Kaitlyn M. Burns

Kaitlyn (“Katie”) is a member of the Professional Liability Department. Her practice focuses on the defense of public entities and officials in civil rights and employment matters, as well as the defense of insurance brokers and agents, real estate professionals, homeowners associations, and private companies in errors and omissions and employment law matters.

Katie has extensive experience representing clients in complex and class action matters. Prior to joining Marshall Dennehey, she spent five years working at a plaintiff’s class action law firm, where she litigated multi-million-dollar insurance coverage and bad faith, employee benefit, and consumer protection putative class actions across the country. In addition to her class action work, she has also secured favorable outcomes for plaintiffs in individual employee benefit, insurance bad faith, construction defect, and shareholder rights disputes. Her background as a plaintiff’s attorney gives her a unique perspective in identifying potential risk and pursuing favorable outcomes for her clients, particularly in high stakes cases.

Katie is also intimately familiar with the Pennsylvania court system. She previously clerked for President Judge Oliver J. Lobaugh of the Venango County Court of Common Pleas, where she worked on a wide array of civil, orphans’ court, and criminal matters. She has also worked as staff attorney for the Pennsylvania Commission for Fairness & Justice, a commission created by the three branches of the Pennsylvania government to address bias within the Pennsylvania justice system, particularly in Pennsylvania’s courts.

Katie earned her B.A., summa cum laude, in 2014 from Washington & Jefferson College, where she triple-majored in Political Science, International Studies, and French and minored in History. She earned her juris doctor, cum laude, in 2017 from Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Duquesne University, where she served as the Executive Articles Editor of the Duquesne Law Review. During law school, she received CALI Excellence Awards for the Future Awards for top grades in Core Competences for Legal Practice and in Property Law. She also clerked for multiple judges, including Magistrate Judge Lisa Pupo Lenihan of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, was an active participant in the Civil Rights Clinic, where she represented plaintiffs in employment discrimination matters, and did pro bono work for the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund’s Name Change Project.

Katie currently serves as Chair of the Equal Opportunity & Diversity Committee of the Pennsylvania Commission for Fairness & Justice and as a board member for Pittsburgh National Youth Boxing, a non-profit dedicated to providing under-resourced youth with support, guidance, and opportunities through boxing.

Katie is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and the U.S. District Courts for the Western District of Pennsylvania and Western District of New York.

Classes/Seminars Taught

•Applicability of the Interstate Compact for Juveniles on Juvenile Human Trafficking Victims, Chatham University, (Nov. 17, 2020).

Published Works

•Memorandum in Support of Reform of the Provision of Criminal Indigent Defense Services in Pennsylvania to Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee, Pennsylvania Commission for Fairness & Justice (Oct. 28, 2020)

Community Service

•Pittsburgh National Youth Boxing d/b/a Team 412, Board Member
•Pennsylvania Commission for Fairness & Justice, Equal Opportunity & Diversity Committee Chair

Certification

•Class Action Training Institute, Impact Fund, 2023