Kathryn E. Cahoy

PALO ALTO - Kathryn E. Cahoy specializes in class action litigation, a procedural skill set that she has been able to apply to many of her cases. The majority of her cases "fall into one of three buckets: antitrust, litigation with a class action component, and privacy litigation with consumer protection."

From Miller, South Dakota, Cahoy graduated from Yale Law School in 2012 and has been with Covington & Burling LLP since 2014. She recently achieved a victory as co-lead counsel on behalf of Facebook, Inc. in an advertising class action lawsuit. dotStrategy Co. v. Facebook Inc., Case No. 3:20-cv-00170 (N.D. Cal., filed Jan. 8, 2020). She and her team defeated class certification of a group of advertisers on the social media platform.

"We were able to narrow the case to strip out some of the misallegations and misrepresentations that the plaintiff legally couldn't proceed with," Cahoy said. "The judge ruled that there was nothing in the record to suggest that the statements were anything other than true as to the plaintiff."

Cahoy also led a precedent-setting class certification in front of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, an area of law that she has been passionate about since she was a part of her law school's veterans legal services clinic.

My husband is a veteran and I felt like there was some small way I could try to give back and use what I was learning in law school on behalf of the larger public good," she said. "A group of veterans was experiencing significant delays with the VA and being able to pursue appeals of their claims. They had been waiting over a year, sometimes more, for them to fill out a one-page form."

The court certified the class and issued an injunction ordering the Department of Veterans Affairs to process the appeals. "It was very gratifying to be a part of a large team at Covington and the National Veterans Legal Services program and be able to help alleviate some of the significant delays those veterans were facing," Cahoy said.

In her day-to-day practice, she said she tries to be as prepared as possible before entering a courtroom. "It goes a long way in giving you confidence that you can deal with the unexpected and that you can be a credible authority for the court."

She added it is important to not be afraid to use an authentic voice and many people have guided her throughout her career. This mentorship is something that Cahoy hopes to pass along in the future.

"I want to continue to mentor others who want to embark on a similar career path and make sure that they're getting the career opportunities to do that," Cahoy said. "It can seem like a long road and there have been a lot of people who have helped me along the way, so I want to do that for others."

Cahoy said that she has learned that people have different life experiences and approach problems in different ways. "Trying to keep that in mind when thinking through how to present the argument so that it makes sense to the widest range of people really helps, and part of that is bringing in a diverse team internally that can think through problems in lots of different ways."