Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe's Lynne Hermle, an employment law trial specialist if there ever was one, has developed something of a sub-specialty recently. For the second time in the past eight months, Hermle this week convinced a Los Angeles jury to side with Elon Musk-led SpaceX in a lawsuit brought by a disgruntled former employee.

Back in October, Hermle fought off a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a female welder at the Hawthorne, California-based aerospace company. On Wednesday, after a two-week trial before Judge William F. Fahey in Los Angeles Superior Court, Hermle and her team beat back wrongful termination claims brought by Jason Blasdell, a technician who claimed he was fired for blowing the whistle about safety practices at the company.

In both cases, Hermle raised defenses related the plaintiffs exhibiting signs of mental illness. In the welder's case, Hermle argued that the plaintiff's borderline personality disorder led her to see the world in black and white and tell false stories in order to maintain that perception. In Blasdell's case, Hermle argued that the plaintiff was displaying psychotic tendencies and paranoia in part due to prescription amphetamines he was taking to treat attention deficit disorder.