LYNN CROWDER GREER

Lynn Crowder Greer has been instrumental in some of this country’s biggest legal mass claims resolutions. From 1990 to 2000, the attorney was part of the Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust, which obtained settlements for more than 200,000 women who had been injured by the contraceptive device produced by A.H. Robins Co., a Richmond pharmaceutical company.

A dozen years later, she co-founded BrownGreer PLC to focus on mass claimant lawsuits, and she has since taken on such high-profile cases as the BP oil spill and the NFL’s concussion settlement. Closer to home, she was in charge of the reconciliation program for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, which led to the payment of $6.3 million to 51 people abused by clergy as children.

In all, the University of Virginia School of Law grad has helped process more than 4.5 million claims, securing payments of $34 billion for almost 40 million people. “It’s a way to help people who have been injured,” Crowder Greer says, “to let them know that they are being heard.”

Such complex cases can be all-consuming, but early on Crowder Greer learned the importance of advocating for herself so “it wouldn’t be all work, all the time.” Over the years, she has served on boards for the Virginia Repertory Theatre and the state chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She advises women not to apologize for asking for what they need to be the best that they can be.

A few years ago, when she was between cases, Crowder Greer says she devoted almost two months to just listening to her colleagues’ concerns. “Often people think that communication is just about talking,” she says, “but listening has been my biggest contribution.”