Paul Van Lysebettens

PAUL VAN LYSEBETTENS received his Juris Doctorate degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law and received a Bachelor of Music Degree from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Van Lysebettens is licensed to practice in the State of Illinois and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He is also admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the American and Illinois Bar Associations as well as the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel and the Defense Research Institute and has spoken at defense seminars. He works in numerous counties throughout the State of Illinois concentrating in toxic tort litigation.

In 1992, Mr. Van Lysebettens joined Gunty & McCarthy and is a partner in the firm. He has worked on numerous silica and asbestos-related cases as well as other product liability matters. In addition to Cook and other collar counties in Illinois, Mr. Van Lysebettens has traveled throughout Central and Southern Illinois as well as the State of Missouri, via pro hac vice admission, defending various companies in asbestos, silica and other product liability litigation. He is responsible for the litigation of hundreds of pending or recently pending asbestos cases in the Circuit Court of Madison County, Illinois involving more than fifty insureds.

Mr. Van Lysebettens handles various other types of toxic tort litigation including lead paint exposure and caustic chemical spill liability. He also handles product liability litigation involving sports and heavy construction equipment as well as third party employer defense resulting from worker's compensation litigation. Additional experience includes insurance coverage work and agency liability defense in sexual assault type cases. In 1998, he was involved in a committee of asbestos lawyers assigned by Judge Dean M. Trafelet to re-draft the court's current standing Third Amended Order Governing the Cook County Asbestos Deferred Registry and has worked with the Madison County Standing Orders as well.

Mr. Van Lysebettens has handled litigation from initial file analysis through final case resolution including pretrial conferences, arbitration hearings, trials and appellate work. He has not only obtained defense verdicts at trial but has obtained defense rulings on appeal as well. In his pre-trial work, he engages in settlement discussions where he has secured numerous dismissals or has negotiated nominal settlements for various defendants.

Mr. Van Lysebettens has significant appellate experience including oral arguments in various appellate court districts and has prepared briefs for the Illinois Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court.