Kelly Winter Weil

Kelly W. Weil is a partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP's Santa Monica office, where she litigates on behalf of consumers, businesses, municipalities, whistleblowers, and injured individuals. Kelly handles a wide variety of complex cases in state and federal courts throughout California including environmental, qui tam, elder abuse, catastrophic injury, wrongful death, fraud, and consumer class actions through settlement, arbitration, and trial. Kelly is passionate about preserving natural resources for future generations and actively handles a wide variety of environmental cases relating to contaminated air, soil, and water. 

Throughout her career, Kelly has taken hundreds of depositions of corporate executives, environmental consultants, regulatory agencies, adverse witnesses, and experts. She is a zealous advocate who uses an interdisciplinary approach to bring cases over the finish line and frequently serves on trial teams and in leadership roles. Kelly was named a Super Lawyers’ Rising Star in 2022 and 2023.

A Santa Monica native, Kelly received her Bachelor of Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she majored in Political Theory and interned for the office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. She received her J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, where she served as a judicial extern to the Hon. Philip S. Gutierrez, United States District Court for the Central District of California, and as a clinical extern with the Loyola Project for the Innocent (a student clinic which has successfully aided in exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals). Kelly clerked full-time throughout law school for a Los Angeles civil litigation firm advocating on behalf of plaintiffs where she continued her work as a practicing attorney for another six years before joining CPM. 

Throughout her career, Kelly has represented thousands of clients in individual, mass tort, and class action cases against pharmaceutical companies, public utilities, energy companies, and automotive manufacturers.

Notable cases:

• Serves as lead counsel representing thousands of individuals in litigation arising from Hydrogen Sulfide exposure from the Dominguez Channel. 
• Represents municipalities and private water companies in investigation and litigation related to PFAS-contaminated groundwater. 
• Represents businesses and individuals in litigation arising from the crude oil spill from a ruptured Amplify Energy pipeline off the shore of Orange County. 
• Served as an active member of the trial team and Plaintiffs' Steering Committee for the Southern California Gas Leak Cases (JCCP 4861) against SoCalGas and Sempra Energy, which involved the largest known release of methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) in U.S. history.  The case resulted in a settlement of $1,800,000,000.00 (one billion, eight hundred million dollars). 
• Served as lead counsel in cases arising from death and injury caused by COVID-19 upon cruise ships operated by Princess Cruises, resulting in confidential settlements. 
• Represented plaintiffs against Boston Scientific Corporation and others in litigating arising from the implantation of transvaginal mesh.
• Represented plaintiffs against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation in litigating arising from use of the drug Zometa.

News

Blog Posts

Honors & Recognitions

Finalist for Consumer Attorneys of California’s Consumer Attorney of the Year, 2022

Finalist for Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles’ Rising Star Award, 2021

Honored as a Southern California “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers, 2022 and 2023

Affiliations

American Bar Association

American Association for Justice

Consumer Attorneys of California, Board Member (2021-present)

Los Angeles County Bar Association, Member of Executive Committee, Litigation Section (2022-present)

Consumer Attorney Association of Los Angeles

Community Involvement

Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, Leadership Council and Volunteer Attorney