Robyn Gigl

Gigl was born into a middle-class family in 1952.{{cite journal |last1=Gigl |first1=Robyn B. |title=A Journey on the Road less Traveled: The Life of a Transgender Attorney |journal=GPSolo |date=2017 |volume=34 |page=42 |url=https://www.americanbar.org/groups/gpsolo/publications/gp_solo/2017/july-august/journey-road-less-traveled/ |access-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428003746/https://www.americanbar.org/groups/gpsolo/publications/gp_solo/2017/july-august/journey-road-less-traveled/ |url-status=live }} A litigation specialist based in New Jersey, Gigl has worked in commercial and employment law, alongside some criminal defense work, since the late 1970s. Gigl is a trans woman, and she was in a marriage with another woman and had three children before starting her gender transition.{{cite news |last1=Toutant |first1=Charles |title=This Lawyer's After-Hours Activities Just Put Her on a List With Stephen King |url=https://www.law.com/njlawjournal/2023/10/16/this-lawyers-after-hours-activities-just-put-her-on-a-list-with-stephen-king/ |access-date=April 27, 2024 |work=New Jersey Law Journal |via=Law.com |date=October 16, 2023 |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427193150/https://www.law.com/njlawjournal/2023/10/16/this-lawyers-after-hours-activities-just-put-her-on-a-list-with-stephen-king/ |url-status=live }} In 2006, she became managing partner of the law firm she joined in the 1980s, and she started her transition three years later. She joined Gluck Walrath in 2015, which later merged with Dilworth Paxson.

Among other work, Gigl and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey represented the plaintiff in Sonia Doe v. NJ Department of Corrections, in which Sonia Doe, a trans woman, challenged her placement into men's prisons. As part of the settlement in 2021, the Department of Corrections adopted a new prison placement policy based on gender identity.{{cite news |last1=Diaz |first1=Jaclyn |title=New Jersey Prisoners Will Be Placed Based On Gender Identity Under A New Policy |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/06/29/1011181718/new-jersey-prisoners-will-be-placed-based-on-gender-identity-under-a-new-policy |access-date=April 28, 2024 |publisher=NPR |date=June 29, 2021 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428003745/https://www.npr.org/2021/06/29/1011181718/new-jersey-prisoners-will-be-placed-based-on-gender-identity-under-a-new-policy |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Pride Month Q&A with Attorney, Activist, and Author Robyn Gigl |url=https://www.aclu-nj.org/en/news/pride-month-qa-attorney-activist-and-author-robyn-gigl |access-date=April 28, 2024 |publisher=American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey |date=June 1, 2022 |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428003723/https://www.aclu-nj.org/en/news/pride-month-qa-attorney-activist-and-author-robyn-gigl |url-status=live }} Gigl is part of the state's Transgender Equality Task Force and the state supreme court's Committee on Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement. The New Jersey Law Journal named her one of the "Top Women in Law" in 2020.{{cite news |last1=Gialanella |first1=David |last2=Gillespie |first2=Juliette |title='It Is Not Going to Happen By Magic': What the 2020 Top Women in Law Said |url=https://www.law.com/njlawjournal/2020/11/20/it-is-not-going-to-happen-by-magic-what-the-2020-top-women-in-law-said/ |access-date=April 27, 2024 |work=New Jersey Law Journal |via=Law.com |date=November 20, 2020 |archive-date=April 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427195107/https://www.law.com/njlawjournal/2020/11/20/it-is-not-going-to-happen-by-magic-what-the-2020-top-women-in-law-said/ |url-status=live }}

Always intending to become a novelist, Gigl started a manuscript in 1979 that she was never able to complete. She returned to writing when encouraged to participate in the 2010 National Novel Writing Month by her son, Colin, who also went on to publish his own novel with Simon & Schuster.{{cite news |last1=Straczynski |first1=Barbara |title=NJSBA member turned celebrated novelist talks about her new career as a legal thriller writer |url=https://njsba.com/njsba-member-turned-celebrated-novelist-talks-about-her-new-career-as-a-legal-thriller-writer/ |access-date=April 21, 2024 |publisher=New Jersey State Bar Association |date=November 6, 2023 |archive-date=April 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421214317/https://njsba.com/njsba-member-turned-celebrated-novelist-talks-about-her-new-career-as-a-legal-thriller-writer/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Hyzy |first1=Biz |title=Ferryman Institute, by Colin Gigl |url=https://www.booklistonline.com/The-Ferryman-Institute-Colin-Gigl/pid=8273065 |website=Booklist Online |access-date=April 21, 2024 |archive-date=April 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421214316/https://www.booklistonline.com/The-Ferryman-Institute-Colin-Gigl/pid=8273065 |url-status=live }} Although she was able to complete a manuscript and obtain an agent, she was not able to have the work published. During that time, she developed what would become her first book, By Way of Sorrow, a legal thriller with transgender lawyer Erin McCabe as its protagonist. She and her agent signed a deal with Kensington Publishing in late 2018 for its publication as well as a second novel. By Way of Sorrow was published in 2021. Sarah Weinman in The New York Times described the novel as "quietly groundbreaking".{{cite news |last1=Weinman |first1=Sarah |author1-link=Sarah Weinman |title=She Awoke in Central Park, Handcuffed to a Stranger. What Happened? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/books/review/crime-fiction-alma-katsu-red-widow.html |access-date=April 21, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=March 19, 2021 |archive-date=July 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719024802/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/books/review/crime-fiction-alma-katsu-red-widow.html |url-status=live }}

