Kathy Cochran was the founding member of Wilson Smith Cochran & Dickerson. She practiced law for 41 years as a trial lawyer.  She was lead lawyer on hundreds of trials in Washington and several other states.  Kathy's practice focused on medicine and science in the courtroom, usually in the context of defending complex medical malpractice and pharmaceutical product liability matters.  She enjoyed the challenge of conveying complicated scientific concepts in terms a jury could easily understand, laying the foundation for persuasion and favorable verdicts. She was also known for her use of technology in the courtroom to persuade and prevail.

Although she enjoyed trying many cases, she also took the lead in exploring other resolutions including hundreds of mediations and a few arbitrations and administering class action settlements.  She has witnessed the mediation techniques that work to foster settlement and some techniques that fail to resolve a case. 

After she retired from the active practice of law in 2016, Kathy served as both a mediator and an arbitrator, as well as a private judge.  She is a fellow with the American College of Trial Lawyers (open to only 1% of the bar) as well as a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates.  She brings all of this experience to Pacific ADR, offering both mediation and arbitration services to assist parties resolve cases without the expense or risk of trial.  Her method is to work through the lawyers to identify and facilitate fair outcomes reflecting the risks, the odds, and the realities of trial.