Stephanie Jones Nojima

Litigation

Los Angeles

Admitted to practice in 1995, Stephanie Nojima said she's learned important lessons from mentors over the years, among them to be flexible, listen to different opinions and never give up.

"Being a lawyer is not always easy and it's disappointing to lose an important motion or a trial, but you have to take those losses as learning experiences and course correct as much as possible in future cases," Nojima said. "Flexibility and an open mind are also critically important because a fresh opinion from someone not as close to a matter you've worked up is incredibly valuable when you're developing your trial strategy."

Her expertise recently shone through in a challenging case where she secured a three-year domestic violence restraining order for her client, countering his former girlfriend's abusive behavior.

"It was important to me to get the right result because the timing of the alleged sexual abuse didn't make any sense in light of the well documented evidence of consensual sexual encounters between my client and his former partner immediately following the alleged abuse," Nojima explained.

In another notable trial, she achieved a defense verdict after a nine-day sexual harassment trial involving her client, who had been terminated for engaging in an affair with a subordinate.

"My client was fired for violating company policy before we tried the case and on that basis the plaintiff turned down a large settlement offer," Nojima said. "Both my client and the plaintiff had credibility issues, but my client owned his at trial and presented as much more likeable than the plaintiff which led the jury to conclude that the relationship was consensual and there was no harassment."

Nojima continued: "In the first two cases it was that the ultimate outcome came down to credibility determinations so it was a bit of a wild card how the testimony would resonate with the judge in the TRO matter and with the jury in the sexual harassment matter. For the wrongful death cases both sets of plaintiffs were extremely sympathetic, but we had good judges who followed the law."

Nojima also defended a pair of wrongful death cases recently involving tragic facts: one where an elderly man was run over by a drunk person on a scooter and died, and another where a promising young man was shot and killed at his place of work during a shoe release event.

"In both cases I was able to get my client dismissed in early stages of the litigation because the client had nothing to do with the events that led to the murder of the decedent," she said.

Outside of the courtroom, Nojima serves on the board for Pawsitive Teams, a nonprofit corporation that trains and places service dogs with persons with disabilities and runs goal-directed therapy dog programs.