Debra Katz
Debra Katz
Fierce Defender In The Face Of #MeToo
As Christine Blasey Ford bravely testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September, sharing her allegation of sexual assault against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, there was another strong woman by her side: Debra Katz.
Representing Ford was a natural fit for Katz, 60, a civil rights lawyer who has spent her career fighting against social injustice, most notably sexual violence and gender discrimination.
“Those who know and have worked with Katz describe her as a meticulous and battle-tested attorney, as someone who vets her clients carefully and doesn’t take on cases merely because she sympathizes with victims of exploitation and abuse,” the Washington Post reported in a story that dubbed her “The feared attorney of the #MeToo moment.”
“My father says that I was born arguing about fairness and social justice issues,” she wrote on her firm’s website, “and that attending law school was just a formality.”
A founding partner of Katz, Marshall & Banks in Washington, D.C. — described as a “Whistleblower & Employment Law Firm” — she is also working on the cases of Irwin Reiter, a longtime Weinstein Company executive who reportedly spoke out against Harvey Weinstein sexually harassing a front desk employee, as well as one of the two women who came to Hillel International with complaints about the behavior of Michael Steinhardt, one of its biggest donors.
Raised in a Jewish household and exposed to stories of the Holocaust, Katz said she was drawn to advocacy early on.
“From a very early age, that was a defining [lesson],” she told Washingtonian magazine. “You stand up to injustice. You make your voice known.”
— Alyssa Fisher
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
