Willoughby Anderson provides her clients with a comprehensive understanding of the varied forms of litigation. She has experience handling appellate cases as well as matters involving intellectual property, financial institutions, discrimination, breach of contract and statutory claims. Ms. Anderson also spends time defending clients in criminal pro bono cases. This wide range of experience allows her to view each case from multiple angles and develop strategies that consider all influencing factors.

Ms. Anderson also possesses a strong background in academia and research that provides her with the thoroughness and attention to detail necessary to develop a solid and systematic argument. "I’m not afraid to take on difficult matters," she says. "I see challenges and I meet them."

Experience

Ms. Anderson's primary objective in each case is to help her client. She has achieved this in several ways, from defending the established brand of a celebrity in a right of publicity case to pursuing a federal regulatory client's claims in multiple litigations resulting from the failure of a financial institution.

Other examples of Ms. Anderson's experience include:

• Participation on the trial team that achieved a total victory from a jury verdict in favor of a Fortune 500 financial institution after trial on claims of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference and conspiracy. Successfully defeated claims for more than $65 million in damages and recovered $1.2 million on counterclaim.


• Defense of a dismissal of claim against an insurance client in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.


• Representation of a law firm in a complex legal malpractice case.


• Litigating a multi-state statutory class action for an insurance client.

Publications

"The Past on Trial: Birmingham, The Bombing, and Restorative Justice," Comment, California Law Review, vol. 96, no. 2 (April 2008)

Pro Bono Activities

Ms. Anderson regularly devotes time to pro bono cases, including:

• A habeas corpus case won in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which resulted in a resentencing before the original judge and the equivalent of time served for her client.
• An employment discrimination case successfully tried to jury for a nonprofit organization client.
• A case seeking exoneration for a client wrongfully convicted of murder.

Previous Experience

Ms. Anderson worked as an antitrust paralegal for two years before entering graduate school and law school. While in her Ph.D. program, Ms. Anderson conducted research on civil rights-era murder trials and the way communities react to historic crime.