Kelsey Woodford, a partner at Katz Banks Kumin, joined the firm in August 2022.
Ms. Woodford’s practice involves representing workers across a wide range of employment matters, including civil rights claims involving discrimination, harassment, accommodations, and retaliation as well as whistleblower reports and reprisals. Ms. Woodford has worked closely with people facing mistreatment on the basis of race, disability, sex, LGBTQ+ identity, immigration status, pregnancy, and family responsibility. Her whistleblower work has spanned such diverse industries as aviation, banking, manufacturing, consulting, defense contracting, and health care.
Ms. Woodford maintains a deep connection to the disability justice and disability rights fields through her pro bono work in the broader D.C. Community. Before joining the firm, she worked as a Staff Attorney at Disability Rights DC, advancing the civil and human rights of District residents with disabilities through systemic litigation, policy work, and individual representation. Prior to her role with Disability Rights DC, Ms. Woodford acted as a Law Clerk for the Honorable Abdul K. Kallon in the Northern District of Alabama.
Ms. Woodford received her J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2019, having earned Highest Pro Bono Distinction and the Judge Thelton E. Henderson Prize for Outstanding Performance in Clinic. As a student attorney in the Religious Liberty Clinic, she argued on behalf of a prisoner before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, resulting in a favorable judgment on the Prison Litigation Reform Act. She also supported litigation on behalf of low-wage workers experiencing national origin discrimination at Legal Aid at Work and advocated for state and federal prisoners at the ACLU Capital Punishment Project, the Stanford Law School Three Strikes Project, and the Office of the Federal Defender for the Northern District of Alabama. Before matriculating at Stanford, Ms. Woodford worked in behavioral ethics at the Notre Dame Deloitte Center for Ethical Leadership. She graduated from Duke University as a Robertson Scholar, having designed her own course of study examining systemic gender-based violence in American culture.
Ms. Woodford is a member of the Maryland and District of Columbia bars.
Speaking Engagements
Private Public Interest Law Firm Practice Panel
October 25, 2023
Alumni panel organized by Stanford Law School’s John and Terry Levin Center for Public Service and Public Interest Law