The Alchemist In the CourtroomBYGBORGE WILLIAMSON

lurlingame's untamed Joe Cotchett, a trial law-'yer extraordinaire on a Bunyanesque roll of

outrageous triumphs, looks dead tired and, worse,almost commonplace this particular morning incourt

Marathon work routines at a sprinting paceexact their price — even on a workaholic with abuffalo's constitution and a beefier, insatiable ego.

But, suddenly, the red in those half-closed hazeleyes is fleeing. Color moves into his mustachioed

. face, slouched posture becomes colonei-straight:Roll drums and turn on the lights, it's Joe Cotchett'sturn.

"Because I'm a very, very nice guy, I concedethat point, your honor," he thunders in a bassoprofundo voice to wary grins from an arena full ofdozens of lawyers, most of them opposing him in amega-million-bucks fraud case.

The others all wear dark lawyer suits. CotchettIs the one in sport coat (light gray tweed) and slacks.At 48,he is also the only one with wavy gray hair thatflows back to an Elvis-like ducktail, and the onestrapping enough to block out a power forward inthe National Basketball Association. ,

That worn-out, unexceptional look is gone.Cotchett is, again, in charge of a court.

"Joe's a steam engine in pants. He mows everything down," says Stale Court of Appeal Justice

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Lawyer JoeCotchett tikes the professional fast lane;once he had twosupertrials going simultaneously. .

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More Than Just a Classic Hired GunFrom PagcM

' William Newsome.

"He's a mental gymnast. He's• blustery. He's a rogue. He's a pussy-. cat All rolled into one. That's Joe

Cotchett." says Bob Balinovich, former state Public Utilities Commission president and, like Cotchett, a

•key adviser during Jerry Brown's' gubernatorial reign.

The blustery rogue-cum pussy-cat's latest stunner was the $10 million malicious prosecution judgment he won in January from a jury

' against Los Angeles Raiders ownerAl Davis. When he filed that suit in

,1934 on behalf of former San DiegoChargers owner Gene Klein, someoddsmakers listed it as a 50-to-llongshot.

'The dcbunkers dldnt under-

. stand the chemistry of the Kleincase. Some lawyers never learnabout chemistry," Cotchett said inaninterview.

' 'The chemistry was simple:irst. the public is fed up with the

^busc of the legal system. Second1 '"was Davis himself, who although[ very smart, insists on controlling

everything in his life, including law-i suits,andwhogreallydislikcdOeneI:Klein.f - "With that chemistry, 1 knew II : could prove to a jury that it was[ Davis, and not his lawyer, Joe Alio-( to, who insisted on wrongfully sin-f gling out Klein in the 1981 Raiders-; lawsuit"' 41 A Raider insider scoffed at is-

j'suesofchemistry: "Cotchett simply;*wasable to run roughshod over that

: • courtroom."

_• "Nobody ever accused me ofbeing timid," Cotchett roared back.

'."But dammit,you can't just browbeat You've got to sense the chemistry."

The chemist also relies on remarkable stamina. The Klein-Davistrial ran eight weeks in San Diego.The whole time, in a clear abuse of arented Camaro and the freeway system. Cotchett also was putting witnesses on the stand 20 miles away, inEl Cajon, in a trial that in monetaryand other terms is bigger than theKlein number.

In the other case he was representing investors defrauded by J.David Domlnclli. the most significant con man to afflict Southern

California since banker C. ArnholdtSmith. (Not coincidcntally, Cotchettwon $30 million in 1979 from the•Smith family for bilked sharehold-

still the largest class actionvard everrender^ byaU.S. jury.)

Attorney Edwin Heafey, majordome in the East Bay's largest lawfirm, had never seen its like before;"I'm a guy with 30 years as a triallawyer, and 17 years teaching atBoalt Law School, and I've nevereven heard of a lawyer who triedtwo cases simultaneously, and won.... What's truly amazing is that he's

Joe Cotchettincourt: Hehas opposins lawyers smilingwarily.still in one piece."

Pretty much In one piece, and,while the Domlnelli saga continuesto unfold (he has collected $62 million in out-of-court setllements forhis clients so far in that one). Cotchett is now waist deep as the mainplaintiff lawyer in the Technical Equities fraud case in San Jose.

The Biggest ScontJal

Technical Equities, said to havedefrauded Investors of some $150million, is labeled in business periodicals as the biggest financial scandal in the country. J. David Domlnclli, at $1(X)million, ranks second.

Cotchett has mastered an unusual tack in getting clients theirmoney back from scams. He focuseson the lawyers, accountants, banksand so on who surround the contra!con figure. Cotchett calls them the"engines, the ones who give the operations an aura of legitimacy."

Conveniently, they also arc theones who retain some coins worth

pursuing. "A typical con manspends the money, often losing it tosome other con, as fast as he stealsIt, starting with Charlie Ponzl, whodied penniless," Cotchett noted, insisting he himself will not die broke.

