Robert Howie | San Mateo Personal Injury Lawyer

Since 1973, Skip has been engaged in an active trial practice for more than four decades.  Since beginning his practice in 1973, he has tried more than two hundred fifty (250) criminal and civil cases to jury verdict.  Issues at trial have included sports and recreation liability, entertainment facility liability, products liability, personal injury/motor vehicle litigation, construction defect, contract dispute, and environmental claims.

Skip is a 1967 graduate of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.  He is a retired United States Marine Corps officer with active duty from 1967 to 1970, and Reserve duty until 1996.  He served as an editor of the Law Review at Golden Gate University and also taught at the law school.  Skip began his practice from 1973 to 1979 as a Deputy District Attorney in Contra Costa County, California where he served in Martinez, Pittsburg, Richmond and Walnut Creek.  For 37 years, Skip’s trial practice has since been dedicated to the service of civil litigation clients. He has been a trial attorney as a member of Foley, McIntosh & Foley, Albany, California (1981-1984); Owen, Melbye & Rohlff, Redwood City, California (1984-1990); and Rohlff, Howie & Frischholz, San Jose, California (1990-1996).  Skip is the senior and founding partner of Howie & Smith and he is committed to providing the highest quality of representation. His dedication to his clients has resulted in a client list that has developed over the years to include numerous Fortune 500 and Best rated companies, as well as prominent individuals and professionals.

Skip is admitted to the State Bars of California (1973) and Washington, D.C. (1981), the Federal District Courts for Northern and Central California (1981), the Ninth Federal Circuit (1982) and the United States Supreme Court (2015).   Skip is a member of the Association of Defense Counsel of Northern California and Nevada.

Position	Organization	Location	Duration
Attorney	Howie & Smith Law	San Mateo, CA	Present

School	Degree	Major	Graduation
Golden Gate University School of Law	J.D.	Law School	1973
Duke University	Bachelors	History	1967

State / Court	Date
All Appellate Courts In California	n/a
California Supreme Court	n/a
United States District Court for the Northern District of California	n/a
United States Supreme Court	2015
California	1973

• Proudly serving San Mateo, CA and the surrounding areas.

• Over 45 years of legal experience!

• Representative and Significant Verdicts, Judgments and Settlements:
  

  Premises Liability/Public Entity (Negligence) Plaintiff was a grade school student in a county school district injured on school premises when he was hit by a falling window pane knocked from its moorings by a ball kicked on the school playground. Defendants were the School and School District. Plaintiff, through his parents, claimed “traumatic brain injury” rejecting numerous settlement offers and proceeding to trial. Plaintiff’s experts testified that he suffered from “biochemical changes at the cytoskeletal level,” a then new theory of brain damage that was discredited during trial. After a three week trial and lengthy competing damages expert testimony, the jury found both the School District and the School not liable.

  Premises Liability/Public Entity (Negligence, Failure to Warn, Inadequate Security) Plaintiffs were patrons of the Alameda County Fair on July 4, 1998 when a gang gun battle broke out between rival gang members on the midway resulting in serious gunshot and stampeding injuries to multiple Fair patrons. The firm represented the County and its Sheriff’s Department and the County Fair Association, winning summary judgment for its clients on the grounds of various immunities and an absence of duty to warn of criminal conduct. The case was appealed and the appellate court ruled in favor of all of our clients, upholding the summary judgment.

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