Robert J. Romero is the Partner-in-Charge of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP’s San Francisco office and sits on the firm’s seven-member Management Committee. He is a past member of its Executive Committee.

Mr. Romero’s national practice emphasizes complex jury trial work. He also serves as an arbitrator and mediator in commercial disputes.

Mr. Romero has been lead trial counsel in insurance coverage and bad faith cases throughout California and the western United States, including Arizona and Hawaii. He continues to serve as national bad faith counsel to a major insurer.

Mr. Romero also has extensive trial experience defending professionals, including attorneys, insurance agents and brokers, architects, engineers and real estate professionals. Mr. Romero has tried and won jury trials in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland and throughout California.

Mr. Romero successfully defended an international insurer in an action filed in California and London. The case alleged coverage and bad faith allegations arising out of California multidistrict litigation. The trial court decision was affirmed by the California court of appeal.

In June 2007, Mr. Romero obtained a $5 million unanimous jury verdict in favor of a major international client in a highly contested breach of contract case.

He defended a national insurer in a bad faith action that stemmed from a $23 million stipulated judgment following a securities class action lawsuit. He has also defended insurers against claims of bad faith in the emerging field of advertising injury, which has been an outgrowth of increased intellectual property litigation.

Mr. Romero was retained post-trial in a case against an insurer that resulted in a multimillion-dollar adverse verdict. He obtained an $11 million remittitur reduction in the jury verdict on behalf of the company.

Other trial results include jury verdicts in malpractice suits filed against his professional clients in California. Mr. Romero was named as a “Top 16 Rainmaker” by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, in its Diversity & The Bar December 2008 publication.

Mr. Romero is a member of the Defense Research Institute and the Professional Liability Underwriters Society (PLUS). He is also a member of the Bar Association of San Francisco, where he serves on the Executive Committee of its Insurance Practice Section, and as a member of its Judiciary Committee.

In 2006, Mr. Romero was elected to the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel.

Mr. Romero is a former Legislative Assistant to the Chairman of the California State Assembly Judiciary Committee.

Since 2006, Mr. Romero has been named annually to the Super Lawyers list in the area of Insurance Coverage by Northern California Super Lawyers magazine. He holds the AV® Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, its highest rating for ethics and legal ability. Mr. Romero joined Hinshaw in January 1998. Mr. Romero is the Issue Editor of "Legal Malpractice: The Law Office Guide to Purchasing Legal Malpractice Insurance," 2005 edition, West Group. He has been the Editor for the publication since its inaugural 1995 edition.

Mr. Romero has also written extensively on the area of legal malpractice. His publications include:

• “Written Attorney-Client Fee Agreements In California,” Legal Malpractice Report, Volume 2, No. 4, 1991.
• “Motions For Disqualification,” Legal Malpractice Report, Volume 1, No. 4, Spring 1990.

Mr. Romero routinely advises and speaks to his insurance / professional clients and their organizations on risk management and loss control. His presentations include:

• “Insuring the Information Age,” Professional Liability Underwriting Society, Scottsdale, Arizona, October 2011.
• “Is It OK to Be Wrong? Can an Insurer Avoid an Extra-Contractual Liability if its Position is Fairly Debatable?” Hinshaw’s Annual Insurance Services Symposium, Chicago, Illinois, October 2010.
• “Indemnity Agreements (Contract & Coverage Issues),” client in-house presentation, Richmond, Virginia, January 2010.
• “Beyond Bad-Faith and Non-Cooperation: Moving to an Appraisal-Centric Model for Resolving Property Damage Claims,” American Bar Association Litigation Section, Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee CLE seminar, Tucson, Arizona, March 2009.
• “Recognizing and Avoiding the Enhanced Risk of Extra-Contractual Exposure,” Hinshaw’s 2008 Insurance Services Symposium “The Industry Responds to the Economic Storm,” Chicago, Illinois, October 2008.
• “How Not to Respond to Catastrophic Loss,” Hinshaw’s 2007 Insurance Services Symposium, Chicago, Illinois, May 2007.
• “Litigating the ‘Bad Faith’ Claim,” Hinshaw’s Insurance Services Symposium, Chicago, Illinois, February 2006.
• “Electronic Discovery,” Association of Minority Corporation Counsel’s 2nd Annual Continuing Education Conference, 2004.
• “Mock Trial,” Association of Legal Administrators’ National Conference, San Diego, California, 2004.
• “Cyber-Tort Liability,” Annual International Professional Liability Underwriting Society Conference, November 2000.