In the Doniinclli matter, Cotchett got the prestigious New YorkRogers and Wells law firm, which isheaded by former Secretary ofStale William Rogers, to settle outof court for $38 million.

"Let me tell you that $38 million sent a message, a ripple up thebig Park Avenue law firms that

they better stop playing the game ofthinking of their fees and billingsfirst," Cotchett said.

"Represent any client, sure, butyou can't bend the Constitution,and you can't help the client cheatand steal. That's the trouble withour profession today."

I/OS Angeles attorney DennisKinnard, who represented Rogers,said, "Joe has a knack for fairlygross exaggerations ... But I thinkJoe is an outstanding lawyer, a veryeffective advocate."

For anyone, but especially for afiercely individualistic sort considered by some to be wildly unpredictable, Colchcli is widely connected politically and occupies numerous important offices.

He is one of two California lawyers (selected from KXI.OOO) on theCommis-sion on Judicial Perfor

mance, which evaluates and disciplines judges. As a colonel in theArmy Reserves, he commands the5th Military Law Center at the Presidio. one of six-such centers in theUnltedSiates..

forPuhHi Justice

He is on the board of regents atthe Hasilng.s College of Law — hisalma mater. He's also president ofthe Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, an organization that Ralph Nader helped found and that has beenregularly suing the Reagan administration on environmental matters.

With the Public Justice group,he sued the FBI on behalf of thechildren of Viola Luozo, the civil

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BrCMMSItWAm/JHl CHKOHKll

rights worker killed in 1984 by aninformant who had been placed Inthe Alabama Ku Klux Klan allegedly by the FBI, although in 1983ajudge ultimately ruled the FBIwasnt liable for the slaying.

• Nevertheless, Cotchett calls itt*the most satisfying and significantcase I've ever tried."

• In 1972, Cotchett shook the legal establishment with a grass-rootscampaign that made him, at 33, theyoungest person ever elected to theState Bar Board of Governors, andthe first from outside the "club" ofthe state's largest law firms.

Ralph Nader wondered whatCotchett, now that he has achievedwealth and steamroller success, will"do as the big encore. He probablyhas too much trouble talking out ofboth sides of hU mouth for mostelective politics." Nader said. "..But he could go for something likestate attorney general. That's OKfor a blunt person."

Cotchett has done personal attorney work for a long list of Demo-.cratic politicians, including Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, U.S. Senator Alan Cranston, Jerry Brownand the late George Moscone.

Cotchett claimed he has no specific political plans. But Nader wascertainly correct in labeling him asnow hidcpcndcntly wealthy. Publicrecords show a judge ordered a $3.5million fee for the Arnholdt Smithcase. And his 10-attorney firm hasbanked fees high in seven figures sofar In the Domlnelli setllements.

He lives, and travels, well. But

lavishly conspicuous consumptionis not his schtick. He drives a white

1984 Cadillac and lives in a "goodhouse, a nice house" in San Matco.He buys investment property, including the two-story office building that houses his law firm acrossfrom the Airport Marriott.

"Every one of the Democraticcandidates for the 1988 presidentialnomination Is trying to knock downJoe's door to get his backing, including my candidate," said Duane Gar-relt, who is directing former Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt's 1988presidential bid.

Garrett admitted Cotchett'sknown talents as a fund-raiser make

him particularly attractive. ButGarrett added emphatically, "Hemay be a money-raiser and one ofthe 10 great trial lawyers in thiscountry, but he's also one with avery deep social conscience thatmakes him something more thanjust a classic hired gun.

"If J had two minutes to make a

llfc-or-dcath decision, I'd like to givethe first 90 seconds to hearing Joe."

Ufe at 0 Gallop

Politics aside, Cotchett is stillrunning, never strolling, in all hedocs. "If you can run like a wildhorse, and if you are allowed toreally gallop, then you can make astatement in life," he said.

"Sometimes it's exhilarating;sometimes it's exhausting," said thedynamo's wife, art critic VictoriaPowers Cotchett, 34. who marriedthe divorced father of three grownchildren five months ago after athree-year courtship. The groomfound time for a seven-day PalmSprings honeymoon five weeks after the marriage. .

"We all try, but there's no onewho can keep up with him... Somepeople are double-jointed-1 thinkhe was born with two adrenalglands."

"What drives Joe so hard?" a

friend, worried about bis health,wondered. "It's got to be somethingfrom his childhood and youth. Hehad no silver spoon."

"I had a fantastic childhood."Cotchett boomed. "1 grew up on thestreets of Brooklyn and Long Island, playing chess and basketball.What a great life."

His mother was onetime Broad-w'ay actress and Ziegfeld girl JeanCiarrol A tail, dark-haired French-American beauty, she raised threechildren and kept their father's un-remuncrative .sales career afloatlargely from funds procured inbridge games.

"I remember having nothing toeat but oranges while she drove usin our old Pontlac to a bridge tournament In Florida. But we ate wellall the way back to Brooklyn. Whata terrific woman, ahead of hertime," her irrcpressihle-rogue-pussycat-adoring son recalled.