Stew Cogan Arbitrator-Mediator

1 Best Lawyers award

Awarded Practice Areas

Arbitration Mediation

Biography

Stew Cogan is in his thirty-first year as a full-time arbitrator and mediator, following twenty years practicing primarily business, corporate, and real estate law.

Stew has arbitrated more than 300 cases and mediated more than 3,500 cases. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in both the Mediation and Arbitration categories, and is Ranked Tier 1 in both categories in the Metropolitan Seattle area. He was named by Best Lawyers as the Arbitration Lawyer of the Year in Seattle in 2016, 2020, 2022, and 2025, and as the Mediation Lawyer of the Year in Seattle in 2017, 2021, and 2025. Stew has been named a Super Lawyer for the 27 consecutive years from 1999 through 2025, and he was named a Top 100 Super Lawyer in sixteen of the last eighteen years. He has also been listed in Who’s Who Legal: Mediation every year since 2014, and is one of about 100 lawyers in the United States and two in Washington to be listed in the publication.

He is a Fellow of the invitation-only College of Commercial Arbitrators, a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a Distinguished Fellow of the invitation-only American College of Civil Trial Mediators (President, 2015-2017), a member of the CPR Panel of Mediators, and a Charter Member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and the ADR Roundtable. Stew is on the Commercial Panel, the Construction Panel, the Large, Complex Case Panel, the Healthcare Payor-Provider Panel, and the Mediation Panel of the American Arbitration Association (and has been designated as a Master Mediator by the AAA); the Civil Rule 39.1 Register of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington; and the Arbitration and Mediation Panels of the American Health Lawyers Association.

He is a former President of both the King County Bar Association and the King County Bar Foundation. He received a B.A. in 1973 from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. in 1976 from Harvard Law School.

Stew Cogan Arbitrator-Mediator

1 Best Lawyers award

Overview

  • Harvard University, J.D., graduated 1976
  • University of California Berkeley, B.A. (with Honors) (Phi Beta Kappa), graduated 1973

  • Washington, 1976

  • ADR Roundtable - Charter Member
  • American College of Civil Trial Mediators - Distinguished Fellow
  • Chartered Institute of Arbitrators - Fellow
  • College of Commercial Arbitrators - Fellow
  • National Association of Distinguished Neutrals - Charter Member
  • Washington, 1976
  • ADR Roundtable - Charter Member
  • American College of Civil Trial Mediators - Distinguished Fellow
  • Chartered Institute of Arbitrators - Fellow
  • College of Commercial Arbitrators - Fellow
  • National Association of Distinguished Neutrals - Charter Member
  • Harvard University, J.D., graduated 1976
  • University of California Berkeley, B.A. (with Honors) (Phi Beta Kappa), graduated 1973

Client Testimonials

Awards & Focus

Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2025 - Arbitration Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2025 - Mediation Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2022 - Arbitration Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2021 - Mediation Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2020 - Arbitration Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2017 - Mediation Lawyer of the Year Badge - 2016 - Arbitration
Named "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers® for:
  • Arbitration, Seattle (2025)
  • Mediation, Seattle (2025)
  • Arbitration, Seattle (2022)
  • Mediation, Seattle (2021)
  • Arbitration, Seattle (2020)
  • Mediation, Seattle (2017)
  • Arbitration, Seattle (2016)
Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2026 for work in:
  • Arbitration
  • Mediation

Your browser is not fully compatible with our automatic printer friendly formatting.

Please use the print button to print this profile page.

Spinning circle Big letter B