Julia E. Romano

LOS ANGELES - Over the relatively short span of 14 years that Julia E. Romano has been defending companies in product liability litigation, she has had the unusual luck to take several firstof- their-kind cases to trial.

Early on, she was part of the team that won a defense verdict for a snowmobile manufacturer in that company's first-ever lawsuit. Later, as her practice focused more on medical and pharmaceutical cases, she helped defend Johnson & Johnson in the first trials ever against two of its metal-on-metal artificial hips.

More recently, in November 2017, she was part of the team that won a defense verdict for J&J in the very first trial alleging the company's talc baby powders contain asbestos that caused a plaintiff's deadly mesothelioma. Herford v AT&T Corp., BC646315 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Jan. 10, 2017).

And last year, she was co-lead counsel for Johnson again, but this time in the first trial alleging its baby powder gave the plaintiff ovarian cancer as well as mesothelioma. She was two months deep into the trial when it was stayed after a J&J spinoff filed for bankruptcy protection. Vanklive v. Johnson & Johnson, RG20062734 (Ala. Super. Ct., filed May 28, 2020).

"I think it's a fun and interesting fact about my career just how many first-of-their-kind trials I've been involved in, especially at such a young age," she said.

Romano has been heavily involved in J&J talcum powder litigation for five years, she said. In 2019, she obtained back-to-back defense verdicts for the company in a pair of mesothelioma trials, one in April and the second in October.

Plaintiffs' attorneys claim that mesothelioma is a "signal cancer" that is caused only by exposure to asbestos. But according to Romano, it can develop spontaneously or idiopathically. "Particularly in women, you see more and more cases... that are not associated with asbestos exposure," she said.

She also handles other medical cases. Just recently, Organon & Co., a spinoff from pharmaceutical giant Merck, selected her as its California coordinating counsel overseeing about 20 ongoing lawsuits alleging its Singulair asthma inhalers cause neuropsychiatric disorders.

Romano is particularly excited to work with Organon because the 2-year-old company is focused in part on women's health care needs. That's because she is one of the leaders of King & Spalding's women's health initiative. "We essentially have created a team... focused on women's health issues" covering intellectual property, regulatory, corporate, product liability and other legal fields, she said.

The women's health market has been growing rapidly, she said, so the firm is "looking for ways to partner with companies... in that health space."

Romano currently is the co-chair of the firm's Los Angeles Women's Affinity Group, and in March, she moderated its International Women's Day event.

Some of her pro bono work also is aimed at women. In 2016-17, she successfully obtained asylum for two trans women from El Salvador, and she is representing a third whose merits hearing is set for later this summer.

"I'm hopeful we'll be able to get her asylum as well," Romano said.