Robinson+Cole Managing Partner Among Benchmark Litigation’s Top 250 Women in Litigation

Rhonda J. Tobin is the only female litigator in Connecticut named to national list


HARTFORD, CT (August 8, 2022) – Robinson+Cole Managing Partner and past Litigation Section Co-chair Rhonda J. Tobin has been named one of Benchmark Litigation’s Top 250 Women in Litigation for 2022. Published on August 4, 2022, the guide focuses on the leading Top 250 female litigators from across the US who have earned their place by participating in some of the most impactful litigation matters in recent history, as well as by earning the hard-won respect of their peers and clients as top players in their respective fields. Tobin is the only female litigator chosen in the state of Connecticut. This is the ninth consecutive year she has received the distinction.

Tobin has represented insurance companies for more than 30 years in litigation, arbitration, and mediation of complex disputes involving insurance and reinsurance coverage. She is a frequent lecturer at insurance industry programs focused on insurance coverage and litigation. Prior to becoming the first woman to lead Robinson+Cole as Managing Partner, she served on the firm’s Managing Committee for 12 years and as a chair of the firm’s Litigation Section for 13 years.

A trial lawyer who has spent her entire thirty-two year law career at Robinson+Cole, Tobin has significant trial experience in state and federal courts, and has been involved in high-profile coverage litigation on behalf of insurers, including the September 11 terrorist attacks, sexual abuse claims involving the Catholic church and academic institutions, and coverage issues arising out of the #MeToo movement and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tobin’s reputation, as well as her expertise and knowledge in insurance coverage litigation, led to her election as a Fellow of the highly-selective American College of Coverage Counsel. Earlier this year, she was listed in the Hartford Business Journal’s 2022 Power Players section highlighting the region’s most influential leaders and was also selected as one of the publication’s 15 “Women in Business” honorees for 2020. In addition, Tobin was recognized in the 2021 Insurance Law Trailblazers list for being a leader in the insurance industry. Published in a special supplement of the National Law Journal, the inaugural list spotlights professionals who are agents of change in the area of insurance law. She was also honored in 2020 by Business Insurance as one of its 30 “Women to Watch” in North America. Tobin is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and The Connecticut Bar Foundation, and has been active in the Professional Liability Underwriting Society, the Defense Research Institute (DRI) and Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM). 

According, to its website, “the extensive research process used in the creation of Benchmark’s Top 250 Women in Litigation 2022 involves months of investigation into individual litigators’ professional activities as well as client feedback surveys and one-on-one interviews, and has culminated in the selection of the most distinguished women in the world of litigation.” Attorneys named in the publication were chosen through several phases of research: review of their recent case work, consideration of how attorneys at peer legal institutions might rank them, and client feedback on their performances. Information about Benchmark Litigation’s ranking process can be read here.