[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 85 (Wednesday, June 29, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
   JOSEPH COTCHETT: ONE OF THE NATION'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS

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                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 28, 1994

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring recognition to Joseph 
Cotchett of Burlingame, CA, on the occasion of his being named one of 
the ``Nation's 100 Most Influential Lawyers,'' according to the April 
issue of the National Law Journal. The following article from the 
Hillsborough Boutique & Villager outlines the career that has brought 
national attention to this champion of the little guy over the big guy. 
This national attention only confirms what I know personally, that 
Joseph Cotchett is an exceptional lawyer and a credit to his 
profession. I offer him my most heartfelt congratulations.

       [From the Hillsborough Boutique & Villager, June 22, 1994]

 Local Attorney Makes Journal's List of America's 100 Most Influential 
                                Lawyers

                           (By Heather Hayes)

       Joseph Cotchett is one of the ``Nation's 100 Most 
     Influential Lawyers'', according to the April issue of the 
     National Law Journal. He and 99 other attorneys were selected 
     from a field of 900,000 in the United States.
       Cotchett, of Cotchett, Illston & Petrie in Burlingame, has 
     had a law career spanning 30 years, during which he has 
     played a role in some of the most notorious cases in recent 
     history.
       He is the man who helped put Charles Keating behind bars in 
     the Lincoln Savings & Loan Association scandal. He 
     represented the animals killed in the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
       Cotchett has been heralded as defender of the underdog, 
     something he said he learned growing up in New York. He said 
     he tends to favor the little guy over the big guy.
       ``I really enjoy that. While learning on the streets, 
     you quickly learned who the bullies were,'' Cotchett said.
       ``It was a competitive society, A very, very competitive 
     society,'' he said of life on Long Island.
       Growing up, he always tried to rescue his friends from 
     bullies, which he said had a hand in his preparation for a 
     career in law.
       ``On the playgrounds of New York, it became quite a trick. 
     You had to do a lot of fast-talking, and that eventually 
     evolved into the law,'' he recalled.
       Cotchett mourns the lack of ethics residing in government 
     and big business, and revels in the fact that our society 
     allows such scrutiny of public officials. He recently brought 
     an action against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. on behalf of all 
     the counties in California, charging the mammoth company with 
     price-fixing.
       Cotchett graduated from California Polytechnic, San Luis 
     Obispo as an engineering major in 1959. In 1964, he graduated 
     from University of California, Hastings College of Law.
       In 1964, he moved to Millbrae and has lived on the 
     Peninsula ever since.
       He said deciding to be a lawyer never came to him in a 
     blinding flash. He realized engineering was ``excellent 
     background for law,'' as it taught him to be a precise 
     thinker. Eventually, he realized what he wanted to do.
       ``It became clear I was more people-oriented than slide-
     rule oriented,'' Cotchett said.
       As for the future, Cotchett doesn't seem to have much 
     interest in a judgeship, a move common for renowned lawyers.
       ``I'm not sure I would be a good judge. I'm too much of an 
     advocate to be good. You have to be less aggressive than my 
     personality,'' he said.

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