B.A., Mills College (1972)

J.D., Villanova University School of Law (1976); University of Southern California Law Center (Certificate of Excellent Performance as a Visiting Student)

Ms. Cotkin was named one of “California’s Top Women Litigators,” for 2005, and has also been selected as one of “California’s Super Lawyers,” continuously since 2006.

Admitted to the State Bar of California; the United States District Court, Central, Southern and Eastern Districts of California; and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ms. Cotkin has been a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (Vice-Chair, Attorney-Client Relations Committee, 1980-1982); Association of Business Trial Lawyers; Women Lawyers Association; Los Angeles Complex Litigation Inns of Court; American Bar Association (Torts and Insurance Practice Section; Ms. Cotkin is chair of the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee on the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association, for the year 2008 to 2009, and is a long standing member of the committee. She has been a member of the Subcommittee on Professional Officers and Directors Liability Law; and a Vice Chair of Intellectual Property Committee); Ms. Cotkin has been an appointed Arbitrator on a variety of commercial disputes.

Ms. Cotkin is a contributing author to Insurance Handbook for Business Litigators; “California and Federal Subsidized Housing Law,” a Los Angeles County Bar sponsored publication: Business Risk Policy Covers Economic Damages, 1978; and a contributing editor to CEB's Fundamentals of Civil Litigation Before Trial. Other publications include “Developments in Directors & Officers Liability Insurance, ABTL Report, August 1990;” “Recent Developments in Securities Litigation,” CC&F Legal Update, Fall 1990; “Recent Developments in Directors & Officers Liability Insurance” and “Trends in D&O Claims and Related Legal Fees,” the ABTL Report, January 1993; “Recent Developments in Directors & Officers Liability Insurance,” C&C Legal Update, Winter 1993; and “Trends in Claims Against Corporate Directors and Officers,” C&C Legal Update, Spring 1993. Ms. Cotkin is a contributing author to The D&O Book, A Griffin Communications, Inc. publication. She updated The Attorney's Umbrella Book, also published by Griffin, and is author of “Obtaining Advancement of Defense Costs in D&O Insurance Policies,” for Griffin's newsletter, Risk Management Letter, November 1993 and “Allocation of Loss in Directors and Officers Insurance Policies,” The D&O Book: A Comparison Guide to Directors and Officers Liability Insurance Policies, April 1994. She is co-author of an order granting summary judgment which was used as a the model for a case write-up on “Insurance Coverage for Patent Infringement Under Advertising Injury Coverage of the Policy” included in the seminar manual of the Insurance Litigation Institute's annual meeting,

December 1992. Ms. Cotkin served as a panelist at the Practicing Law Institute Seminar on “D&O Liability Issues,” Spring 1994, and as a panelist at PLUS Day, 1994, a seminar for the Professional Liability Underwriters' Society, addressing “Allocation of Loss in D&O.” Ms. Cotkin also served as a panelist at the PLI Seminar on Employment Law Liability Claims: “What you Need to Know About Insurance Coverage,” June, 1995, and authored “D&O Scene after Nordstrom,” published by Swett & Crawford, June 1995. She also authored “Nordstrom Court Drives Stake Through Heart of Insurers' Argument For Allocating Loss In D&O Insurance” published in The Risk Management Letter, Vol. 16, Issue 3, 1995 and Legal Update, Fall 1995; “Directors and Officers Liability Insurance for Employment-Related Claims” published in Legal Update, Part I, Spring/Summer 1995 and Part II, Fall 1995; and “Employment Practices Liability Insurance,” Legal Update, Fall 1995. Ms. Cotkin served as a seminar speaker on “Insurance Coverage Law in California” at National Business Institute, Inc., Los Angeles in January 1996; she authored “Dispute Shows Importance of Follow-Up” published in Business Insurance, September 23, 1996; she presented a paper and spoke on Employment Practices Coverage Issues at the ABA Tort and Insurance Practice Section 1998 Midyear Meeting; was guest speaker and author of “Conflicts and Fees in Violation of ABA Model Rule 1.5 as a Defense to Fee Claims” at the ABA Mid-Winter APRL Meeting, February 1999; and authored “New ISO CGL Form: Proceed with Caution” published in The Risk Management Letter, Spring 1999. She authored “Touch Coverage,” the Advisor column in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, October 9, 2000. She was a featured speaker and co-authored a paper on “Employment Practices Liability Coverage” at the ABA Tort and Insurance Practice Section 2001 Midyear Meeting. This paper will be edited for republication in The Brief. In February 2004, Ms. Cotkin was a panelist for the February 2004 ABA-TIPS seminar: “Tool Box Lunch - Hot Topics: Media/Entertainment Liability Coverage.” Also in February 2004, Ms. Cotkin was a panelist for the ABA-TIPS seminar, “Advanced Mediation Training for Insurance Coverage Disputes/Insurance Coverage Law for Mediators.” In August 2005, Ms. Cotkin published her paper, “An Ethical Quagmire, Competing Interests in the Tripartite Two Carrier Paradigm,” for the ABA annual meeting. She participated as a panelist in the seminar “Avoiding Pitfalls when Defending Claims under EPL Policies,” on Sunday, August 7, 2005.

Ms. Cotkin has participated in such important coverage cases as Stonewall v. City of Palos Verdes, before the California Supreme Court. She has secured successful appellate decisions for her clients in the State Appellate and the Ninth Circuit Courts, in both first party and third party coverage issues, as well as in a variety of complex business disputes including employment law.

Ms. Cotkin has successfully pursued such specialized areas as Fidelity and Directors and Officers coverage for a diverse group of clients including carriers, individual and corporate insureds.

Ms. Cotkin's customary fields of practice include insurance coverage law, directors and officers coverage as well as all forms of property and liability insurance, intellectual property coverage, excess insurance coverage, bad faith litigation matters, professional liability defense, complex business litigation, general civil, commercial litigation and employment practices litigation. ▪