Kathi Pugh

Position: Retired Attorney
Advisory Board

Kathi Pugh spent her legal career at Morrison Foerster, an international law firm. She retired after serving as the longtime Senior Pro Bono Counsel, where she was responsible for overseeing all facets of the firm’s comprehensive pro bono program.

Kathi was appointed to a number of American Bar Association committees through her work on the Council of the Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice. In her decades of work with the ABA, she served as the longtime Chair of the Disability Rights Committee and on the Commission of Disability Rights, Editor of Human Rights (CRSJ’s quarterly magazine), Children’s Rights Committee and Immigrants’ Rights Committee.

Kathi was also active Bar Association of San Francisco including serving on BASF’s Board of Directors, President and Board Member of the SF Barristers Club and longtime Chair of the BASF’s Disability Rights Committee where she initiated a number of innovative programs including a clerkship program for law students with disabilities. The majority of her work was focused on increasing the employment of lawyers with disabilities. She also served on a State Bar of California’s Council on Access and Fairness.

Kathi has also been active in the community, and served on the Board of Directors of Equal Rights Advocates, ACLU of Northern California, Berkeley Law Alumni Association, East Bay Community Law Center, Legal Assistance to the Elderly, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (Chair), Center for Independent Living and Cruise (GM) Accessibility Council. 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.

Kathi has received a number of awards over her career including the Young Alumna Award from Berkeley Law Alumni Association. She has received awards from the American Bar Association, American Constitution Society, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, One Justice, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, East Bay Community Law Center, Eviction Defense Collaborative, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, Immigrants Legal Resource Center, Bar Association of San Francisco and BASF’s Justice & Diversity Center.

After retiring, Morrison Foerster established the Kathi Pugh Award, one of three awards the firm annually confers. It recognizes the values, enthusiasm and compassion that Kathi brought to the pro bono program. Berkeley Law also created the Kathi Pugh Award for Exceptional Mentorship to honor an attorney’s outstanding efforts to encourage, mentor and supervise Berkeley Law students engaged in pro bono work.

Kathi is currently Chair of the City of Berkeley’s Disability Rights Commission and the Board of Directors for BORP, Access and Recreation. For nine years, Kathi was the Commodore of Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors and continues to serve on its board. She was recently appointed to the Advisory Board for Disability Rights Advocates. Since retiring, Kathi worked with Berkeley Law School to develop its pro bono program, and continues to serve as a pro bono advisor.

In 1990, Kathi received a joint degree from the University of California at Berkeley: a J.D. from Berkeley Law School and an M.B.A. from Haas School of Business. From 1984- 1988, she served as an elected Commissioner of the City of Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Board. In1988, she co-founded the East Bay Community Law Center which is now the largest provider of free legal services in Alameda County.