Chris Meisenkothen

Education and Experience

Attorney Chris Meisenkothen graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in history and sociology, earning distinction in history. He went on to receive his J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1999 and joined Early, Lucarelli, Sweeney & Meisenkothen that same year. In 2011, Attorney Meisenkothen became a named partner in the firm.

Attorney Meisenkothen has dedicated his career to representing individuals diagnosed with mesothelioma. He has personally handled hundreds of mesothelioma cases in the Connecticut court system. Attorney Meisenkothen co-chaired a trial in 2023 involving a maintenance worker who died from mesothelioma and won a $20 million verdict, the largest asbestos jury verdict in Connecticut history at the time.

Attorney Meisenkothen has published several papers and has spoken at various seminars on mesothelioma. He also works pro bono as U.S. counsel for AFeVA, an association of Italian asbestos victims and family members from Casale Monferrato, Italy. AFeVA has been working to have honors stripped from a Swiss asbestos billionaire arising from his asbestos-cement company’s old factory in Casale Monferrato, which caused both an epidemic of mesothelioma among the residents and workers and a major environmental disaster.

Attorney Meisenkothen is admitted to practice in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and Georgia, as well as the U.S. District Courts for the District of Connecticut and the Northern District of Texas, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is a member of several professional organizations, including the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association, the American Association for Justice, the American Bar Association, and the Connecticut Bar Association.

Bar and Court Admissions

State Bar of Connecticut
State Bar of Georgia
State Bar of Maine
State Bar of Massachusetts
State Bar of New York
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Court
U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

Industry Accolades

Best Lawyers^® - The oldest and most highly regarded peer-review publication company in the legal profession. Best Lawyers selection methodology.

2026: Named “Lawyer of the Year” Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs (New Haven, CT)
2025-2026: Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America^® - Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs and Workers’ Compensation Law – Claimants (New Haven, CT)
2022 & 2024: Named “Lawyer of the Year” Workers’ Compensation Law – Claimants (New Haven, CT)

Super Lawyers^® - A rating service acknowledging professional achievement and peer recognition. No more than 5% of the lawyers in any given state are awarded this prestigious designation. Super Lawyers selection process.

2013-2026: Named “Super Lawyer”
2008-2012: Named “Rising Star”

Connecticut Law Tribune - A weekly newspaper in Connecticut dedicated to the legal community.

2012: Named one of the “Dozen Who Made a Difference” for his contributions to asbestos litigation in Connecticut

What Clients Say About Chris

Dear Chris,

My family and I want to say a very heartfelt THANK YOU to you and the staff at Early, Lucarelli, Sweeney & Meisenkothen, for all you've done thus far on behalf of our father, Walter H. Gray.

We have peace in knowing how proud our father would be that you and the lawyers have fought on his behalf. All the hard work and long hours he endured has not been in vain. Even though our father was a regular man, whom had worked all his life, you have treated him the same as some of the others who lead a much different path than he did in life. The individuals who have had to battle this fierce disease, the mesothelioma make all workers the same. This disease took him in the golden age of life, it's coming up on a year the 11th day of April, seems as if it were yesterday.

The financial support has been a blessing to our family also. To help finish our father's affairs has meant a lot to us. He left us with the peace of knowing that his children would not have to bear a burden of trying to make ends meet because of him. From our hearts, again we say THANK YOU and may God bless everyone at the firm who fights for those who have lost to mesothelioma. But most of all for those who continue to fight and fight until the end.

Chris, there aren't words to write that can express our gratitude. We do hope and pray blessings and favor be bestowed on you and your family for all you've done for the late Walter H. Gray. My family and I are truly blessed and grateful for you.

Janette Gray (Daughter of Walter)

“I wanted to thank all of you, especially Chris, in how you handled the process of our law suit. As you know my husband John was stricken with mesothelioma at the age of 55. His diagnosis was terminal, and it was important to him that he left his family with the knowledge that they would be taken care of. During the process of our lawsuit, Chris became part of our family and took us through the process with much care and concern for John and myself. Although it was a difficult period for us, we got through it with the help and compassion of Chris and his staff. I feel Chris is a great asset to the firm. He especially helped me after John's death to get through much of the anxiety of caring for my family going forward without my partner. I can now go on with the confidence that I can support myself and my family financially and emotionally. Thank you again for your continued help and support, we are forever grateful!”

