Kate Fort

Staff Attorney, Indigenous Law & Policy Center, MSU Law School

Indigenous Law & Policy Center, Michigan State University College of Law

Kathryn (Kate) E. Fort is the Director of the Indian Law Clinic and the Staff Attorney for the Indigenous Law and Policy Center at Michigan State University College of Law. She joined the Center in 2005 as the Indigenous Law Fellow. In 2015, she started the Indian Child Welfare Act Appellate Project, which assists tribes in ICWA cases across the country. In her role with the Center she teaches the Indian Law Clinic class and traditional classes in federal Indian law, researches and writes on behalf of Center clients, and manages administrative aspects of the Center. Ms. Fort has written articles on laches and land claims, and has researched and written extensively on the Indian Child Welfare Act. Her publications include articles in the Harvard Public Health Review, George Mason Law Review, Saint Louis University Law Journal, and American Indian Law Review and the forthcoming American Indian Children and the Law published by Carolina Academic Press. She co-edited Facing the Future: The Indian Child Welfare Act at 30 with Wenona T. Singel and Matthew L.M. Fletcher (Michigan State University Press 2009). She co-edits the popular and influential Indian law blog, TurtleTalk with Matthew Fletcher.

Ms. Fort graduated magna cum laude in from Michigan State University College of Law with the Certificate in Indigenous Law, and is licensed to practice law in Michigan. She received her B.A. in History with honors from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia.