Coffinas, Eleni

PERSONAL

 I was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and grew up the only child in a military family.   My husband of 34 years is Tommy Ray Cochran and he is from a rural area north of London, Arkansas.  As Arkansas natives, Tommy and I trace our Arkansas ancestry back to Pope County over 200 years ago.  We were both married previously and we each had custody of our children from the previous marriage when we married in 1977.  He adopted my children from the previous marriage.  Including the children we had together, we have a total of seven.  We now have six grandchildren. 

 PROFESSIONAL

 After being a stay-at-home mother, I returned to school when my youngest child entered kindergarten in 1987.    I obtained my B.A. with a double major in Psychology and Sociology from University of California Davis in two-and one-half years and my Juris Doctor from University of California Berkeley in three, always with a focus on family and criminal law.  While at University of California Davis, I completed an internship at Harper House Shelter for Battered Women in Sacramento.  My Psychology thesis, “The effect of the Co-variation Principle on the Perception of the Correlation of Concurrent Causes” was legally focused.

At University of California Berkeley, I honored in Community Property and graduated in three years.  I took the California bar in 1992 and passed the bar exam on my first attempt.  I was admitted to practice in both the state and federal courts on December 2, 1992.  My legal thesis was a prediction of increased custody litigation as a result of California's new law tying the non-custodial parent’s visitation time, percentage of total time, to the amount of child support ordered.
 
I practiced family, dependency/neglect/juvenile and criminal law in Bakersfield, California from 1992 until 1999.  A large amount of my practice consisted of the representation of children.  During this time, I also wrote appeals for the California Appellate Project, which is charged with appellate representation of indigent criminal defendants in the state.

I relocated to Redding, California, in Northern California, in 1998.   In Redding, I continued to practice in the same areas of law.  At the request of the courts, I covered the Public Defender’s calendar while they searched for a new appointee.  Also at the request of the courts, I acted as the Family Law Facilitator until they could advertise for, and hire, a new Facilitator. 

In 2000, I was contacted by the Department of Human Services in Modoc County, California and asked to act as their legal counsel while the county sought a new County Counsel (attorney).  I did this until May of 2001, when I was appointed Modoc County Counsel.  While acting as county counsel, I represented all county departments, including representing the county in various water and county’s rights actions against the United States.  One such action against the United States Department of the Interior was Kandra v. United States, 145 F. Supp.2d 1192 (2001).   The majority of my work, however, was in representing the Department of Human Services in Dependency/Neglect proceedings.  I continued to represent Modoc County until 2003, when I returned to private practice. 

In 2005, we returned home to Arkansas, where I taught college level Psychology until 2008.  During this time I continued my remaining California cases to completion. 

In 2009, I opened my law practice in Arkansas.   I continue to limit my practice to Family Law, Dependency/Neglect/Juvenile and Criminal Law.  With respect to Family Law, I handle anything from divorce, custody, support and stepparent adoption or guardianships.   I generally represent parents in Dependency/Neglect matters and minors in Juvenile Delinquency matters.  I am certified by the Arkansas Public Defender’s Commission to provide representation in matters up to and including, A and Y felonies, 40 years to life.  I am certified as an Attorney Ad Litem to represent children in both Domestic Relations Court and Dependency/Neglect Court.

 I purposely limited the number of cases on my case load so that I can give the kind of personal attention to my cases that is necessary to provide first-class representation.