Recognized in Best Lawyers since 2021 
Michael J. Gayan is a partner at Claggett & Sykes Trial Lawyers in Las Vegas, Nevada. He focuses his practice on Appellate Practice, Commercial Litigation, and Construction Law, and he also works with the firm’s mass torts and class action team. Michael has helped try cases to verdict and has been part of matters resulting in more than $400 million in recoveries for clients, including In re: Kitec Fitting Litigation, the largest class action case ever tried in Nevada. His litigation experience includes appearances before state and federal trial courts in Nevada and jurisdictions across the country, as well as the Nevada Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Michael has been recognized by Best Lawyers for his work in commercial litigation and by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star for class action and mass tort matters. Since 2015, he has authored the Nevada section of the American Bar Association’s Survey of State Class Action Law. He also serves on the Nevada Justice Association’s Construction Defect Committee and prepares amicus curiae briefs on behalf of the organization. Reported cases on which Michael has worked include Panorama Towers Condo. Unit Owners’ Ass’n v. Hallier, 498 P.3d 222 (Nev. 2021); Principal Investments, Inc. v. Harrison, 366 P.3d 688 (Nev. 2016); Barrett v. Eighth Judicial District Court, 331 P.3d 892 (Nev. 2014); Vanguard Piping Systems, Inc. v. Eighth Judicial District Court, 309 P.3d 1017 (Nev. 2013); and Slaughter v. Uponor, Inc., 475 Fed. Appx. 150 (9th Cir. 2012).
In addition to his litigation practice, Michael is committed to pro bono service and has received multiple awards recognizing the number of hours he has donated to the community. His pro bono work has included representing foster children in family court, litigating a construction defect matter on behalf of the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, and prosecuting and settling a class action on behalf of more than 10,000 Nevada payday loan customers. Born and raised in Wisconsin, Michael earned his undergraduate degree in business and finance from Brigham Young University in 2004 and graduated cum laude from the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2008. He is admitted to practice in Nevada state and federal courts and before the Supreme Court of the United States, and he is a member of Public Justice’s Class Action Preservation Project Committee.
