Robyn C. Crowther

Crowther moved to Steptoe & Johnson LLP in January when the firm offered to make her co-managing partner of the Los Angeles office.

“This is a firm looking to grow its presence in Los Angeles and regionally,” she said.

She’d been a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP for about two years. Before Boies added the litigation boutique Caldwell Leslie & Proctor PC to its ranks, she’d worked at Caldwell for almost two decades.

“I grew Caldwell from eight lawyers to 30,” Crowther said. “Here was an opportunity to do it again. I’m looking for slow, managed, intentional growth where we pay attention to the intangibles like culture fit and complementary practice areas. We are actively interviewing.”

Crowther is a strong supporter of advancing women in the legal industry. Over the past year she has led three different all-female teams, one in a jury trial and two other in FINRA arbitrations.

She remains deeply involved in a case she brought from Boies Schiller representing a small Idaho business, Positron Systems Inc., that tests metal alloys at the nanostructure level. She won a jury verdict in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Positron’s suit against its larger competitor, Wyle Laboratories Inc., on claims of tortious interference and misappropriation of trade secrets. Positron Systems Inc. v. Wyle Laboratories Inc., BC595462 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Sept. 9, 2015).

“The jury awarded us every penny we asked for,” Crowther said—about $288,000—but the sum was limited by a disputed ruling by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rita J. Miller that barred her team from introducing evidence of loss of profits, calling it too speculative. That call is the subject of Crowther’s vigorous post-trial motions, countered by Wyle’s own cross-motions. Both seek a new trial.

“The profits we are looking for exceed $20 million,” Crowther said. “We persuaded the jury that the defendant had take unfair advantage of government programs intended to benefit small businesses like ours.”

Miller has since retired; Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert B. Broadbelt is now presiding. A hearing on the motions was scheduled for late April.

At the end of the trial, Miller delivered an accolade from the bench.

“She stopped everybody from leaving the courtroom and asked us to bring our clients in,” Crowther said. “She told us all that it was the best-tried case she had seen in her 14 years on the bench.”

Adding to the thumbs-up from the judge, Crowther’s mother had visited the court that day to hear her daughter’s closing argument. “She was about as impressed as any mom ever is,” Crowther said.

—John Roemer