Losing effort set Cafferty on road to plaintiff’s side

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One case, even a losing one, can change the course of an attorney’s career.

Kristin Cafferty had practiced law, primarily insurance defense, for two firms for a decade. But after a three-and-a-half-week-long unsuccessful trial representing the plaintiff in a product liability suit, she switched to the plaintiff’s side.

“It kind of changed my perspective,” Cafferty said. “I enjoy plaintiff’s work because I feel I have an ability to fight for peoples’ rights that I didn’t have doing defense work. It was a tough loss, though.”

In 2004, Cafferty joined Habush, Habush & Rottier, where she now represents exclusively plaintiffs in personal injury actions and serves on the firm’s Operating Management Committee.

She is one of three women in the state recognized as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.

She’s also active in the legal community, currently serving as president of the Racine County Bar Association. Cafferty assembled a ready-made program, complete with props, for Racine County attorneys to engage in community outreach by conducting mock trials for schoolchildren.

The program debuted on Law Day this year, with local attorneys going to community classrooms in 30 schools and presenting mock trials of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” The materials will remain available for all members of the association to use when conducting similar trials.

Cafferty also serves on the Board of Governors of the Wisconsin Association for Justice and is active in the group’s Women’s Caucus.

The mother of four children, ages 2 to 13, and the wife of Patrick Cafferty, also an attorney in Racine, Cafferty said, “Women who are raising a family and doing litigation need employers that are flexible. I’m very fortunate to have had employers who have worked with me in accommodating those needs. You can have a family and do trial work. I try to encourage the next generation of women to try litigation; it can be very rewarding.

“But in order to do the things I’ve done, I’ve walked a path laid by women who did not have those accommodations. I’m very grateful to those groundbreakers.”

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