Kate Mitchell has dedicated her entire legal career to public service, starting with legal aid and juvenile justice and for more than ten years in academia as a clinical professor. Her practice experience includes representing children and families in poverty and people with disabilities in access to health care, public benefits, special education, housing and family law as well as juvenile delinquency and prison condition cases, and other general civil law matters. She has also been involved in local, state, and national policy work in the areas of access to health care, education, and juvenile justice.
Currently, as the Director of the Health Justice Project at Loyola University Chicago, a medical-legal partnership clinic addressing the intersecting challenges of poverty, health, and justice, Kate has cultivated a collaborative environment where law, medical, and social work students provide clients with holistic representation. She has developed innovative coursework to create a truly interdisciplinary program at Loyola. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kate collaborated with faculty and students across Loyola University to establish the COVID Equity Response Collaborative Loyola (CERCL) to ensure that Loyola University’s expertise and resources were effectively utilized to support the community during its time of greatest need. She also recently took on the role of Director of the law school’s Rodin Center for Social Justice.
In all her roles at Loyola, Kate consistently mentors and encourages her students to engage in pro bono and community service. As one of her current students put it, “Every day, I learn from Kate, either directly or by example, and I see firsthand her commitment to public service.” Her teaching style has been described as reflective, respectful, and life-changing by her students and peers, with many of her students continuing to work in public service inspired by her example. For all these reasons, Kate is a most deserving recipient of this year’s Leonard Jay Schrager Award of Excellence.