In 1984, Evan Yegelwel began his professional career representing victims in personal injury, products liability, toxic exposure, and mass tort claims. A Florida Board certified civil trial lawyer, Yegelwel has been at the forefront of complex litigation and has lectured nationally and internationally on many toxic tort issues.
He has been a leader in some of the most significant litigation in the United States. In the 1980s and ’90s, he obtained some of the largest verdicts against multiple companies for compensatory and punitive damages for victims of asbestos diseases, and, in the 2000s, he tried several cases against tobacco corporations.
Since 2002 he has been a member of a team of lawyers for hundreds of family members who lost loved ones in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. His team was the first to obtain a judgment against Iran for giving material support to the terrorists. After reviewing evidence from experts and witnesses around the world uncovered by his team, the federal judge then entered a judgment for billions of dollars. After two decades, Yegelwel’s team is persevering – focused on identifying, locating, and recovering the court awarded damages for the benefit of grieving families of the terrorism victims.
Yegelwel has also been extensively involved in the legal community. He chaired the Jacksonville Bar Association trial advocacy seminars as well as the Fourth Judicial Circuit Grievance Committee. He is a past president of the Jacksonville Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, which presented him with their Presidents’ Award in 2013. He also served on the executive committee and as counselor for the Chester Bedell Inn of Court.
He has been recognized for his legal prowess by The Best Lawyers in America and Florida Super Lawyers. He was also listed in Jacksonville Magazine’s Top 904 Lawyers.
Over the course of his career, Yegelwel has also strove to give back to his community. In 2000, he founded The Evan J. Yegelwel Fellowship Fund, supporting legal internships with nonprofit civil rights organizations for law students from his alma mater, The University of Florida.
He also served on the Florida Regional Board and as an associate national commissioner for the Anti-Defamation League. In 2009, he was honored for his work with its prestigious Jurisprudence Award.
For over 25 years, he worked as AIPAC’s Northeast Florida chair as well as on its national executive committee. He was also a member of the Jacksonville Jewish Center (JJC) board for more than two decades. In 2020, JJC presented Yegelwel and his wife, Arlen, with the Rabbi David Gaffney Leadership in Education Award.
In 2001, he was the recipient of the Jacksonville Jewish Federation’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, and the Jacksonville Jewish Center Men’s Club “Man of the Year” Award.
He also served as the first president (1992-1995) of the Foundation for River Garden Hebrew Home for the Aged, a 77-year-old not-for-profit, non-sectarian nursing home, and initiated the foundation’s successful endowment campaign.
In 2014, the Yegelwel Family Foundation established the Yegelwel and Arlene Yegelwel Endowed Fund for Primary Lateral Sclerosis Research and Care to support primary lateral sclerosis research and care at Massachusetts General Hospital.
In 2017, Yegelwel and Arlene, partner Wayne Hogan, and friend Steve Sherman, created the Evan’s Hope endowment at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville for ALS research. Yegelwel was the recipient of the 2020 Ambassador of Hope Award presented by the Florida ALS Association at their annual symposium and has served as a regional council member of the ALS Association Florida Chapter since 2011.
He has served as finance chair for the North Florida Council of Boy Scouts’ Mohawk District, which provides scouting in public housing communities, and, in 2001, was the recipient of the Boy Scouts of America Whitney M. Young, Jr. Service Award. He also served on the board of directors of Edward Waters College (currently Edward Waters University), the oldest African American higher education institution in the State of Florida.
Yegelwel graduated from Rutgers University in 1977, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated from the University of Florida, Holland Law Center in 1980. He received the Book Award in Law and Medicine, and was elected into the Order of the Coif. Yegelwel also serves as a trustee emeritus of the University of Florida Levin College of Law.
Since 1979, Yegelwel has been happily married to Arlene. They are the proud parents of Esther Raffol (married to Mike Raffol) and Tania Moser (married to Jordan Moser), and grandparents to twins Jack and Eliana Raffol.
Yegelwel has provided invaluable service to the cause of justice over his four decades of practice. Beyond his legal expertise and contributions to the firm and its clients, he has been an honored citizen of the community.
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