About Rodney
Rodney Zerbe earned a Bachelor of Arts from Bucknell University in 1980 and a Juris Doctor from Northwestern University School of Law in 1985. Those academic years provided the legal foundation for a practice centered on litigation. His education placed him on a path into courtroom work and appellate advocacy.
He began his legal career in 1985 as a litigation associate at Olwine Connelly Chase O'Donnell & Weyher. Early on he handled discovery, motion practice and trial preparation. The firm environment offered exposure to a variety of commercial and civil disputes and set the tone for decades of courtroom work.
In 1991 he joined Dechert LLP, serving as a litigation associate and later as counsel. At Dechert he took on more complex cases and became involved in multi-district matters and federal litigation. That period expanded his practice beyond individual cases to matters that required coordination across teams and courts.
Zerbe moved to Crowell & Moring in 2008 as counsel, bringing experience in both trial and appellate settings. Over the years he has appeared in federal court and managed significant pretrial work. His career includes briefs and oral argument work in proceedings before judges and panels across multiple forums.
By 2014 he was listed as of counsel at Hellmuth & Johnson, PLLC. He has litigated in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and in the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and he is admitted to practice in New York state courts. Those admissions reflect a practice that crosses trial and appellate lines.
Colleagues describe him as steady and pragmatic in courtroom settings. He tends to favor careful preparation over theatrical gestures. That approach is evident in lengthy case files, methodical briefing and trial notebooks that anticipate opposing arguments.
Across firm changes and decades of practice, Zerbe has kept litigation at the center of his work. He has handled matters that moved through trial courts and on to appellate review. Today he is of counsel at Hellmuth & Johnson, PLLC, where he works on civil and commercial litigation matters in New York and federal courts, including appellate work.
