Amanda Cottrell is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group in the firm’s Dallas office.
Overview
Amanda’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, white collar criminal defense, and internal investigations. Amanda also advises clients responding to government investigations when they have been contacted by federal or state investigators or received a grand jury or administrative subpoena. She has significant experience conducting and managing discovery, including depositions and large-volume document reviews, drafting and arguing motions, and taking cases to trial. Amanda’s experience in high-risk disputes and investigations encompasses a wide range of industries, jurisdictions and subject matter areas. She approaches her clients’ unique legal problems drawing upon her cross-disciplinary background. While a generalist, Amanda understands that her clients’ unique problems often do not lend themselves to off-the-shelf solutions.
Amanda is an avid distance runner, earning two varsity letters in cross country and track at Vanderbilt University. Her mental tenacity and team spirit shine in her law practice, and she is adept at organizing multidisciplinary litigation and investigative teams in a highly efficient and effective manner.
Complex Civil Litigation
For over a decade, Amanda has represented clients in state and federal courts in high-stakes litigation matters. Amanda has both state and federal jury trial experience, which includes all aspects of preparing a matter for trial.
Based in Texas, Amanda has substantial experience in upstream oil and gas litigation. She has represented major oil and gas companies, independents, and landowners in lawsuits, including disputes over mineral title ownership, operating agreements, surface use and damages, water use, bad faith pooling, oil and gas lease covenants, royalty calculations and alleged underpayments, post-production processing costs, co-tenancy accountings and payout calculations, among many other issues.
Getting her start as a commercial real estate attorney, Amanda is considered a go-to real estate litigator. She routinely represents companies in commercial disputes, with a focus on title, water rights, contractual covenants, landlord-tenant matters, enforcement of letters of credit and other financial instruments, injunctions, mechanic’s liens, and other commercial loan enforcement work.
In addition to her oil and gas and real estate work, Amanda is experienced in all aspects of commercial litigation, including complex contractual disputes, securities fraud, partnership disputes, trade secrets and restrictive covenant litigation.
White Collar Criminal Defense
Amanda is often a core member and leader on teams assisting clients in civil and criminal matters prosecuted by state and federal agencies. Early in her career, Amada worked with a team led by a former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. After nine years with her former firm, Amanda spent 20 months working in connection with a court-appointed compliance monitor team for a large international technology company. At Sheppard Mullin, Amanda continues to partner with the firm’s White Collar teams. Amanda is currently defending Medicaid providers in Texas, particularly dentists and dental groups, in investigations and claims brought by the Department of Justice or Texas OIG/HHSC and Office of Attorney General regarding allegations of fraud, waste and abuse.
Investigations
In connection with both her civil and white collar defense work, Amanda is a thorough outside investigator with substantial experience managing and participating in multinational investigations with sensitive timelines and deliverables. She has conducted hundreds of witness interviews and represented witnesses in connection with internal investigations involving a wide array of legal issues including fraud allegations, false statements, corporate ethics issues, securities violations, and data privacy and security concerns.