Kate McNamara-Marsland is a Litigation Fellow at Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight.

Kate earned her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

During law school, Kate was a Toll Public Interest Fellow, served as a Senior Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and a Teaching Assistant for Civil Procedure, and received an Outstanding Individual Performance Award in a mock trial tournament. Kate also gained experience in civil rights and public interest litigation throughout law school. She interned with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Honorable Myron H. Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. She also worked at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP, where she assisted with plaintiff-side civil rights matters involving prisoners’ rights, wrongful convictions, police misconduct, and discrimination. As a student attorney in Penn Law’s Advocacy for Racial and Civil Justice Clinic, Kate represented clients in federal litigation challenging the removal of the President’s House Slavery Memorial site in Philadelphia and participated in community advocacy to secure reparations for displaced community members.

Upon graduation, Kate received the David Werner Amram Prize, awarded to the student in the graduating class who wrote the best paper in civil procedure; the Henry C. Loughlin Prize, awarded for the best paper on legal ethics; and the P. Pemberton Morris Prize, awarded to the student who obtained the highest grades in the examinations in evidence, pleading, and practice. She was also recognized by the Clinical Legal Education Association with an Outstanding Clinic Team Award for her work in the Advocacy for Racial and Civil Justice Clinic.

As an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, Kate graduated Phi Beta Kappa and with honors in Political Science. She served as President of Pi Sigma Alpha, the political science honor society, and wrote an honors thesis examining the relationship between border securitization and the human rights of undocumented women and migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Before law school, Kate served as a Program Associate at the National Women’s Law Center, where she supported the organization’s work advocating for survivors of workplace sex discrimination and harassment.

Outside of work, Kate enjoys running, drinking coffee, attending theater performances and concerts, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.