Finding the way - Jeoffrey L. Robinson envies his older brother Greg, who does what Jeoffrey would have preferred to do—coach football. Greg Robinson is defensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos.

However, the path Jeoffrey took is the one more traveled, at least by some other members of his family, His father, Mark, is a former U.S. attorney who is also well-known for his civil defense work, while another older brother, Mark Jr., 54, won one of Orange County's largest civil judgments, a $120 million verdict against the Ford Motor Co. in a famous case involving an exploding Pinto gas tank.

So, when Jeoffrey Robinson, who had attended the University of the Pacific in Stockton on a football scholarship, hoping to play professional football or coach, finally turned to the law, it was not exactly a compromise.

"I found the law the closest thing in competition to sports. That's probably why I wound up as a prosecutor," said Robinson, 45, who joined the Orange County district attorney's office after graduating from Southwestern University School of Law in 1980. For the first 12 years out of law school, he just about lived in the courtroom, trying 135 to 140 cases, including 35 murder charges, and earning a felony conviction rate of 98 percent.

He also earned a measure of fame as a participant in a number of highly acclaimed cases. One of them, People v. Brown, became the subject of a New York Times best seller and a television miniseries, "Loves, Lives and Murder."

Brown was accused of convincing his 14-year-old daughter to kill his wife so he could collect on an insurance policy. He was tried and found guilty of solicitation of murder and is serving a life term.

"The tabloids and TV were infatuated with the case," says Robinson. who was also pitted against Mafia lawyer Bruce Cutler in the case, this one involving John Wayne's daughter, Aissia. whose ex-husband was accused of hiring someone to assault her while they were embroiled in a custody dispute. Robinson retried the case in 1993 after an earlier trial ended in a hung jury.

When Robinson left the district attorney's office in 1993 to join brother Mark in private practice, he turned his background in criminal trial work to representing crime victims in subsequent civil actions. He also began concentrating on product liability and catastrophic injury cases, which have since become his specialties,

Last year, the Robinson brothers were part of a team that won what is believed to be the largest product liability award in U.S. history when General Motors Corp. was ordered to pay $4.9 billion to six people who were seriously burned when the fuel tank of the Chevrolet Malibu they were in exploded as it was rear-ended.

The Robinsons represented Jo Tigner, a friend of die other victims. who had accepted a rift at the time of the 1993 accident.

Allan F. Davis, also a partner in the Newport Beach firm of Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson, initially brought the case of Paul Lu to Robinson.

Lu, 38, was paralyzed after the car his wife, Yu, 35, was driving swerved off the road near Baker and rolled out of control. Robinson and Davis attributed the accident to poor roadway design on that part of Interstate 15, winning a favorable jury verdict and award of $10.6 million for the Lus.

In doing so, they had to overcome two obstacles: "the idea that if you go off the road in the desert, you're on your own," said Robinson, and prejudice against Asian drivers.

Robinson said he was hesitant until he met Paul Lu.

"Just being around this guy, such an incredible human being, win, lose or draw, you knew you were going to give it your all," he says.

That kind of compassion, dating to his prosecutorial days, has won many a case.

"He's an exceptionally fair and extremely compassionate guy" says Pat Donahue, Orange County senior district attorney.

"He's really sympathetic to clients and victims," adds Orange County Superior Court Judge Tom Borris.

Robinson leaves the intricacies of design up to Davis. He knows the courtroom.

"You don't need to be an engineer to educate the jury," Borris says.

In Borris' mind, Robinson does more than that. "Juries eat him up. His closing arguments are homey and put forth to the extent where juries relate to them. He uses simple language, plain English and looks them in the eye."

Robinson says, "I never had a client when I represented the people of the state of California. Now I have an opportunity to truly help a client And many times we even have the ability to change products and safety designs for people in the future."