INTERVIEW

Joseph W. Cotchett is partner in Cotchett, Pitre, Simon & McCarthy, Burlingame. According to the National Law Journal, Joseph W. Cotchett is considered by plaintiffs and defense attorneys alike to be one of the foremost trial lawyers in the country. He has been named by California Law Business, a weekly publication of the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the country for the past 10 years. Mr. Cotchett has won mammoth judgments and settlements for investors in white-collar fraud cases, starting with jury verdicts of $147 million and $49 million arising out of the collapse of the Technical Equities Corp. in the late 1980s.

A native of New York, Mr. Cotchett received his B.S. degree from California Polytechnic College, where he was named an Outstanding Graduate, and his L.L.B. from Hastings College of Law, at the University of California. He has been an active member of national, state, and local bar associations. His books include California Products Liability Actions, Matthew Bender (1970); California Courtroom Evidence, Parker & Son Publications (1972); Federal Courtroom Evidence, Parker & Son Publications (1976); Persuasive Opening Statements and Closing Arguments, CEB (1988); The Ethics Gap, Parker & Son Publications (1991); California Courtroom Evidence Foundations, Parker Publications (1993); He is a contributing author to California Trial Practice: Civil Procedure During Trial, CEB (1995), and he has written for Civil Litigation Reporter, CEB, and various law reviews. Additionally, he has spoken at many CEB continuing legal education programs.

Susan Godstone is a freelance writer, researcher and editor. She graduated in law from Warwick University, England and has worked for over 15 years in publishing, both in the UK and US. She is the Managing Editor of Case 'n Point. Her e-mail address is sgodstone@aol.com

SG: What made you decide to follow a career in the law?

JC: I was always a people-oriented person although I was a graduate engineer working with math and physics. Having grown up on the streets of New York, I found that I enjoyed working with people as opposed to working with statistics.

SG: Why did you decide to become a trial attorney rather than any other kind of attorney? For the same reason?

JC: For the exact same reason—I believe that being able to communicate with people is a necessary quality of a trial lawyer and I feel comfortable doing so.

SG: What do you think are some of the other necessary qualities of a successful trial attorney?

JC: Hard work, creativity—you have to be able to think outside the box—and entrepreneurial skills, meaning that you have to understand how the world works. Trial lawyers are not taught these skills. There is no book that can tell you how to be a good trial lawyer. Trial lawyer qualities really demand the ability to communicate with people and that starts in your early years. I believe that we learn communication skills very early on, as they can’t teach you those kinds of skills once you get to law school. They can teach certain techniques, but it’s the environment that we grow up in and continue to live in, that teaches us how to communicate. Without that early support you can’t be a good trial attorney.

SG: Has technology changed the way that you work?

JC: Absolutely. The way I communicate with the jury now has changed dramatically in the past 20 years given the new technology. Years ago, I would bring an overhead projector into the courtroom. Now, I am using computer imaging on a screen along with various different techniques. I employ all kinds of electronic ways to communicate versus writing on a piece of paper and it’s very effective. Remember, the average American spends four to six hours a day in front of a television set, so he or she is very comfortable with an image on a screen.

SG: How did the CEB book Persuasive Opening Statements and Closing Arguments come about?

JC: CEB came to me and asked me if I would write it. At that time, I was lecturing on opening statements and closing arguments and they needed an experienced trial lawyer as an author. They also approached Frank Rothman, an outstanding attorney from Los Angeles, and we did the book together. I did primarily plaintiff work and Frank did primarily defense work in those days.

SG: What is your most memorable case?

JC: My most memorable case is a case that I lost. I represented the children of Viola Liuzzo who was killed by a member of the Ku Klux Klan in 1965. Twenty years later, we sued the FBI for putting a Klansman who was an informant for the FBI in a place where he could do harm to another person. The incident took place at a civil rights march in Selma, Alabama in 1965. A Ku Klux Klan member shot and killed Viola to prove that he was a good Klansman. I tried the case in Michigan with a very fine lawyer by the name of Dean Robb. It was not only the most memorable case for me, it was also the most rewarding even though we lost. After we filed that case and just before we went to trial, the FBI changed many of its rules on how they use informants so there were a lot of benefits to society. I’m convinced we could have won had we been in front of a jury, but it was a Federal Torts Claim Act case and we couldn’t get a jury. The federal judge, a very decent man, felt we had not proved that the FBI was negligent. The day that the judge rendered his verdict, we had a little gathering in the evening and a number of the FBI agents came to visit with the children of Viola. I’ll never forget that night as long as I live. I made some good friends among the FBI agents, some of whom admitted they should not have used Ku Klux Klan informants who were known to be violent. They recognized that they were negligent in using a dangerous person, in a way that allowed the killing to happen. I have verdicts up to 3 and a half billion dollars and they are all memorable, but in terms of what is the single case that I would go back and try ten times over, it was the Liuzzo case—it made a great impact on me and society—even though we lost.

SG: What’s it like working on a case where the media is watching you very closely?

JC: You just continue about your business. You don’t ignore the media. In fact, you can use the attention to your advantage if you know what you are doing. Of course, there is something about a free press. It’s what makes this country different from other countries in the world as the press is truly the difference between totalitarianism and democracy. We can lose many institutions of our government, including the legal profession, but once you lose the press, democracy falls as we know it.

SG: Who have been the most influential people in your life? Famous or not?

JC: Probably several judges and many lawyers that I’ve practiced with. The lawyer who I went to work for straight out of law school, Sol Ross, was one of the great humans I have met. He was a quiet, scholarly man and he had more integrity than anyone I’ve ever known. If someone dropped a nickel out of their pocket while they were walking along he’d pick it up and hand it to them. The opportunity to work for him taught me basic values that are so important today. I have also been before many judges who have been a beacon for my practice. Judges give up a lot of life to sit on the bench and they deserve a great deal of respect.

SG: Can you give me an example of Mr. Ross’ integrity?

JC: When I started practicing law, I would take my billing in to him for reviewing and nine times out of ten he would look at the numbers and cut it down. He’d say, that’s too much time to research that matter. Can you imagine that happening in today’s bottom-line mentality law firm? He also taught me the value of doing a responsible job representing people – making a fee is not the end game.

SG: What do you do for fun, if you have any time?

JC: I do have time for fun. We have a ranch down in Santa Cruz, and one down in the valley and property in Montana. I’m a frustrated architect and I enjoy restoring older buildings. My wife and I love art and love to travel. We recently bought a ranch in Hawaii with several people, and I have a lot of outside interests that involve the environment as well as writing books.

SG: So, you still have time for yourself and your family, even though you are crazy busy at work?

JC: Oh yes, you see, that’s what keeps me busy.

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