After working with several large firms in Seattle and Chicago, and spending the last 22 years at Kirby Noonan Lance & Hoge in San Diego, Katherine Dillon is very excited to be joining Michael L. Kirby and Jason M. Kirby at the opening of their new law firm, Kirby & Kirby LLP, on July 1, 2016. Katherine has specialized in complex commercial, banking, securities and real estate litigation, wrongful death and personal injury litigation, and investor cases on both the plaintiff and defense side. She works on every phase of civil litigation, including internet research, interviewing witnesses, preparation of discovery pleadings, document organization and production, deposition preparation, motions, trial preparation and presentation, and appeals.
Katherine has been involved in several high profile cases. She was the lead paralegal helping defend a prominent Fortune 500 company in a highly sensitive civil RICO action involving the government of Nigeria. As part of the fact-finding team in Nigeria and Europe, Katherine interviewed witnesses and key government officials, attended document productions in the U.S., Nigeria and Europe, and made numerous trips to Nigeria and several countries in Europe to help take and defend depositions. Shortly after going to work with Mike Kirby, Katherine provided extensive paralegal assistance in a complex international class action lawsuit brought by investors against an international securities brokerage firm. The firm obtained a $91 million dollar settlement for the class members, many of whom were elderly investors who had lost their life savings. She was also the lead paralegal in a series of securities fraud cases filed by individual investors against a prominent national title insurer. Those cases spanned a five-year period and resulted in multi-million dollar settlements for firm clients and a consolidated jury verdict that included $7.5 million in punitive damages against the title insurer.
In 2016, Katherine was the paralegal on a case where the firm’s client sued the Los Angeles based developer of a condo project for breach of contract, conversion and non-judicial foreclosure. The defendants filed a cross-claim against the Bank, alleging Breach of the Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing, Rescission, Intentional Interference, and Negligence, and sought $21 million in damages. After taking over the case, Mike Kirby obtained a dismissal of the defendants’ entire cross-claim and then prevailed at trial on all of the plaintiff’s claims, including a claim for punitive damages. She was also the case paralegal when Mike Kirby took over the defense of a trade secrets/conflict of interest case involving a prominent international wireless voice, messaging and data services provider. The original contracts at issue were executed in 1999 and the case had a long and complicated procedural history. A favorable settlement was reached during trial for the firm’s client.
Katherine pursued her paralegal studies at City University in Seattle, Washington. She has presented continuing education seminars for the attorneys at previous law firms and was chosen as one of San Diego’s County’s Notable Paralegals by the San Diego Daily Transcript in 2009.
When she isn’t working, Katherine enjoys traveling, reading, and spending time with her family and friends.
