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Kim represents clients in both trial and appellate courts in complex cases involving a wide variety of legal issues. She is the chair of our Appellate Group and is a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. As an appellate lawyer, she handles appeals, writs, and post-trial motions for clients in state and federal courts around the country. Kim has successfully petitioned appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court and several federal appellate and state high courts, to grant discretionary review. She has secured immediate appellate review of class certification orders, and ultimately the reversal of the certification orders, and has been successful in securing interlocutory appellate review of legal rulings on motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment. Kim has argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits, and before the state appellate courts in California, Louisiana, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Kim is the principal author of briefs submitted to each of those courts, as well as virtually every other federal circuit court of appeals and other state appellate courts, including those in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia.

Credentials

  • University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 1991, J.D., summa cum laude; ranked first in her class; Order of the Coif; Order of the Barristers; Best Oralist, American Bar Association Appellate Advocacy Competition (Eastern Region); Best Appellate Advocate, University of Pittsburgh competition; Best Trial Advocate, University of Pittsburgh Trial Advocacy Competition; Thomas M. Cooley, II Award for Outstanding Legal Writing for a different piece of legal scholarship, Member of the University of Pittsburgh Law Review 
  • University of Pittsburgh, 1988, M.A., Political Science
  • University of Pittsburgh, 1981, B.A., Politics, Philosophy and Economics

  • Pennsylvania
  • California

  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - First Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Second Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Third Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Fourth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Fifth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Sixth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Seventh Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Eighth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - Eleventh Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals - District of Columbia Circuit
  • U.S. District Court - Western District of Pennsylvania
  • U.S. District Court - Central District of Illinois

  • Fellow, American Academy of Appellate Lawyers
  • President, Board of Directors, American Civil Liberties Union, Pennsylvania Affiliate 
  • Member, National Association of College and University Attorneys
  • Director of Advising, University of Pittsburgh Honors College (during graduate and law school)

Awards & Recognition

  • Named Woman of the Year by the University of Pittsburgh’s Pitt Law Women’s Association, honoring a prominent and influential female Pitt Law alum, 2015
  • Selected through peer review for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© for Appellate Practice, 2008-2025
  • Recipient of the Best Lawyers™ Lawyer of the Year award in Pittsburgh for Appellate Practice, 2015 and 2018
  • Selected for inclusion in the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers list for Appellate, 2009-2021
  • Named an Appellate Star in Pennsylvania for the Third Circuit by Benchmark Litigation, 2013