Kate M. Strickland

A trained and experienced litigator, Kate Strickland handles cases in the state and federal courts of New Hampshire and Vermont and appears frequently in probate court. She regularly defends cases involving personal injury, property damage, product liability and construction defects and, more recently, has served as local counsel in a major trade secrets misappropriation trial. Her experience in probate court ranges from contested guardianships to the probate of estates. She also advises insurance carriers on coverage and appears before the Motor Vehicle Arbitration Board in Vermont on a regular basis, representing large national car manufacturers.

Kate’s regular clients include a major international retailer, which she represents in litigation matters brought in New Hampshire and Vermont. She also serves as counsel for several large self-insured clients in the retail, manufacturing and delivery business. In addition, Kate is regularly asked to represent individual and commercial entities by a variety of insurance companies ranging from mutual insurance companies that primarily service the Northeast to insurers who write polices across the United States and beyond.

Regardless of who the client is, or the subject matter of the litigation, Kate’s goal in all matters is to provide high quality, cost effective legal advice. She is skilled in the use of Alternate Dispute Resolution and, where appropriate, uses both court-appointed and private mediators to resolve cases early in the litigation process. If pre-trial resolution is not feasible, and a case cannot be resolved on the pleadings, Kate is prepared to try cases to their conclusion. Within the past year, she has done so, with successful results, in both jury and court trials.

Kate is a "second career" lawyer, having first obtained her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction. Her experiences as an administrator and tenured professor proved useful in her research on efforts to equalize school funding among rich and poor school districts. Her article, "The School Financing Reform Movement, a History and Prognosis" (Boston College Law Review, September 1991), was cited by the Massachusetts Supreme Court in its landmark ruling on this issue. See McDuffy v. Secretary of the Executive Office of Education, 615 N.E. 2d 516 (1993).

Kate served as a clerk to the New Hampshire Superior Court during the 1992-1993 court term, and rotated through all of the New Hampshire Superior Courts during that time period. Since joining Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC in the fall of 1993, she has served as a member of the Law-Related Education Board of the New Hampshire Bar Association. During that time, Kate authored and coordinated the publication of curriculum materials on the law for use in public schools. She has also been a guest lecturer at statewide conferences for teachers and administrators, where her presentations have focused on the liability of school districts and their staff for acts of sexual abuse or harassment by another staff member.