Julia Romano

Julia Romano is a litigation partner in the Los Angeles office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Julia is a nationally recognized trial lawyer and litigator, with extensive experience in products liability and California law. She has a proven track record of success for her clients in a wide range of complex litigation matters, including medical device, pharmaceutical, toxic tort and other product liability and tort cases.

Julia has received numerous accolades for her trial and litigation work, including being named a Rising Star in Products Liability by Law360 in 2019, earning a spot on the Daily Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 List in 2022, and multiple other recognitions from The American Lawyer, the Los Angeles Business Journal, Law360, and the Daily Journal.

Prior to joining Kirkland, Julia secured multiple jury trial wins for Johnson & Johnson in its highly publicized talcum powder litigation. Julia helped secure a complete jury defense verdict for Johnson & Johnson in the first case in the country to go to verdict where plaintiffs alleged Johnson’s Baby Powder caused the plaintiff’s mesothelioma. (Tina Herford, et al. v. AT&T Corp, et al., JCCP 4674 / BC646315 – November 2017.) The Herford defense verdict was ranked No. 1 on CVN’s Top 10 Most Impressive Defense Verdicts of 2017 and named one of the Top Verdicts in California in 2017 by the Daily Journal. In 2019, Julia served as trial counsel and obtained back-to-back defense verdicts for Johnson & Johnson in two additional talcum powder cases. (Blinkinsop v. Albertsons Companies, Inc., et al., JCCP 4674 / BC677764 – April 2019; Crudge v. Amcord, Inc., et al., JCCP 4674 / BC685901 – October 2019.) Julia was named a “Legal Lion” by Law360 following both victories. Most recently, Julia served as trial counsel and obtained a unanimous defense verdict in yet another Johnson & Johnson talcum powder lawsuit. (Doomey, et al. v. Albertsons Companies, Inc., et al., JCCP 4674 / 21STCV47286 – April 2025.) This win earned her a Litigator of the Week Shout-Out from The American Lawyer. In addition to her trial work, Julia also serves as Johnson & Johnson’s California coordinating counsel in the talc litigation.

In 2024, Julia served as co-lead trial counsel in the first California bellwether trial involving claims that the heartburn medication Zantac causes cancer. The case was touted as plaintiffs’ “best case” among thousands pending in California and was tried in Alameda County, a notoriously plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction. Following a six-week trial in which plaintiffs sought hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, the trial ended with a hung jury with jurors deadlocked 6-6 on causation.

Earlier in 2024, Julia served as co-lead trial counsel for a large insurance company in an insurance bad faith case, with the jury unanimously finding no bad faith. In 2023, Julia served as trial counsel and helped secure a defense verdict for Union Carbide in a wrongful death action.

Julia was recently accepted into the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) Sidebar Program (Los Angeles Chapter). She is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles and Lambda Legal. She is also deeply committed to DEI efforts and pro bono work.