Rhonda J. Tobin is the immediate past Managing Partner of our firm and the chair of the firm’s lateral Growth Committee. She is a highly regarded trial lawyer with significant experience in state and federal courts. Her practice focuses on representing insurance companies in complex insurance coverage litigation, arbitration, and mediation including claims seeking extracontractual remedies. Rhonda was a member of Robinson+Cole’s Managing Committee from 2009 to 2026 and co-chaired our firm’s 100-attorney Litigation Section from 2007 to 2021.
In 2025, Rhonda was appointed by Governor Ned Lamont as the Chair of the Connecticut Judicial Review Council, which is responsible for investigating complaints alleging misconduct by state judges, family support magistrates and workers’ compensation commissioners.
Insurance Coverage Litigation
Rhonda's insurance coverage practice includes the litigation and arbitration of a broad range of coverage issues under commercial general liability, commercial property, directors’ and officers’ liability, professional liability, and excess and surplus lines policies. She has substantial experience in commercial property claims-related litigation, including high profile insurance coverage litigation arising out of the September 11 catastrophe. She has significant coverage litigation and trial experience in connection with sexual abuse claims against religious institutions and schools, as well as coverage disputes involving claims arising out of the #MeToo Movement and the COVID-19 pandemic. Rhonda's reinsurance experience includes the arbitration and litigation of reinsurance disputes related to property and casualty and workers' compensation reinsurance.
Extracontractual Litigation
Rhonda also has significant experience advising clients about potential extracontractual exposure and defending cases alleging bad faith and unfair claim handling practices through trial. She is regularly retained to monitor claims to provide input on good faith claim-handling and settlement practices. She regularly trains and counsels her clients on good faith claim investigation and settlement practices and is a frequent speaker at insurance industry programs on both coverage and claim handling.
She is a Fellow in the highly-selective American College of Coverage Counsel. She was recognized by the National Law Journal as an Insurance Law Trailblazer in its inaugural listing in 2021. In addition, Rhonda was recognized in 2020 by Business Insurance as one of its 30 “Women to Watch” in North America, and by the Hartford Business Journal as one of its 15 “Women in Business” honorees. She has been listed as one of the Top 250 Women Litigators in the United States and a Local Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation since 2014, included in Best Lawyers in America since 2022 and named to the Connecticut Super Lawyers® list from 2017 to 2024. She has been listed in the Hartford Business Journal’s 2025, 2024, 2023 and 2022 Power Players section, highlighting the region’s 50 most influential leaders.
Rhonda was selected for recognition as the "Regional Managing Partner of the Year" in Law.com's 2025 New England Legal Awards. She was also recognized in the “Managing Partner of the Year” category as part of Corporate Counsel’s 2022 Women, Influence and Power in Law (WIPL) Awards.