Angela Boyle and Family

Q&A With Chris

Attorney Chris Meisenkothen of Early, Lucarelli, Sweeney & Meisenkothen was recently featured in a national interview series titled “5 Things You Need To Become A Top Lawyer In Your Specific Field of Law.” In the interview, he shares what it takes to succeed in a competitive legal landscape, drawing on decades of experience representing mesothelioma victims. Below are excerpts from that conversation.

What is the "backstory" that brought you to this particular career path in Law? Did you want to be an attorney "when you grew up"?

I was always interested in the law, government and politics, but the idea for law school didn’t really coalesce until I was in college and started to realistically think about the next stage in my life. I was a double major in History and Sociology with a self-directed emphasis on the History of Science. I applied both to law school and to graduate programs in the History of Science but ultimately decided that law school was the better option for me. Even in law school, however, I tried to scratch my itch for science- and theory-related topics like environmental law, toxic torts, water pollution, law and literature, and contemporary legal theory. Working on asbestos mesothelioma cases seemed like a natural fit with their heavy emphasis on complicated scientific and medical subjects.

You are a successful attorney. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? What unique qualities do you have that others may not? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Attention to detail - In litigation, it’s important to see the big picture and see how all the parts of a case are coming together, but it’s also important to pay attention to details. The law has many potential pitfalls if you aren’t paying attention, but it also has many potential rewards if you pick up on details that others may miss.
Intellectual curiosity - I’ve always been motivated to understand not only how things work, but why they work in a particular way. If you understand why the law is the way it is, it can help you frame your arguments in a larger context, which may be more persuasive to a judge, a jury or an appellate tribunal.
Affinity for science - Being able to consume and understand the underlying science and medicine in our cases is crucial for success. You have to be able to understand why asbestos is dangerous, how it affects the human body, and what the scientific and medical literature says about it. This is true in any field of practice, however. Construction litigation lawyers need to understand the regulations and scientific concepts behind construction activities, just as environmental lawyers need to understand the science behind environmental regulations and the consequences of pollution. If you understand the science behind your cases, it makes you a better lawyer.

This is not easy work. What is your primary motivation and drive behind the work that you do?

Every day, I am honored and proud to be representing the fine people that we have for clients. Our clients are honest, hard-working people who don’t deserve what has happened to them and never knew that they were slowly being poisoned by asbestos. Most of our clients worked their entire lives to support themselves and their families, only to be struck down by mesothelioma in their golden years. Military veterans (Navy veterans in particular), union tradespeople, auto mechanics, boilermakers, steamfitters, shipyard workers, school teachers, industrial workers, family members, among many others. It is difficult, but rewarding, to be helping people during the most challenging times of their lives.

Publications, Interviews & Presentations

Relevant Publications

Meisenkothen C. Underestimation of Chrysotile Health Risk due to Under-ascertainment of Mesothelioma: Evidence from a Century of Connecticut’s Experience with the “Magic Mineral”; NEW SOLUTIONS. 34(4) (2024): 278-295.
Finkelstein MM, Meisenkothen C. Malignant Mesothelioma Among Employees of a Connecticut Factory That Manufactured Friction Materials Using Chrysotile Asbestos: An Update. ANN WORK EXP HEALTH (2019): 1-4
Meisenkothen C. Malignant mesothelioma in a motor vehicle mechanic: Case report and review of the literature. NEW SOLUTIONS 2016 Jun 20: 1-19 (epub ahead of print).
Meisenkothen C. The four most pernicious myths in asbestos litigation: Part II: Safe thresholds for exposure and Tyndall lighting as junk science. NEW SOLUTIONS 24(1) (2014): 27-55.
Meisenkothen C. The four most pernicious myths in asbestos litigation: Part I: Safe chrysotile and idiopathic mesothelioma. NEW SOLUTIONS 24(1) (2014): 1-26.
Meisenkothen C. Malignant mesothelioma, airborne asbestos, and the need for accuracy in chrysotile risk assessments. NEW SOLUTIONS 23(2) (2013): 389-405.
Meisenkothen C, Finkelstein MM. Asbestos exposure and malignant mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis testis: Case series and review of the literature. OA CASE REPORTS 2013 Feb 28;2(2):17.
Meisenkothen C. A Shifting Paradigm? Deschenes v. Transco and the Precarious New Landscape of Concurrently Developing Disease in Connecticut’s Workers’ Compensation Jurisprudence, 84 CONN. BAR J. 339 (2010).
Murray M. Finkelstein & Christopher Meisenkothen, Malignant Mesothelioma Among Employees of a Connecticut Factory that Manufactured Friction Materials Using Chrysotile Asbestos, ANN. OCCUP. HYG. (2010) 54(6): 692-696.
Lien On Me: When Do Employers’ Liens Survive Under § 31-293(a)?, 19 COMPENSATION QUARTERLY 1 (2009).
When Three’s a Crowd: Kyrtatas, Malerba and the Connecticut Products Liability Act. The Confusing Interplay of Cross-Claims, Third-Party Impleader, Contribution and Indemnification in Product Liability Claims, 27 QUINNIPIAC L. REV. 881 (2009).
To Bar or Not to Bar, That is the Question: Does the Exclusivity Provision of the Connecticut Products Liability Act Bar Any and All Claims Under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act?, 22 QUINNIPIAC L. REV. 671 (2004).

