Michael J. Gayan

Partner - Trial Lawyer

BAR ADMISSIONS

  • Nevada
  • U.S. District Court District of Nevada
  • U.S. Court of Appeals – Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. Supreme Court

EDUCATION

  • William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, J.D., cum laude, 2008
  • Brigham Young University, B.S. in Business Management, 2004

HONORS AND AWARDS

  • The Best Lawyers In America (Appellate Practice, Commercial Litigation, Construction Law), 2021-Present
  • Super Lawyers, 2025-2026 (Class Actions/Mass Torts, Business Litigation, Construction Litigation)
  • Super Lawyers, Mountain States Rising Stars, 2012–2018 (Class Actions/Mass Torts)
  • Clark County Pro Bono Project, Honor Roll, Multiple Years

PUBLISHED WORKS AND SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

  • Moderator: Federal Court Practice with Chief Judge Gordon, Judge Silva, and Magistrate Judges Weksler and Albregts, August 2025
  • Speaker: Preparing Witnesses with Documents: Risks and Rewards, May 2022
  • Co-Author: “How to Avoid (or Compel) Disclosure of Documents a Witness Reviewed Before Testifying.” Communiqué, Apr. 2022.
  • Author: “NRCP 23: Its Recent Amendments and Powerful Features.” Communiqué, Oct. 2019
  • Author: Survey of State Class Action Law, Nevada published annually by the American Bar Association, 2015 to present
  • Author: Judge Dredd: Hollywood Fiction or Las Vegas Reality? 8 NLJ 698 (2008)

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS

  • State Bar of Nevada
  • Clark County Bar Association
  • Nevada Justice Association
  • Public Justice, Patron Member

REPRESENTATIVE CASES

  • Meta Platforms, Inc. v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court of Nev., 2026 WL 1129147 (Apr. 24, 2026)
  • Snap, Inc. v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court, 2026 WL 501564 (Feb. 23, 2026)
  • Las Vegas Sun, Inc. v. Adelson, 147 F.4th 1103, 1109 (9th Cir. 2025), cert. denied, 224 L.Ed.2d 9 (U.S. 2026), see also Adelson v. United States Dist. Ct. (In re Adelson), 2026 WL 895611 (9th Cir. Mar. 30, 2026)
  • TikTok, Inc. v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court, 578 P.3d 640 (Nev. 2025)
  • Sierra Woods LLC v. Waste Management of Nevada Inc., Case No. CV19-00797 (2d Judicial District Court, Nevada)
  • Go Wireless, Inc. v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court, 555 P.3d 1161 (Nev. 2024)
  • News-Media Capital Grp., LLC v. Las Vegas Sun, Inc., 495 P.3d 108 (Nev. 2021)
  • Panorama Towers Condo. Unit Owners’ Ass’n v. Hallier, 137 Nev. Adv. Op. 67, 498 P.3d 222 (2021)
  • In re: Kitec Fitting Litigation
  • 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)
  • Slaughter v. Uponor, Inc., 475 Fed.Appx. 150 (9th Cir. 2012)

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • Judicial extern to Honorable Robert C. Jones, United States District Court for the District of Nevada
Michael Gayan

About Michael J. Gayan

Michael J. Gayan is a partner at Claggett & Sykes Law Firm and co-leads the firm’s mass torts and class action team. He has helped try cases to verdict and recovered more than $400 million for his clients, including In re: Kitec Fitting Litigation, the largest class action case ever tried in Nevada. Mike has litigated cases before state and federal trial courts in Nevada and throughout the country from California to Massachusetts as well as the Nevada Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Based on his successes, Mike has been recognized by Best Lawyers for his appellate work and commercial and construction litigation and by Super Lawyers for his work in class actions and mass torts as well as commercial and construction litigation. Since 2015, he has authored the Nevada section of the American Bar Association’s Survey of State Class Action Law. Mike is a member of Public Justice’s Class Action Preservation Project Committee. He also serves on the Nevada Justice Association’s Board of Governors and Amicus Curiae Committee.

Mike enjoys giving back to the community by litigating pro bono matters for those in need and has received several awards for the number of hours he has donated. His pro bono matters have ranged from representing foster children in family court to successfully litigating a construction defect matter on behalf of the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada to prosecuting and settling a class action on behalf of more than 10,000 Nevada payday loan customers.

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Mike earned his undergraduate degree in business/finance from Brigham Young University in 2004 and graduated cum laude from the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada Las Vegas in 2008. He is admitted in Nevada state and federal courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States.