Dedication to Consumer Advocacy Returns World Traveler to His Roots
by Mike Stone

Brooks Cutter, past president of the Sacramento Consumer Attorneys, is dedicated to consumer advocacy.

Born in Bangkok, Thailand, Cutter has led an interesting and rewarding life. His father served in the foreign service. Cutter's family moved from Thailand to Brazil to Peru to Spain. Despite his travels, Cutter has a long relationship with Northern California. William Curtis is an ancestor. Cutter's grandparents lived in Sacramento and he enjoyed his visits with them.

Cutter decided to attend U.C. Berkeley. After graduating from "Cal," Cutter spent some time doing publicity work for several hotel-casinos in the Tahoe area. During this period, he decided to apply for a master's program in philosophy at Cambridge University in England. Although he didn't believe that he would be successful in his application, Cambridge offered him a place. "I had to go, they called my bluff," Cutter noted.

Upon returning to the United States from Cambridge, Cutter began law school at McGeorge School of Law. After a successful first year in law school, he transferred to Stanford. In law school he especially enjoyed trial advocacy courses and was interested in pursuing a career helping people.

After graduating from law school, Cutter clerked for Chief Justice James R. Browning of the 9th Circuit for one year. He joined Latham and Watkins in Washington D.C. There, he worked on antitrust cases and defending large companies.

After three years at Latham, Cutter's desire to represent people and do trial work led him to Sacramento and Friedman, Collard, Cutter and Panneton where he rapidly developed a diverse consumer practice. Today, one third of Cutter's practice is focused on pursuing class actions on behalf of consumers. Cutter is proud of his successes in class action litigation. In particular, Cutter is most proud of his role in obtaining a three million dollar verdict for the family of a woman who was killed as result of a defective pacemaker. In order to try this particular case, Cutter had to join a class action trial in Cincinnati, Ohio. Cutter notes that, "courts should be more open to solving cases on a class basis." In many consumer actions, a client cannot pursue satisfactory legal action without the class device.

In his continuing desire to pursue consumer advocacy, Cutter is excited about an upcoming class action trial against the Ford Motor Credit Company. The trial will start in May in superior court in San Francisco. In this case, a very large class of consumers has been affected by an excessive late fee on automobile leases. Cutter is hopeful of obtaining a favorable verdict.

Cutter has played a leading role in promoting consumer advocacy in the Sacramento legal community. In the past year, he served as president of the Sacramento Consumer Attorneys (SCA). "SCA does a good job of providing a forum for attorneys to get together and share information," Cutter notes. He emphasizes that SCA has an important role in improving the representation of consumers by providing continuing education events, seminars, and by staying active in the political arena.

Despite his busy work schedule, Cutter still finds time for some extracurricular activities. He enjoys spending time with his family, skiing, and hiking. Also, he is active in Sacramento Rotary Club, Stanford Alumni Association, and the Heavenly Ski Foundation.