ROBBINS & CURTIN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of All Saints Episcopal Church
- Member of the National Police Accountability Project
Anne Findling practices exclusively in plaintiff's personal injury, primarily representing clients in claims against governmental entities and governmental employees. Her areas of interest include civil rights claims, police accountability, and correctional health care. Her cases include jail suicide, inmate assaults, and medical negligence in jails and prison.
After working several years on the defense side at the beginning of her career, Anne also worked as a Staff Attorney at the Arizona Court of Appeals before joining the law firm of Robbins & Curtin in 2006.
Education:
Anne graduated from Arizona State University (ASU) with a bachelor's in Economics in 1981 and from ASU College of Law in 1986. Her interest in civil justice began in law school when she earned the highest score in first year torts and was awarded "The Book." Anne was also a Pedrick Scholar and accepted the invitation to be Note and Comment Editor for the Arizona State Law Journal, 1986-1987.
Anne is an active member of All Saints Episcopal Church and Day School and is a board member of the Episcopal Habitat Coalition, a partner of Habitat for Humanity that finances and builds homes for the needy, through volunteer labor and fundraising.
After graduating from law school, Anne worked for several years as a defense attorney, as well as a staff attorney at the Arizona Court of Appeals, before joining Robbins & Curtin in 2006.
Cyndee Hilliard is a native of South Carolina, home of the 2010 Baseball National Champs, the Carolina Gamecocks! She proudly refers to herself as a free-spirited GRITS (Girl Raised In The South).
Cyndee has been married to her husband Dave for over 20 years. They resided in Ohio for thirteen years before moving to Arizona in 2003. In Ohio, Cyndee was employed with the Pymatuning Valley School District as a bus driver for nine years. Since May of 2005, she has been the receptionist at Robbins & Curtin.
Cyndee is a devoted wife, mother of four sons, David, Joe, Christopher, and Cody, and a grandmother of six grandchildren, Nate, Arianna, Aiden, Camilla, Madison and Joey. When not at the office, she enjoys spending time with her family, riding her motorcycle, and playing on beaches across the country.
Our Receptionist opens the office, greets and directs clients and guests and keeps Robbins & Curtin running smoothly.
Jesse is a third generation Arizona native. He has three children who make him laugh on a daily basis.
Jesse Showalter is a senior trial attorney at Robbins & Curtin. Jesse focuses on the representation of people who have been harmed by government actors, corporations, and insurance companies Jesse has successfully represented clients in civil rights, wrongful death, and complex insurance matters. Jesse has extensive experience in Arizona State and Federal Courts. Jesse's experience includes a significant appellate practice, pre-trial litigation, and jury trials. In 2017 and 2018 Jesse and Joel Robbins obtained back-to-back jury verdicts in two Federal civil rights trials arising from inmate deaths in the Maricopa County Jail.
Before joining Robbins & Curtin, Jesse was a partner at a well-known defense firm that specialized in defending corporations, municipalities, institutions and individuals in a variety of civil matters with an emphasis on municipal liability and civil rights claims.
Following graduation from the University of Arizona Rogers School of Law in 1986, Joel worked for a medium-size Phoenix law firm. Since 2003, Joel has specialized in serious personal injury, wrongful death, and civil rights cases. He has also represented clients in cases ranging from construction accidents, automobile cases, hot air balloon accidents to civil rights police shootings. He has worked diligently to return dignity to his clients following their injuries.
Joel has been described as fearless in pursuit of justice in his civil rights work. His motivation for this comes from his father, USAF Captain Richard Robbins, who was shot down in 1966 in Laos. Captain Robbins' remains were not recovered until 1996. "My father was career Air Force. He took an oath to defend the constitution of the United States against enemies both foreign and domestic. I represent my civil rights clients based on the same principles." He has been described by his peers as someone who "really cares about his clients", and he is known to work tirelessly for them. "I went into law to help those who have been injured. I remind myself all the time that no one got injured so that my family can eat".
John Curtin grew up as the son of an attorney and judge in Algoma, Wisconsin. "It wasn't always easy being the county judge's son, but I was always very proud of him and admire him greatly".
A Michigander at heart, Kim has also resided in San Diego, California for six years before finding her final resting place in Arizona in 1996. It wasn't long before she found her second resting place working for Joel Robbins in 1997.
Kim has been working for legal firms in many capacities since 1985 after obtaining a Legal Secretary Certificate from Dorsey Business School in Michigan. Some of her past positions include Receptionist, Word Processor, Calendar Coordinator, Legal Assistant, Bookkeeper, Office Manager and Paralegal. Her experience has been both working for defense and plaintiff firms, large and small. Her defense background is helpful to our firm as she presents a view that is sometimes different from others within the firm who are more plaintiff oriented. Kim works on many of our cases, but generally on the personal injury cases, as this is her passion. She enjoys helping those who have been seriously wronged and seeing justice served.
In addition to working at Robbins & Curtin, Kim is a devoted wife and mother. She has been happily married to her husband Rich since 1995 and is the proud mother of three children: Zane, Alex and Emily. In her spare time, she enjoys running, golf and spending time with family and friends.
Lauren Channell is the newest member of the Robbins & Curtin firm having joined in 2018. Lauren was drawn to Robbins & Curtin for the opportunities to help catastrophically injured clients and also for the ability to work on complex, catastrophic injury cases in a small firm environment. Her cases focus on government liability, automobile and motorcycle accidents, premises liability and wrongful death. She is particularly interested in legal research and writing.
Prior to joining Robbins & Curtin, Lauren spent several years representing plaintiffs at a large personal injury firm in Salt Lake City, Utah. There she represented hundreds of plaintiffs who had experienced life-altering injuries in ski area liability and product liability cases, insurance coverage disputes, and mass tort litigation, among others. She takes a client-centered approach to her cases and believes effective communication is essential to achieving a successful resolution.
Michele's profile is currently being updated. Please check back soon. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Originally from Iowa, Ronda has lived in the Phoenix area since 1972. She earned her degree in legal assisting with highest distinction from Phoenix College. She worked for various law offices including the Arizona Attorney General's Office and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office in their Major Felony Bureau. After her first son was born in 1995, she left the paid workforce. A second son followed in 1997. She spent many years raising a family and doing volunteer work.
Ronda returned to the workforce in 2010 to assist her husband, Matthew Millea, with the startup of his own law firm focusing on the areas of personal injury, wrongful death, construction accidents and medical malpractice. After a few years, with her husband's practice thriving, she concentrated on her family and her endeavors as an artist.
In October 2019, Ronda was asked to join Robbins & Curtin as a paralegal. She feels fortunate to be part of a team that is dedicated to helping others and seeking justice. She also enjoys learning new areas of the law.
Ronda and Matt have been happily married for 29 years. They are looking forward to new adventures as empty-nesters as their two sons have successfully graduated from Arizona State University and Barrett, The Honors College, and have entered the working world.
Stacy Vivas received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in Hospitality Industry Management from the University of San Francisco in 1988. She joined the Robbins & Curtin team in January of 2009 and really enjoys her job.
When not at work, Stacy enjoys spending time with her husband and two children as well as reading, seeing movies and spending time with friends!