Interviews

Scott-Briggs, A. (2025, July 18). .Justice Meets Precision: How Attorney Chris Meisenkothen Uses Science and Technology to Win Complex Mesothelioma Cases. TechBullion.
Pines, E. L. (2025, May 8). Top lawyers: Chris Meisenkothen of Lucarelli, Sweeney & Meisenkothen on the 5 things you need to become a top lawyer in your specific field of law. Authority Magazine.

Presentations

June 2016 – Sterling Education Services, Inc., FUNDAMENTALS OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION, Bridgeport, CT – Occupational Disease Claims
May 2016 – PLAINTIFFS ASBESTOS LITIGATION SEMINAR, Las Vegas, NV – Neighborhood/Environmental Exposure Cases
January 2016 – American Bar Association Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section’s Product Liability Committee, WEBINAR – CURRENT ISSUES IN ASBESTOS LITIGATION-MESOTHELIOMA: A CAUSATION DEBATE – “Low Dose” Exposures as a Cause of Mesothelioma
June 2015 – Sterling Education Services, Inc., WORKERS’ COMPENSATION LAW & PRACTICE, Bridgeport, CT – Handling Occupational Disease Claims
September 2014 – Massachusetts General Hospital, CURRENT CONCEPTS AND CONTROVERSIES IN ASBESTOS-RELATED DISEASES, Boston, MA – Litigating asbestos-related lung cancer (for plaintiffs)
March 2014 – Sterling Education Services, Inc., ADVANCED WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SEMINAR, New Haven CT – Occupational Disease Claims
December 2012 – Sterling Education Services, Inc., ADVANCED WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SEMINAR, Hartford, CT – Handling an Occupational Disease Claim from Start to Finish
December 2012 – Perrin Conferences, LITIGATING ASBESTOS CASES IN TODAY’S ENVIRONMENT, New York, NY – Tri-State Litigation: An Update on Emerging Trends in the New Jersey, Connecticut and Upstate New York Asbestos Dockets
September 2012 – Sterling Education Services, Inc., ADVANCED WORKERS’ COMPENSATION – Occupational Disease/Standard of Causation and Third-Party Issues
June 2012 – HB Litigation Conferences, NORTHEAST ASBESTOS LITIGATORS & JUDGES FORUM, New York, NY – Update On Conneticut Asbestos Litigation
April 2012 – Sterling Education Services, Inc., ADVANCED WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SEMINAR, Hartford, CT – Occupational Disease/Standard of Causation and Third-Party Liens
December 20, 2011 – Sterling Education Services, Inc., ADVANCED WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SEMINAR, Hartford, CT - Occupational Disease/Standard of Causation and Third-Party Liens
April 2011 – Sterling Education Services, Inc., ADVANCED WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SEMINAR, Bridgeport, CT – Occupational Disease and the Standard of Causation
May 2010 – PLAINTIFFS ASBESTOS LITIGATION SEMINAR, Las Vegas, NV – Peritoneal Mesothelioma: An Update
November 10, 2009 – Sterling Education Services, Inc., ADVANCED WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SEMINAR, Hartford, CT, – Occupational Disease and the Standard of Causation
February 22, 2005 – Sterling Education Services, Inc., FUNDAMENTALS OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION SEMINAR – Occupational Disease Claims

Request a Free Case Evaluation

Request a free case evaluation now if you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma. The evaluation will cost you nothing. Our lawyers will travel to visit you at your convenience or conference call with you over the phone. We understand how difficult a time this is for you and will assist in any way that we can. You can also call us toll-free at 800-336-0086 at any time.