Early Life & Career

Kaitlin grew up in the North Texas suburb of Keller where she graduated from Keller High School. After high school, she attended the University of Texas at Austin where she used her interests in journalism and the law to craft a major that focused on human rights and the media. She graduated with high honors and won second place in the humanities thesis writing competition with her paper, “Reporting on Refugees: Comparing NGO and Newspaper Coverage.”

Legal Training

Kaitlin attended the University of Mississippi School of Law and graduated cum laude in May 2021. During her time there, she was a member of the Mississippi Law Journal, national moot court team, ACLU student chapter, Public Interest Law Foundation, and Phi Delta Phi. Kaitlin always knew she wanted to use her legal education to help others and found learning opportunities that allowed her to do just that. Outside of class, she interned with the DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney, ACLU of Mississippi, and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. She also worked as a limited practice student attorney in the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Clinic on campus — an experience that opened her eyes to inequities across the state and inspired her law journal article, “Mothering in Mississippi: How State Laws Systemically Burden Single Mothers of Color.”

Career at Smith Clinesmith

Kaitlin returned to DFW and joined the Smith Clinesmith team as an Associate in January 2022.