M. Colleen Barrett
Colleen made the jump from successful trial lawyer to committed and effective mediator in 2013, and has not looked back. She has worked exclusively as a neutral, mediating close to 1000 matters to resolution across a wide variety of practice areas.
Colleen is a Diplomate member the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, an invitation only group of peer reviewed mediators and arbitrators. She is one of only 16 attorneys in the state who are members. Link: nadn.org/colleen-barrett.
EDUCATION AND BACKGROUND
Aside from her 30 years of experience as a litigator, Colleen added tools to assist her in helping the parties keep control of the outcome of their cases through formal training as a mediator at both the University of Washington Law School and, more recently, at the Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution, the highly regarded program offered through Pepperdine University Law School.
Colleen's legal experience began with 8 years at the Seattle City Attorney's office where she tried hundreds of criminal cases, provided legal advice to the mayor and City Departments, and tried personal injury and employment law cases.
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Since 1988, Colleen has handled complex litigation, including professional liability and medical negligence, defamation, insurance coverage and bad faith, construction defect, land use disputes, and represented both plaintiffs and defendants in personal injury, wrongful death and employment litigation. She has also handled appeals and done presentations on negotiation strategies, effective mediation presentations, trial practice and insurance law. She has served on a number of WSBA committees, including serving as a mediator with the WSBA Fee Dispute Program. Colleen obtained the highest rating from her peers, AV by Martindale-Hubbell, and has been recognized as a Super Lawyer. She is a past recipient of the Washington Defense Lawyer Trial Lawyer of the Year award.
Born and raised in Seattle, Colleen attended the University of Washington. After college, Colleen worked as a TV news producer before graduating from the Seattle University School of Law with honors. She was admitted to the Washington Bar in 1982 and the Hawaii bar in 2012.
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