Before the publication of her second novel, Survivor's Guilt (2022), Gigl signed a deal with her publisher to continue the series. Remain Silent followed in 2023. A fourth novel, Nothing but the Truth, was published in 2024.{{cite news |last1=Weinman |first1=Sarah |title=4 Great Fictional Detectives |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/30/books/review/new-crime-novels.html |access-date=July 1, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=June 30, 2024}} Survivor's Guilt won the Joseph Hansen Award for LGBTQ Crime Writing at the 2023 Triangle Awards for LGBT literature{{cite news |title=2023 Publishing Triangle Award Winners Announced |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/newsbrief/index.html?record=4189 |access-date=April 21, 2024 |work=Publishers Weekly |date=April 28, 2023 |archive-date=April 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230429131754/https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/newsbrief/index.html?record=4189 |url-status=live }} and it was named by Time magazine as one of "The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time", alongside such authors as Stephen King. Gigl's third novel, Remain Silent, was a finalist for the Joseph Hansen Award for LGBTQ Crime Writing.{{Cite web |last= |date=March 18, 2024 |title=2024 Publishing Triangle Awards Finalists Announced |url=https://publishingtriangle.org/2024/03/2024-publishing-triangle-awards-finalists-announced/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428141600/https://publishingtriangle.org/2024/03/2024-publishing-triangle-awards-finalists-announced/ |archive-date=April 28, 2024 |access-date=May 20, 2024 |website=The Publishing Triangle}}

On the relation between her writing and her LGBTQ+ activism, Gigl told the New Jersey Law Journal in 2023: "I don't want to preach to people with my novels. What activism is about is to try to help people understand an issue that maybe they're not familiar with. And when they put a human face on it, and they see the human side of it, it changes their understanding of the issue."

• {{Cite book |last=Gigl |first=Robyn |title=By Way of Sorrow |date=2021 |publisher=Kensington |isbn=978-1-4967-2826-5 |ref=no}}{{cite web |title=By Way of Sorrow by Robyn Gigl |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781496728258 |access-date=April 21, 2024 |work=Publishers Weekly |archive-date=April 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421214305/https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781496728258 |url-status=live }}
• {{Cite book |last=Gigl |first=Robyn |title=Survivor's Guilt |date=2022 |publisher=Kensington |isbn=978-1-4967-2828-9 |author-mask=2 |ref=no}}{{cite news |last1=Weinman |first1=Sarah |title=The Best Crime Novels of 2022 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/06/books/review/best-crime-fiction-2022.html |access-date=April 21, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=December 6, 2022 |archive-date=August 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230812040052/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/06/books/review/best-crime-fiction-2022.html |url-status=live }}Reviews for Survivor's Guilt:
• {{cite web |last1=Kane |first1=Julie |author1-link=Julie Kane |title=Survivor's Guilt |url=https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/survivors-guilt-1787873 |website=Library Journal |access-date=April 21, 2024 |date=February 4, 2022 |ref=no |archive-date=April 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421214308/https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/survivors-guilt-1787873 |url-status=live }}
• {{cite web |title=Survivor's Guilt |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/robyn-gigl/survivors-guilt-gigl/ |access-date=April 21, 2024 |work=Kirkus Reviews |ref=no |archive-date=April 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421214316/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/robyn-gigl/survivors-guilt-gigl/ |url-status=live }}
• {{cite web |title=Survivor's Guilt by Robyn Gigl |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781496728289 |access-date=April 21, 2024 |work=Publishers Weekly |ref=no |archive-date=April 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421214305/https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781496728289 |url-status=live }}
• {{Cite book |last=Gigl |first=Robyn |title=Remain Silent |date=2023 |publisher=Kensington |isbn=978-1-4967-4176-9 |author-mask=2 |ref=no}}Reviews for Remain Silent:
• {{cite web |last1=Briner |first1=Vicki |title=Remain Silent |url=https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/remain-silent-1798021 |website=Library Journal |access-date=April 21, 2024 |date=April 21, 2023 |ref=no |archive-date=April 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421215811/https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/remain-silent-1798021 |url-status=live }}
• {{cite news |last1=Laughlin |first1=Anne |author1-link=Anne Laughlin |title=Review of Remain Silent by Robyn Gigl |url=https://lambdaliteraryreview.org/2023/07/review-of-remain-silent-by-robyn-gigl/ |access-date=April 21, 2024 |work=Lambda Literary Review |date=July 28, 2023 |ref=no |archive-date=April 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421214316/https://lambdaliteraryreview.org/2023/07/review-of-remain-silent-by-robyn-gigl/ |url-status=live }}
• {{cite web |title=Remain Silent by Robyn Gigl |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781496741769 |website=Publishers Weekly |access-date=April 21, 2024 |ref=no |archive-date=April 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421214305/https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781496741769 |url-status=live }}

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• {{Official website|https://robyngigl.com/}}

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Category:1952 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:American LGBTQ lawyers

Category:American LGBTQ writers

Category:American transgender women

Category:American transgender writers

Category:American women lawyers

Category:LGBTQ people from New Jersey