Bio

Kimberly D. Howatt is a partner at Gordon & Rees, with two decades of litigation experience. She is a member of the firm’s national Commercial Litigation practice group, and also works with the Intellectual Property, Franchise Law, and Creditors’ Rights practice groups. In her practice, Ms. Howatt handles a broad scope of commercial matters, and also has developed a focus on specific areas of law that are uniquely critical to businesses, e.g., intellectual property rights, contracts, unfair competition, and bankruptcy issues. Her clients include both companies and individuals in the business, life sciences, and financial fields, as well as those in the retail, manufacturing, and design industries. Ms. Howatt is has litigated cases involving intellectual property infringement claims; contract-based disputes, including those arising from license agreements, service contracts, and purchase agreements; products liability; specialized professional liability claims; and financial, lending and debt collection laws, among other commercial matters. Ms. Howatt also has experience defending franchisors against statutory, common law, contract, and tort claims in matters involving franchisees, as well as protecting franchisors’ contract and intellectual property rights. Ms. Howatt has handled cases in state, federal, arbitration, and international forums. She is admitted to practice in the States of California and Nevada, and several district courts, as well as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.