Robyn C. Crowther

Crowther has led trial teams in a wide variety of legal areas, from employee mobility and trade-secrets to FINRA arbitrations and even a personal injury trial--all while serving as the co-managing partner of Steptoe's Los Angeles office.

"I think of myself as an old-school general commercial litigator, where my skills are more in the strategy of litigation than in any particular industry or niche," she said.

She took over the defense in the injury case just a few months before trial and succeeded in holding the damages to about a tenth of the plaintiff's original demand. Jimenez v. Badio, BC595777 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Sept. 29, 2015).

Crowther also stepped in late in a six-year-old insurance coverage case as it neared trial. The plaintiff was seeking $100 million related to construction of a Los Angeles subway station. "That was jumping with both feet into the deep end in a multi-faceted case," she said.

Along with the defense group, she developed a strategy to use motions in limine to address legal issues, which led to a settlement in principle in January. Wilshire Vermont Housing Partners LP v. Lexington Insurance Co., BC629273 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 2, 2016).

An important pro bono case is especially on her mind lately. Crowther represents a woman who successfully charged a fellow UC Santa Barbara student of assault in a Title IX proceeding. The man later filed a civil suit challenging his suspension and won -- without the woman even being notified. Crowther is set to argue the appeal of that ruling on June 15. Doe v Regents, A161546 (Cal. App. 1st Dist., filed Nov. 25, 2020).

Her thesis is that her client was an indispensable party in the trial court litigation. "It just seems like basic due process to me. It is not a complicated argument," Crowther said. "It doesn't seem equitable that somebody who wins the proceeding at their school can just be entirely excluded from the proceeding in court."

- Don DeBenedictis