Lynne C. Hermle

Hermle defended SpaceX from retaliation accusations in two cases over the last year, winning both.

“What they had in common was a very principled approach, that the company is not going to settle issues that have no merit,” she said.

Those cases only serve to build Hermle’s reputation as one of the most formidable employment defense lawyers in California, and continue a stretch of success including a complete defense verdict for client Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in the heavily publicized Ellen Pao gender discrimination trial in 2015.

Hermle’s latest win for SpaceX came in a case where a former avionics technician claimed he was fired after reporting sloppy part testing procedures to his superiors. Hermle argued that he was fired for poor performance, insubordination, and an outright refusal to let go of his complaints once investigations showed they had no merit. Blasdell v. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. et al., BC615112 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed April 1, 2016).

Hermle said that a big part of employment defense is recognizing that the jury is made up of employees, which means she often starts trials behind the eight ball.

“I recognize that we’re not facing a jury of employers; we’re facing a jury of employees, most of whom believe when an employee has been fired and claims retaliation that it’s true,” she said.

However, she believes that the best counter to that is simply helping the jury understand the company and its mission.

“I always want to be sure that the jury hears from the company witnesses what its mission is,” she said.

“I think juries want to understand the company, its principles, and its people, as well as its business model,” she said. “In the Blasdell case, the core of the SpaceX business model, this fascinating thing that they do where they build their own rockets and provide payload services into space, was really the heart of the defense.”

Hermle’s team, largely comprised of “kick-ass women trial lawyers,” works out of a location in the heart of Silicon Valley, resulting in her trend toward defending companies in the core industries of the area such as technology and biomedical.

“I work with clients I trust and value, and that’s often tech these days,” she said.

In the coming months, Hermle will defend Apple Inc. against gender discrimination accusations by former general counsel Lynn Levitan, whose name was recently released to the public after originally suing as a Jane Doe. Levitan v. Apple Inc. et al., BC622413 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed June 1, 2016).

— Andy Serbe