Kathleen Coyne is a 1982 graduate of Temple University School of Law, and is admitted to practice in California, Pennsylvania and Florida. She practiced as a public defender in San Diego, Philadelphia, New York (Binghamton) and as a Federal Defender for over 30 years. She is currently the Highly Qualified Expert (HQE) Attorney Advisor for the Marine Corps Defense Services Organization where she consults on sexual assault and complex cases, conducts training, and develops resources for the Marine Corps Defense Counsel Assistance Program. She has recently authored a chapter in a peer reviewed book The Forensic Psychologist in the Military System to be published by the APA in Spring 2019. Ms. Coyne is the recipient of the 1993 Public Defender of the Year by the California Public Defender's Association and was honored as Trial Attorney of the Year by the Criminal Defense Bar Association of San Diego County, as well as being the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice's Skip Glenn Award recipient "for extraordinary accomplishments by a young defense lawyer"; and the winner of the Defender Organizations of San Diego County's E. Stanley Conant Award for "efforts to protect the rights of the indigent accused." In 2006, Ms. Coyne was the first public defender ever to be honored as the San Diego Daily Transcript San Diego County Top Attorneys—Municipal & Government. She was the only public defender elected San Diego Super Lawyers, 2008, 2009. She has been recognized in federal (9th Circuit) and California state appeals courts as an expert in the area of competent representation and ineffective assistance of counsel in sexual assault cases under Strickland v. Washington, (1984) 466 U.S. 668. Her work has been covered in both the local and national press and featured in the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, National Review, Newsweek, California Lawyer, California Defender, London Sunday Times, and People. She has appeared on Primetime Live, Justice Files, American Justice, Inside Edition, KPBS Radio and Phil Donahue. She has lectured extensively in the area of defending sexual assault cases, insanity, mental defenses to homicide, use of psychological experts, eyewitness identification issues, ethics, child witness testimony, childhood suggestibility, working effectively with experts, cross examination of prosecution experts, use of syndrome evidence and investigation of complex child abuse cases.