Admitted

California (1980)

Education

Hastings College of Law J.D. (1980), where she was Chief Articles Editor of Hastings International and Comparative Law Review.

University of California at Davis (1977), where she was Phi Beta Kappa and graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Economics. She also studied Economics and Swedish at the University of Lund, Lund, Sweden (1975-1976).

Cathleen G. Fitch

Focus of Practice

Ms. Fitch focuses her practice in the areas of professionals’ defense, including lawyers and accountants, in state and federal court in a wide range of tort, contract and statutory claims, and complex civil litigation at the trial and appellate level.  She has also developed an appellate practice.  Ms. Fitch has experience in defending many types of businesses in fraud claims, environmental claims, Americans With Disabilities Act claims and qui tams suits in federal court. Ms. Fitch also handles administrative matters including those before the California State Bar, the National Futures Association, and the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals.

Background

Upon graduation from law school in 1980, Ms. Fitch joined the San Diego law firm of Hillyer & Irwin.

At Hillyer & Irwin, her practice focused on all aspects of construction and real estate litigation, and business litigation.  In 1986, she founded her own law firm, Warton & Fitch, which emphasized business, construction litigation, and employment litigation.  In 1988, she joined Coughlan, Semmer & Lipman.

Prior to graduation from law school, she interned for the Honorable William Schwartzer, United States District Court Judge in the Northern District of California, and clerked in the Office of the General Counsel for the Regents of the University of California in Berkeley.

Accomplishments

Ms. Fitch is a founding member of the San Diego County Bar Association Committee on Legal Malpractice and chaired the committee in 2002. She teaches at the annual NITA Deposition Skills program and lectures for continuing education programs on the topics of legal malpractice, professional liability insurance, the use of expert witnesses and the attorney-client relationship. She served as an arbitrator for the San Diego County Bar Association fee arbitration panel. She is a member of the San Diego County Bar Association, the State Bar of California where she was a member of the Committee on the Administration of Justice between 1985 and 1987, the Lawyers Club of San Diego, and is an alumnus of the Louis M. Welsh Inn of Court.