2019 AWARDS
Kate Roberts White
Access to Services Manager, Legal Aid of West Virginia
I am thankful I attended WVU College of
Law, where I learned to think about how I
can help the state and and where I met other
professionals with the same mentality.”
Photo by Steve Payne Photography,
BY BLAIR DOWLER. Kate White’s path to
becoming the access to services manager
for Legal Aid of West Virginia (LAWV)
was paved with her lifelong desire to
help others.
Born and raised in Elkins, WV, she
enjoyed helping others solve problems.
After earning her bachelor’s degree, she
embarked on a career path dedicated to
serving the Mountain State. While living
in Morgantown, she served as an Ameri-
Corps VISTA at a nonprofit that provided
free food, clothing and financial assis-
tance to low-income individuals.
“On a daily basis, I saw people strug-
gling to find affordable housing or access
to food,” she recalls. “After that experience,
I knew I wanted to focus my legal career
on advocating for people in vulnerable
situations who often have no voice.”
White decided to attend law school
and enrolled at West Virginia University
(WVU) College of Law—an experience
that reaffirmed her longing to help others.
“Participating in clinic as a third-year
law student and actually representing cli-
ents for the first time was a memorable
White with her
husband and
two sons.
experience,” she says. “Whether it was
the adoption case or the tenant trying to
recover his belongings from the landlord,
it was exciting to be in a position of using
everything I’d learned to help impact vital
decisions in the client’s case.”
After graduating in 2007, White clerked
for the Honorable Louis Bloom of the
Thirteenth Judicial Circuit in Kanawha
County. She was then awarded a two-year
fellowship by the Skadden Fellowship
Foundation, which provides opportunities
for those committed to public interest
work to develop and implement projects
at public interest organizations. Through
the fellowship, White launched a medical-
legal partnership with FamilyCare Health
Center in Charleston that allowed her
to work with health care providers to
help resolve legal problems impacting
patient health.
After the fellowship, she briefly worked
for the West Virginia State Senate’s Health
and Human Resources Committee, and
in 2012, she returned to LAWV to take
on her role of access to services manager.
Today, White oversees LAWV’s applica-
tion line and website and assists clients
who have emergency deadlines by pro-
viding them with advice and tools to go
to court on their own. She also directs
the organization’s statewide pro bono
program while writing grants and facil-
itating pro bono training.
“Working with amazing grant writers,
I have played a role in helping Legal Aid
obtain a number of grants over the last
four years that enabled us to gain staff
capacity and resources to start new ini-
tiatives or projects,” she says.
Her grant writing skills also helped
start the Lawyer in the School program
at Mary C. Snow West Side Elementary
School in Charleston. Through the pro-
gram, pro bono attorneys hold weekly
clinics to provide legal assistance to fam-
ilies at the school. Since the start of the
project in 2017, more than 100 pro bono
lawyers have provided assistance to more
than 200 families.
When flooding and devastation struck
the southern part of the state in 2016, she
jumped at the chance to lend a helping
hand, organizing a pro bono program for
attorneys to help flood victims navigate
FEMA issues and insurance problems. She
also helped organize a group of volunteer
attorneys to perform outreach at disaster
recovery centers in flooded communities
as well as volunteers who helped write
legal information on disaster issues for
the LAWV website.
White has had a major impact on both
LAWV and the state. Those around her
recognize her strong leadership and the
rigorous fight she puts forth for those in
need. In 2016, her efforts were recognized
with the LAWV Leadership Award. As a
native West Virginian, she will continue
the fight for her fellow Mountaineers.
“I am thankful I attended WVU College
of Law, where I learned to think about
how I can help the state and where I met
other professionals with the same men-
tality,” she says. “West Virginia has its
struggles, but West Virginians never give
up. Those are qualities my husband and
I want our three children to have, and
that is one reason why we are raising our
family here.”
WWW.WVEXECUTIVE.COM
SUMMER 2019
107