbestos dangers. Our database contains documents they thought were lost forever—including internal studies, executive memos, and scientific reports that prove corporate cover-ups.
Military Precision: For veterans, our military database is unmatched. We can tell you exactly which asbestos products were used on your ship, at your base, or in your aircraft. We've documented everything from specific boiler insulation on destroyers to ceiling tiles in Air Force housing.
Trust Claim Maximization: Most families qualify for multiple asbestos trust claims but never know it. Our database reveals eligibility for trusts you've never heard of, often adding hundreds of thousands to your recovery.
The Clarence Borel Advantage
In 1973, Clarence Borel became the first person to win an asbestos lawsuit against manufacturers. His deposition, given over 50 years ago, named specific products he installed at Texas refineries and Louisiana shipyards. Most firms would consider this ancient history. We see it as a goldmine.
When we represent someone who worked at any of those same facilities, we don't just argue they were exposed to asbestos—we can point to Borel's sworn testimony describing exactly which products were used, where they were installed, and how they created deadly dust clouds. That 50-year-old testimony has helped us win trust claims and lawsuits for dozens of families.
This isn't just one example—it's our entire approach. Every major asbestos case from the past five decades has left a trail of evidence. We've collected it all.
State-by-State Intelligence
Our database isn't just national—it's hyper-local. We know that Illinois power plants used different insulation than California shipyards. We've documented which products were used in Texas refineries versus Pennsylvania steel mills. This geographic precision helps us identify defendants other firms miss and leverage local court precedents that favor our clients.
Why Other Firms Can't Compete
Building this database required:
Millions of dollars in document acquisition and digitization
Years of relationships with court reporters, archives, and industry insiders
Thousands of hours of document review and cross-referencing
Proprietary technology to make vast amounts of data instantly searchable
Most firms simply don't have the resources or commitment to build something this comprehensive. They're fighting tomorrow's battles with yesterday's tools.
Your Family's Advantage
When you hire us, you're not just getting attorneys—you're getting access to the most powerful asbestos litigation intelligence system ever assembled. While other firms bill you to learn about your case, we already know where you were exposed, which companies are responsible, and how to prove it.
This isn't just a competitive advantage—it's justice accelerated.
Example: In one case, we used the 1970 deposition of Clarence Borel—the man whose lawsuit launched modern asbestos litigation—to help prove that a specific product was on-site at a client’s job in the 1960s. That document, buried in trial archives for over 50 years, was key in getting our client compensated.
➤ Read more about Clarence Borel and how his case changed asbestos law forever »
Medical Experts Who Understand Asbestos Disease
Proving your diagnosis is only half the battle. Asbestos trusts have strict, technical rules about how medical reports must be worded—rules that have little to do with good medicine. A report that satisfies hospital or even court standards can still be rejected by a trust over a minor phrasing issue or a trivial detail. We work with top medical experts who understand both the science of asbestos disease and the bureaucratic language of trust review. They know how to craft reports that are not only medically accurate, but also built to pass through each trust’s specific requirements without unnecessary delays or denials.
We Leave No Stone Unturned in Investigating Your Claims
We don’t rely on generic templates or surface-level interviews. Our team dives deep into your exposure history—reviewing your work, your home life, your military service, even your childhood environment—to uncover every possible source of asbestos exposure.
Because we understand how and why asbestos was used across industries and decades, we can often identify exposures that others miss. We know to ask the right questions—like whether a client may have been exposed as a child by washing a parent’s work clothes, or whether certain seemingly harmless products in the home may have contained hidden asbestos. We also know that asbestos was in far more products than most people realize—from insulation and gaskets to flooring, adhesives, consumer appliances, and even hair dryers. Each product, manufacturer, or job site we identify may represent another trust claim or another defendant in a lawsuit.
The more sources of exposure we identify, the more compensation we can pursue—and the more justice you and your family receive.
Building the Best Litigation Team for Your Case
The truth is, no one can be the best at everything. Some firms try to juggle trust claims and full-scale litigation under one roof—but that usually means doing neither with full focus. We chose a different path.
We’ve dedicated ourselves to being among the best in the country at asbestos trust claims—and to building elite trial teams tailored to each individual case. Here's how we do that:
Partnering with the best trial lawyers for your unique case—because we’re not limited to in-house staff. We choose the right firm (or firms when needed) based on their proven success with cases just like yours.
Put your needs first—without pressure. Some firms push clients into filing lawsuits because they can result in higher fees. We don’t. If you’re only comfortable filing trust claims, we’re fully on board. Many of our clients never file a lawsuit at all—and that’s okay with us.
We also understand that some clients feel a personal calling to do more. Clarence Borel—the man whose landmark case led to the eventual creation of asbestos trusts—only agreed to file his lawsuit because he knew his testimony might help protect other workers in the future. That’s the difference between lawsuits and trust claims: Lawsuits create public records that can shape future cases and hold companies publicly accountable. Trust claims, on the other hand, are completely confidential. No one—not your former employer, not your coworkers, not the general public—will ever know you filed.
