Kathie Donnelly Zern

Kathie is the General Counsel for Every Mother Counts where she is responsible for legal and contractual issues.  Prior to her work with Every Mother Counts, Kathie served as the Democratic Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. House Transportation Committee.   In this position, she was responsible for all issues within the Committee’s jurisdiction, including surface transportation, aviation, rail transportation, pipelines, hazardous materials and emergency preparedness. 

Before serving on the Committee, Kathie was an attorney at Covington & Burling in Washington D.C.  In this capacity, she provided regulatory and tax advice to a variety of U.S. corporations and was part of a team that successfully litigated a tax case of first impression for a multinational corporation.

In 1996, Kathie was selected as a Georgetown University Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow.  As a Fellow, she worked at the National Women’s Law Center where she coordinated the Women’s Education and Empowerment Series, which provided legal services to incarcerated women, and worked on gender equity matters raised under Title IX.

Prior to her Fellowship, Kathie clerked for the Honorable James Robertson at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 

Kathie received her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School where she was an Editor of the Law Review.  While in law school she founded the Domestic Violence Project to provide legal aid to victims of domestic abuse.

Kathie graduated cum laude with a degree in Government from Harvard University.