Kathi Westcott is Deputy General Counsel and Senior Director of Legal Affairs at The Pew Charitable Trusts, where she leads a team of attorneys and legal professionals providing comprehensive legal support across more than 50 diverse program areas, both domestically and internationally. Since joining Pew’s Legal Affairs office in 2012, Kathi’s expertise has spanned lobbying compliance, government ethics, intellectual property, data privacy and security, anti-corruption, defamation, anti-trust, nonprofit governance, and risk management. She is an integral member of Pew’s executive leadership initiatives, contributing to data governance, contract process improvements, and workforce development, and champions equity and inclusion as an executive co-sponsor of Pew’s Pride employee resource group.

Prior to Pew, Kathi served as Senior Counsel for the American Association of University Professors, where she managed the legal department and provided strategic counsel on employment law, First Amendment issues, organizational restructuring, and litigation. Her earlier career includes roles as Senior Staff Attorney at Change to Win, Director for Law at Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, positions with the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, People for the American Way, and the ACLU National Prison Project.

Kathi is the current President of the Association of Corporate Counsel National Capital Region (ACC-NCR), having previously served as President-elect, Vice-President for Community Engagement, and as Pro Bono Committee Co-Chair. She is a founding board member and past Secretary of the Council on Criminal Justice, and a member of the University at Buffalo School of Law Dean’s Advisory Council. She has been recognized with multiple honors, including the 2024 Washington Council of Lawyers Justice Impact Award (Corporate Legal Department), the 2021 Washington Business Journal Business of Pride Award, and the 2020 ACC National Capital Region Pro Bono Attorney of the Year.

Kathi earned her Juris Doctor from the University at Buffalo School of Law, a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (Ethics in the Professions) from Georgetown University, and a Bachelor of Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology. She is admitted to the New York State Bar, the District of Columbia Bar, and the United States Supreme Court Bar.