Kate Dyer always brings a can-do approach when solving her clients’ problems, whether she’s representing a major corporation, a small business or an individual. Her ability to see the big picture in the midst of the most challenging and complex civil matters, including high‐risk, bet‐the‐company litigation, has made Kate a “go‐to” lawyer when thorny and demanding problems need efficient and effective solutions. Kate has broad experience handling a wide range of cases in the state and federal courts. She defends Fortune 200 companies and their employees facing sensitive claims involving catastrophic injury, wrongful death, parallel civil/criminal proceedings and other high‐profile matters with multi‐million dollar exposure.
Kate regularly wins favorable outcomes for her clients, including Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which she has represented in numerous substantial matters state‐wide, including a tragic 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion where Kate was a senior member of a multi-firm team handling a series of civil, regulatory, and criminal matters. The case culminated in a two-month criminal jury trial in federal court, where the company’s exposure was reduced from over $1.1 billion to $3 million.
Kate currently represents PG&E in multiple actions arising out of several catastrophic wildfires including the 2017 North Bay Fires, the 2018 Camp Fire, the 2019 Kincade Fire, the 2020 Zogg Fire and the 2021 Dixie Fire.
Kate grew up in Seattle, graduated from Yale University with honors in 1985 and then spent five years in Washington D.C. as an aide to a senior U.S. Representative Gerry E. Studds. After graduating from the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law, where she garnered multiple awards for her advocacy skills, Kate served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Marilyn Hall Patel, United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Kate joined the firm in 1996, became a partner in 2001 and now leads the firm’s robust civil defense practice.
Kate is a frequent speaker on a wide variety of topics ranging from litigation strategy to internal investigations to legal ethics. She has been a guest speaker at the American Bar Association, the Northern District of California Judicial Conference, the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, the Bar Association of San Francisco, Yale University, Stanford Law School, Berkeley Law, U.C. Hastings School of Law and numerous other local, state and national law schools and conferences.
Kate is an active member of the local state and federal bars. She has served as Chair of two Magistrate Judge Selection Panels for the District Court for the Northern District of California, is a former member and co‐chair of the Lawyer Representatives of the Northern District of California to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference and serves on the Executive Committee of the Edward J. McFetridge Inn of Court.
In addition, Kate has been recognized for her civil litigation defense skills as a Northern California Super Lawyer in San Francisco Magazine every year since 2006.
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