Tami Cowden

Tami D. Cowden is an attorney in the Litigation Department of KKBRF and focuses her practice on appellate and commercial litigation. She writes a blog on appellate law in Nevada, www.AppealingInNevada.com. Ms. Cowden has more than twenty years experience as an appellate attorney, achieving favorable outcomes in the Nevada Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In local state and federal trial courts, she has authored successful briefs resulting in grants of summary judgment, defeating class certification, and obtaining expert witness disqualification. Before joining the firm, Ms. Cowden was a member of the faculty of the University of Denver College of Law. Ms Cowden also served several years as a staff attorney with the Colorado Court of Appeals. Practice Highlights: • Ms. Cowden authored the brief that led to a Nevada Supreme Court decision barring from the ballot substantial portions of a initiative that would have crippled development in Nevada. • Ms. Cowden authored the brief that resulted in the Ninth Circuit partially reversing a denial of qualified immunity in a federal $1983 action, eliminating a substantial portion of the plaintiffs’ claims. • Ms. Cowden secured summary judgments on multiple federal and state claims alleging discrimination in an academic setting. • Ms. Cowden secured summary judgments on multiple claims in a high profile federal court matter alleging discrimination against an exclusive country club. Ms. Cowden is admitted to practice in Nevada, Colorado, the United States District Courts for the Districts of Nevada and Colorado, and the Ninth and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals. Community & Leadership Ms. Cowden is a member of the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, and Clark County Bar Association. She served as a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Henderson Symphony Orchestra, and currently edits the Communiqué, the publication of the Clark County Bar Association. Professional Accomplishments In law school, Ms. Cowden was a member of the finalist team in the Rothgerber Moot Court Competition, and represented her school in regional competition. She was on the Dean’s List., and was awarded AmJur awards in Corporations and Wills and Trust, as well as the Davis, Graham and Stubbs Scholarship. Ms. Cowden has won several awards for her fiction writing, including the prestigious Golden Heart award from Romance Writer’s of America for her first novel, Cruising for Love, and an Individual Achievement in Fiction Award from America Mensa, Ltd. She is the author of more than two dozen published mystery and romance short stories, as well as book on characterization for writers.