Created in 2000 through the Yegelwel Family Foundation, this fund recognizes Evan J. Yegelwel, J.D. for his dedication to justice and genuine good character. Evan was born on November 17, 1955 and is a native of Manhattan, NY. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers College with highest honors and was elected into Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his juris doctor with honors from the University of Florida and was elected into the Order of the Coif. Evan is a partner of the law firm of Terrell Hogan Ellis Yegelwel, P.A., where he has been a member of the firm for over 23 years. He has focused his personal practice in the field of products liability and toxic torts, chaired seminars for the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers and has lectured nationally and internationally on toxic torts. He and his legal team believe in hard work and the promotion of intellectual and legal integrity.

As a Florida and National Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer, he is also a member of the UF Law Center Association, Inc. Board of Trustees, Florida Bar, Jacksonville and American Bar Associations, Academy of Florida Trial Attorneys, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, D.C. Bar, United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Chester Bedell Inn of Court and American Board of Trial Advocates. He is a past member of the Florida Bar Grievance Committee, Endowment for Academy Giving to Law and Education and Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and the former president of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), Jacksonville Chapter.

Yegelwel serves on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Jacksonville Jewish Center, the Florida Board of the Anti-Defamation League, National Executive Committee for AIPAC, is the Northeast Florida Chair and was an Executive Committee member of the UF College of Law Alumni Council. He was the first president of the Foundation for River Garden Hebrew Home for the Aged, was Chairman of the Board and President of the Jacksonville Jewish Center and served on the Board of Directors of the Jacksonville Jewish Federation, the Board of Directors of Edward Waters College and finance committees for numerous charitable groups and political campaigns.

In 1995, he created the Evan J. Yegelwel Book Award in Environmental Law: Toxics, in honor of Professor E. L. Roy Hunt. In 1997, Evan received the Israel Bonds 50th Anniversary – “Independence Issue” Award, and in 2000, founded The Evan J. Yegelwel Fellowship Fund, which supports legal internships for University of Florida law students in non-profit civil rights organizations, concentrating on the prevention of hate crimes. In 2001, he received the Jacksonville Jewish Federation’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, the Boy Scouts of America Whitney M. Young, Jr., Service Award and the Jacksonville Jewish Center Men’s Club “Man of the Year” Award. Evan was featured in the 2006 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the field of mass tort litigation, Florida Super Lawyers 2006 in the area of personal injury plaintiff: medical malpractice, and in the July 2006 issue of Florida Monthly magazine as one of Florida’s best lawyers in the field of mass tort litigation.

As loyal to his family as he is to justice, Evan has been married to his wife Arlene for more than 25 years. They are the proud parents of two daughters — Esther and Tani