Lung Cancer & Mesothelioma Cases: Legal & Medical Insights

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Joseph W. Belluck is co-author of 100 Questions & Answers About Mesothelioma and a founding partner of Belluck Law, LLP. He is widely recognized for his outstanding representation of clients, high ethical standards, and public service. Joe has a national reputation for excellence in mesothelioma, truck accidents and other serious injury litigation. He is a dedicated, compassionate attorney who has spent his entire life and legal career advocating for injured consumers and workers. He has settled over $1 billion of asbestos and personal injury lawsuits. For these reasons, he is asked to speak at conferences around the United States on personal injury litigation. Prior to founding Belluck Law, Joe represented the State of New York in its tobacco litigation. He was responsible for forcing the tobacco industry to stop sponsoring fake scientific research and to take down their tobacco billboards in New York State. He started representing asbestos victims across the United States in 1999. He previously served as a judicial law clerk at the Texas Supreme Court and as a staff attorney for the consumer group Public Citizen in Washington, D.C. In 2001, after the 9/11 terrorist attack, Joe spent six months at a volunteer legal organization known as Trial Lawyers Care. There he provided free representation to the families of people killed at the World Trade Center. Joe is a dedicated public servant. In 2008, he was appointed to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which investigates allegations of misconduct, and disciplines all state and local judges in New York. He was elected Chair of the Commission in 2017. He was appointed as a trustee of The State University of New York (SUNY) in 2010. The SUNY Board of Trustees oversees the entire public university system in New York which is comprised of 64 campuses. He also chairs the Charter School Committee at SUNY. In 2017, Joe was appointed to the advisory committee of the Rockefeller Institute of Government’s Center for Law and Policy Solutions. He previously served as a member of New York’s Medicaid Redesign Team and advised the State of New York on cannabis legalization. Joe is also very philanthropic. He is Chair of the Board of Precious Dreams, a national organization that provides comfort items to foster and homeless youth; and serves on the Board of the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, an artist colony in New York’s Hudson Valley. He previously served on the board of Children’s Rights, a national advocacy group working to reform failing child welfare systems and protect foster children.

Graduated from St. John's and worked as legal support staff for 20 years, which means she really knows all the nuts and bolts that we're going to talk about today. She's been at Beleck, Beleck and Fox for the last five years, where she specifically acts as a liaison between trust directors, attorneys, paralegals, and clients on all of these types of cases.

Ms. Dean is the Managing Partner of MKC&I’s Syracuse, New York office, a Managing Member of the firm, and Director of the firm’s New York Asbestos Litigation Practice. She is a tenacious and aggressive litigator, specializing in toxic tort claims involving asbestos, benzene, chemical exposure, fire claims, and environmental contamination, as well as the defense of personal injury, negligent supervision, product liability, premises liability, municipal, medical malpractice, and CVA matters. Ms. Dean serves as Trial Counsel and National Coordinating Counsel for numerous companies in asbestos litigation and coordinates the defense of those clients across the country. She also serves as the Court-Appointed Defense Liaison Counsel for asbestos litigation in New York’s 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th judicial Districts. She has presented at multiple state and national asbestos litigation conferences, as well as the New York State Bar Association’s Annual Conference concerning autonomous vehicle regulations and liability. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Dean served as a Judicial Fellow for Hon. Anthony Cannataro in the Bronx County Civil Court and as a Staff Attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Rochester. She also previously worked for several public interest and government organizations, including the Legal Bureau of the New York City Police Department, the Special Narcotics Bureau of the New York County District Attorney’s Office, the Office of the Solicitor for the United States Department of Labor, and for Hon. Eileen A. Rakower in the New York State Supreme Court, Civil Branch, New York County. Ms. Dean previously served on the Board of Brooklyn Law’s Lawyering For Reproductive Justice and as a member of the Courtroom Advocate’s Project, through which she worked with The Legal Aid Society in Queens County and Kings County Family Courts advocating for Orders of Protection for victims of domestic violence. Ms. Dean is licensed to practice law in the State Courts of New York and New Jersey, and United States District Courts for the Northern District of New York and Western District of New York. She is a member of the Defense Research Institute and New York and New Jersey State Bar Associations and has been designated as a SuperLawyers Rising Star since 2021. Ms. Dean currently serves as a Referee for the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, as well as an Arbitrator for Syracuse City Court. She is also a Trustee for Vera House Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting Vera House, Inc. and its commitment to provide services to victims of domestic, elder, sexual, and other forms of abuse. Outside of the firm, she continues to provide pro bono services for abuse victims.