Julia Antigone Gowin

Julia Gowin is a partner in the litigation department where she handles all aspects of complex civil litigation, including real estate, construction, product liability, toxic tort and asbestos/silica defense.

Prior to joining HPTY, Julia worked at a mid-sized law firm in Orange County in the “Business Litigation” department.  She represented both plaintiffs and defendants in real estate, products liability, construction, employment, breach of contract, eminent domain/inverse condemnation, trust/probate, and general commercial litigation matters. 

Her corporate cases included breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and misrepresentation, interference with prospective economic advantage, unfair competition/Business & Professions Code section 17200 claims, and other business torts.  She has defended companies sued for breach of licensing agreements and RICO violations, including requests for temporary restraining orders, injunctions, writs of attachment and appointment of receivers.

Her real estate cases included unlawful detainer, breach of purchase and sale agreements, lease disputes, escrow litigation, illegal subdivision of property and boundary/easement disputes, mechanic’s liens, deed disputes and quiet title actions, environmental contamination, government tort claims against cities and counties, and general disputes between homeowners and homebuilders and contractors and subcontractors.  As outside counsel for numerous Southern California homebuilders, Julia oversaw and assisted insurance defense counsel in construction defect cases as well. 

Julia’s product liability clients included pharmaceutical and medical device companies; property owners and manufacturers involved in claims of injury from various chemicals and toxins, including asbestos and silica; car and boat manufacturers involved in catastrophic or other injury actions; window manufacturers involved in construction and product defect claims; and companies sued for Proposition 65 warning violations throughout California.  In this capacity, Julia acted as both national and local counsel for certain of her firm’s clients.  She litigated labor and employment disputes for these clients as well.

At HPTY, Julia has focused primarily on the defense of products and premises liability claims in both state and federal court.  She is the head of the Law and Motion and Appellate departments in Los Angeles where she has drafted numerous dispositive motions at the trial court level; petitions for writ of mandate, opening and respondents’ briefs at the appellate level; and petitions for review to the California Supreme Court.  She also manages the dockets for certain of her firm’s “mass tort” clients with cases pending in California and throughout the country.  At present, Julia’s cases are primarily personal injury/wrongful death actions based on latent diseases (i.e., cancers or other conditions from exposure to various products, chemicals or other toxins), industrial accidents, and/or construction and manufacturing involving negligence and strict liability claims.

In law school, Julia was honored for receiving the highest grades in Legal Research and Writing, Torts, and International Law. She was also an editor for the USC Law Review.