Prior to joining Stevens and Brand, Kate clerked for the Honorable K. Gary Sebelius in Topeka, Kansas, and the Honorable Carlos Murguia in Kansas City, Kansas.
Kate’s federal clerkship experience included working on civil cases from filing through discovery, dispositive motion practice, pretrial motions, and jury trials. Kate also worked on criminal cases, assisting the judge with motions to suppress, to dismiss counts, indictments, limine and other pretrial motions, and jury trials. She uses her four and a half years of federal clerkship experience to help clients navigate all aspects of federal and state litigation.
Kate lives in Lawrence with her husband, Jon. When not working, Kate enjoys spending time with family, cooking and baking, training for triathlons, teaching exercise classes, and playing the violin and viola with her dad (a local luthier—builder of fine stringed instruments).
BAR ADMISSIONS
- Kansas Bar, 2014
- Missouri Bar, 2015
- Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
- United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
- United States District Court for the District of Kansas
EDUCATION
- University of Kansas School of Law, J.D. 2014, Order of the Coif
- University of Kansas, B.A. 2011, Germanic Languages and Literatures, Cum Laude
AFFILIATIONS, ACTIVITIES AND HONORS:
- Super Lawyers, Missouri & Kansas Rising Star (2022-2024) in Civil Litigation: Defense, Business Litigation, Construction Litigation: Business, General Litigation, Personal Injury - General: Defense, State, Local & Municipal
- Selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® Ones to Watch 2021-2025 in Lawrence, Kansas, in the practice areas of Commercial Litigation, Litigation – Bankruptcy, Litigation – Construction, Litigation – Real Estate, Municipal Law, and Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants
- District of Kansas Bench Bar Committee (2023-present)
- Douglas County Bench Bar Committee (2022–present)
- Federal Bar Association Robyn J. Spalter Outstanding Achievement Award 2024
- Federal Bar Association Vice Presidents for the Circuits Outstanding Leader Award 2024
- Federal Bar Association Outstanding Leader Award, 2020 – In recognition of exceptional vision, service, and stewardship as President of the Kansas and Western District of Missouri Chapter
- Federal Bar Association elected 10th Circuit Vice President (2021-present)
- Federal Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section Chair (2024-2025); Secretary (2022-2024); Committee on Programming and CLE Co-Chair (2020–2024)
- Federal Bar Association Chapter for the Districts of Kansas and Western Missouri; National Delegate (2020-2024); President (2019-2020); President-Elect (2018–2019); Vice President (2017–2018); Treasurer (2014–2017); Chair of Civics and Outreach Subcommittee (2020–2022)
- Federal Bar Association Civil Rights Section: Chair Elect (2024-2026); Diversity and Inclusion Chair (2021-2022); Treasurer/Secretary (2020–2024); Amicus Chair (2019-2020)
- Federal Bar Association Judiciary Division Federal Law Clerk Committee (2020-present)
- Judge Hugh Means American Inn of Court: Executive Committee Service (2014-present); Programming Chair (2021-2023; 2023-2025); President (2019-2021); Vice President (2018–2019); Treasurer (2016–2018)
- Kansas Bar Association: Young Lawyer Division Chair (2020-2021); Chair-Elect (2018-2019); Secretary /Treasurer (2017–2018); Judicial Externship Coordinator (2015–2017); Served on various committees including Executive Committee, Kansas Bar Foundation Executive Committee and Scholarship Committee, CLE Committee, and KBA Board of Publishers
- P.E.O. Chapter JP (a Women’s Philanthropic Education Organization): President (2019-2020); Vice President (2018–2019); Recording Secretary (2016–2018)
- Family Promise of Lawrence, Kansas: Coordinator at Plymouth Congregational Church (2015-2022); Music & Fine Arts Board (2015-2021); Fellowship Board (2018-2021)
- University of Kansas Crew: Assistant Coach (2011–2014); four-time medalist including two-time gold medal winner at the American Collegiate Rowing Association National Championships
- Samuel Mellinger Scholarship, Leadership, and Service Award
- Kansas Law Review Symposium Editor, “Waters of the U.S.: Adapting Law for Degradation and Drought”
- Semifinalist at the 2014 Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition in White Plains, New York
- Student Director of the Paul E. Wilson Project for Innocence & Post-Conviction Remedies
- CALI Awards (awarded for highest grade in the class) in Lawyering Skills II, Biodiversity Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Advanced Litigation
- KU Campus-Wide Graduate Student Sustainability Leadership Award (2014)
- The Kansas Bar Foundation’s Justice Alex M. Fromme Memorial Scholarship and Lathrop & Gage Scholarship
- Selected Speaker for the 2013 Kansas Natural Resources Conference
- Inaugural President of the Federal Bar Association KU Student Division
- Shook Hardy & Bacon Scholar
- College Honors Program, graduation with distinction and departmental honors
- Goethe Institute Certification for Business German
- Interned in Eutin, Germany, at the Entwicklungsgesellschaft Ost-Holstein
- German Honors Thesis, “Entwicklung mit Hindernissen: Margarete Steffins Gesellschaftskritischer Blick In Ihren Autobiographischen Geschickten2German Honors Thesis, “Entwicklung mit Hindernissen: Margarete Steffins Gesellschaftskritischer Blick In Ihren Autobiographischen Geschickten
Publications
- Contributor, Media Law Resource Center’s MLRC 50-State Survey: MEDIA PRIVACY & RELATED LAW, for the Kansas Section (2019-present)
- Co-author, KBA Annual Survey Torts Chapter (2017–2022)
- Co-author, “Mediterranean Agriculture, Ecology, and Law: Creating a New Non-state Actor to Counteract Agro-ecological Collapse in the Mediterranean Basin.” Mediterranean Studies, John W. Head, Kate Marples, and Jon Simpson (2017)
- Co-author, “How to Start a FBA Student Division.” Kate Marples and Jon Simpson (2014)