There’s no right or wrong path. Whether you want to take legal action or simply file confidential trust claims, we’re here to support your decision and protect your future—on your terms.
And if a lawsuit is the right path for your family, we make sure the courtroom portion is handled by the right team. We consistently work with firms that are exceptional in very specific case types. Some firms have an unmatched track record handling Navy exposure. Others consistently win in refinery cases, or have inside knowledge of talc-related cancer litigation. Some are especially effective when local counsel is required to file in a specific court. We’ve worked with many of the top litigation firms in the country, and we’ve learned this simple truth:
The best results come from pairing each case with the right team—not the same team every time.
That’s why we do things differently.
When a client has a lawsuit in addition to trust claims, we don’t just hand the case to one firm and hope for the best. We interview multiple litigation firms—sometimes three or four—to determine who’s the best match for your specific facts, industry, and venue. We review:
Their trial history in similar cases
Their relationships with key defendants
Their settlement rates and timelines
Their local counsel access, if needed
And whether they’ll truly prioritize your lawsuit
Once we’ve selected the best litigation partner for your case, we don’t just step back—we step in with resources that most firms don’t even know exist.
We give the litigation team access to our proprietary asbestos exposure database, historical product catalogs, internal research archives, and medical documentation tools. But we go far beyond that.
We’ve analyzed over 4,000 asbestos cases from across the country, giving us a clear picture of the legal strategies, expert witnesses, procedural trends, and evidentiary standards that work best in each jurisdiction. Whether your case is being filed in Los Angeles, Houston, or Norfolk, we can help the litigation team anticipate the most important legal and medical issues they’re likely to face—and prepare for them.
But legal strategy is only half the equation. The other half is science.
Our firm maintains what we believe is the largest private collection of asbestos-related medical research anywhere—tens of thousands of studies spanning decades of research into mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, ovarian cancer, and more. We’ve built custom-developed tools to search and cross-reference this library in real time, allowing us (and our litigation partners) to quickly identify the strongest, most current medical evidence for any specific case.
“If you want to understand the science behind these cases, we’ve made much of our research public. Our Asbestos Lexicon explains the key terms, and our Asbestos Encyclopedia breaks down the medical and legal concepts we rely on every day. We don’t just use the science—we help you understand it.”
— Justinian C. Lane, Esq.
Why This Structure Protects Your Financial Recovery
One major reason we split trust work and litigation is to protect your trust settlements in case a lawsuit doesn’t succeed.
Here’s why it matters:
When law firms handle both trust claims and lawsuits together, their contract usually allows them to recoup litigation expenses from any money recovered—including trust payouts.
Let’s say they recover $300,000 in trust funds, but lose the lawsuit after spending $250,000 on litigation. The client might walk away with only $50,000.
But when we handle the trust claims separately from your lawsuit, any settlements we recover are covered by our firm's contract with you. The litigation firm has no access to them—even if the lawsuit is lost or delayed. That means your trust compensation stays in your pocket, no matter what happens in court.
You Get Two Firms for the Price of One
When we bring in a litigation partner, you don’t pay anything extra. They negotiate a fee split with us—out of their own share, not yours.
Example: A litigation firm secures a $1 million settlement with a 40% fee. You receive $600,000. If we partnered with them and shared work on the case, they might split their fee with us 50/50—$200,000 each. But your recovery stays the same: $600,000.
You get the strength of two law firms, without paying a dime more. One focused on trust claims. One focused on litigation. Both working in your best interest.
Free Health Testing for Family Members
When one person in a household has been exposed to asbestos, it often means others have too.
That’s why we offer free asbestos health testing to the immediate family members of our clients—especially spouses and children who may have been exposed through contaminated work clothes or dust brought home from job sites.
Many law firms only focus on the diagnosed patient. But we know from experience that secondary (household) exposure is real—and dangerous. In fact, we routinely represent clients whose illnesses came not from their own jobs, but from doing laundry or hugging a family member who worked with asbestos decades ago.
Our testing program is simple, non-invasive, and completely free. If we’re already representing a family member, there’s no cost, no obligation, and no pressure. We offer this service because we believe every family deserves to know the truth—and get help early if they need it.
Early detection can save lives.
And offering it at no cost is just one more way we look out for the people we serve.
Ready to Talk? We’re Ready to Listen.
Whether you're exploring trust claims, thinking about a lawsuit, or just trying to understand your options, we’re here to help.
No pressure. No cost. Just honest answers, strategic guidance, and a team that puts your needs first—every single time.
📞 Call us today at 833-4-ASBESTOS (833-427-2378) - Or schedule a free consultation online with the form below.
Let us help you stake your claim—and protect what matters most.