Alan K. Cotler
Partner
- T:
- +1 215 241 7905 (Philadelphia)
- F:
- +1 215 851 1420 (Philadelphia)
- E:
- acotler@reedsmith.com
- Vcard
Alan is a trial lawyer who has tried cases to juries, ALJs and arbitrators and managed litigation in jurisdictions throughout the country. He has won major jury verdicts in state and federal court, including multi-million dollar verdicts in commercial cases as both a plaintiff and counterclaiming defendant. He has also successfully defended at trial complex commercial cases and product liability suits for major manufacturers and Fortune 500 companies.
Alan's trial and litigation experience over the 30 years that he has practiced has been broad-based encompassing commercial matters, business torts, land use and civil rights, environmental, class actions, product, medical device and pharmaceutical liability, toxic tort, mass tort, insurance, health care, intellectual property, construction, employment, labor and administrative law.
Alan has been voted a Pennsylvania "Super Lawyer" by his peers every year since 2004 when that process began. This year he was listed as a "Super Lawyer" for the first "Corporate Counsel" edition.
Representative Matters
Won a defense verdict for a national waste management company when after a three week trial a jury rejected a $3 million breach of contract claim by the waste management company's joint venturer in the development of Pennsylvania's largest solid waste landfill.
After a month long trial in federal court in Florida, a jury awarded our client, a Police and Fireman's Pension Fund, $11 million on its counterclaim arising from a complex real estate development project. After the judge awarded a new trial because of improper jury instructions, we won a $14 million jury verdict, after another month long jury trial.
Persuaded a jury in a complicated land use civil rights trial, which lasted a month, that our client developer's civil rights were violated, entitling developer to $2 million in damages. The offending municipality used state and local regulations in a constitutionally improper way to intimidate Alan's developer client from building his office complex.
Alan persuaded a jury that a Fortune 100 manufacturer's medical device did not malfunction during surgery and that the client was not liable for catastrophic personal injury to the plaintiff. The jury awarded $5 million against the doctor co-defendants.
In a multi-million dollar environmental administrative proceeding, Alan persuaded the Ohio Environmental Review Board that our client, a waste management company, did not violate complex state regulations in applying for and building its hazardous waste landfill. Alan managed a nine lawyer team to defeat a city in Ohio's ten year effort to close down the site.
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Experience
| 2001 | Reed Smith LLP, Partner 2001 - Present |
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| 1994 | Klett, Rooney, Lieber & Schorling, Shareholder 1994 - 2001 |
| 1978 | Pepper Hamilton & Scheetz, Partner 1986 - 1994 |
Legal Education
| 1977 | J.D., Georgetown University Law Center Member of the Journal of Law and Policy in International Business |
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Graduate Education
| 1974 | M.B.A., University of Pennsylvania, Wharton Graduate School, Health Care Administration |
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Undergraduate Education
| 1972 | B.S., University of Pennsylvania, Economics Played varsity basketball on the Ivy-League champion and nationally ranked Penn teams of 1968 to 1972 |
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Professional Admissions / Qualifications
- Pennsylvania
- Virginia
- District of Columbia
Teaching
From 1981 to 1989, Alan was on the adjunct faculty as an instructor in Legal Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He has served as an adjunct professor of Trial Practice at Rutgers University School of Law, Camden; as a National Institute of Trial Advocacy Instructor; and has chaired trial practice seminars for the Philadelphia Bar Association and Pennsylvania Bar Institute.
Recent CLE programs Alan has taught include "Many Faces and Emotions of Trial" and "The Impact Affect Has on Legal Careers." Alan has taught numerous trial advocacy programs for law schools, CLE programs, the Philadelphia Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association.