Kathryn (Kate) E. Fort is the Director of the Michigan State University College of Law Legal Clinic and runs the Indian Law Clinic, as well as teaching other classes in federal Indian law. In 2015, she started the Indian Child Welfare Act Appellate Project, which represents tribes in complex ICWA litigation across the country. As a result, Prof. Fort has provided direct representation to tribes in multiple state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court where she provided critical expertise in the Haaland v. Brackeen case. She is the author of American Indian Children and the Law, published by Carolina Academic Press. Prof. Fort has researched and written extensively on the Indian Child Welfare Act. Her publications include articles in the Yale Law Review Forum, Harvard Public Health Review, George Mason Law Review, Family Law Quarterly, Saint Louis University Law Journal, American Indian Law Review as well as chapters in CRITICAL RACE JUDGEMENTS (Cambridge University Press, 2022) and CHILD WELFARE LAW AND PRACTICE (National Assoc. of Counsel for Children, 2023), both with Matthew L.M. Fletcher. She is also a contributing editor to the Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law. More recently she obtained significant funding to start the Tribal Appellate Clerk Project which, as part of the Indian Law Clinic, allows law students to assist tribal appellate courts by providing research and memos on appellate tribal cases.
Prof. 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.