Cheryl Dunn Soto

Cheryl Dunn Soto is a seasoned attorney with more than 30 years of experience.  Her practice focuses on insurance coverage and bad faith litigation on behalf of commercial policyholders.  Her clients have included contractors, developers, attorneys, real estate professionals, hospitals and medical groups, broker-dealers, accountants, homeowners associations, non-profit organizations, auto dealers, and other companies of all sizes located throughout California and other parts of the country.  She has served as both Chair and Co-Chair of the Insurance/Bad Faith Law Section of the San Diego County Bar Association.

Cheryl has handled coverage matters involving a wide variety of commercial policies, including directors and officers (“D&O”), errors and omissions (“E&O”), employment practices (“EPL”), commercial general liability (“CGL”), garage, cyber, property, excess/umbrella and other commercial policies.  In addition to litigating coverage disputes, Cheryl is frequently called on to assist in analyzing and resolving insurance coverage issues pre-suit.  She has provided counsel on highly complex, multi-layered coverage matters involving underlying lawsuits, coverage renewals, and policy buy-backs.  Cheryl has enjoyed solving puzzles and riddles from an early age, so she thoroughly enjoys analyzing and solving insurance coverage issues for her clients and, in the process, vindicating their rights.

Cheryl also handles other business litigation, including cases involving breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, interference with contractual relations, fraud, unfair competition, and defamation.

After graduating from law school and before entering private practice, Cheryl worked for four federal district court judges in Arizona and California and a Ninth Circuit judge.  During her time with the federal court, Cheryl handled a variety of civil and criminal matters involving state and federal law and acquired invaluable knowledge and insight regarding judicial practice and procedure that allow her to more effectively represent her clients.

Prior to forming Franklin Soto Leeds (formerly Franklin | Soto), Cheryl practiced with a premier insurance recovery firm in San Diego and was the sole shareholder of Dunn Soto Law, APC, which exclusively represented policyholders in insurance coverage disputes.  Cheryl is admitted to practice law in California, New York, and Arizona and has received a peer-review rating of AV Preeminent from Martindale-Hubbell.  She has been selected to the San Diego Super Lawyers list since 2019 and the Women San Diego Super Lawyers Top 25 and the San Diego Super Lawyers Top 50 lists since 2023. She has been named to The Best Lawyers in America list for Commercial Litigation since 2022.