Kate practices land use, local government, small business, local investment, food and agriculture, and appellate law. She is a cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. She also holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, where her studies focused on state and local government.

Before joining Olson, Bzdok & Howard, Kate spent two years clerking for the Honorable Michael F. Cavanagh, Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.

During law school, Kate was awarded the Certificate of Merit in Water Law. She assisted the Washtenaw Land Trust (now Legacy Land Conservancy) in the land trust accreditation process and authored a chapter on the tax consequences of conservation easements for The Land and Lawyer Handbook: A Practitioner’s Guide to Conservation Easements. She also worked for Washtenaw County Administration, the City Attorney of Ann Arbor, and the City and County’s joint Office of Community Development. As a University of Michigan Law School Dean’s Public Service Fellow, Kate interned for the U.S. Senate Agricultural Committee, focusing on issues related to agricultural competition and local food. She also externed at the Farmers Legal Action Group in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she worked on appellate agricultural law issues.

Kate received a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University, with concentrations in Sociology and Russian Studies. She wrote a senior thesis studying the effects of farm restructuring after the 1980s farm crisis on social capital in the rural midwest. Before law school, Kate worked at Michigan Food & Farming Systems and assisted in the organization of the first annual Michigan Family Farms conference and the development of county purchase of development rights ordinances.

Kate is a member of the State Bar of Michigan.

E-mail: kate@envlaw.com