For twenty years, Kathi Pugh served as the firmwide Pro Bono Counsel for Morrison & Foerster, a large international law firm. In that position, she was responsible for administering all aspects of the firm’s extensive pro bono program. In 1990, she started her legal career at Morrison & Foerster as a labor associate in the Labor & Employment Department and retired in 2013.
From 1996-2009, Kathi served on the Council of the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities (IRR) of the American Bar Association and in 2001 was elected to the Council Leadership. Beginning in 1999, she was appointed to the Editorial Committee of Human Rights, IRR’s quarterly magazine, where she served as Chair of the Committee from 2002-2009. Kathi served on the Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF) from 1992-1994, and on the Board of Directors and President of the San Francisco Barristers Club from 1995-1997. Kathi also served as an advisor for the founding of the National Association of Law Students with Disabilities, which was conceived by IRR’s Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She has served on and chaired a number of bar association disability rights committees, including IRR, California State Bar, and BASF.
Kathi has also been active in the community, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Equal Rights Advocates, the ACLU of Northern California, Boalt Hall Alumni Association, Legal Assistance to the Elderly, Access Northern California and the Center for Independent Living. For many years she served as a judge for the Donald P. McCullum Youth Court which offers youthful offenders in Oakland a second chance, thereby avoiding the criminal justice system. In 1988, along with several of her classmates, she co-founded the East Bay Community Law Center which is now the largest provider of legal services in Alameda County. She served on the Board of Directors for the East Bay Community Law Center from 1988-1990 and 2007-2014.
Kathi has received a number of awards over her career including the Young Alumnus Award from the Boalt Hall Alumni Association, the Opening Doors to Justice Award from the Public Interest Clearinghouse, two Awards of Merit from the Bar Association of San Francisco, among other awards. Most recently, she was honored by Disability Rights Education Defense Fund, BASF’s Justice and Diversity Center, the East Bay Community Law Center, Equal Rights Advocates and the Eviction Defense Collaborative.
In 1990, Kathi received a joint degree from the University of California at Berkeley, a J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law and an M.B.A from Haas School of Business. In addition to her graduate studies, Kathi served as an elected Commissioner to the City of Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Board from 1984-1988.