South Carolina

Kathryn A. Waites
Associate

An associate attorney focused on catastrophic injuries, Katie Waites represents individual victims and families harmed by hazardous consumer products, occupational and industrial accidents, premises injuries and other incidents involving negligence in products liability, personal injury and wrongful death cases. She is currently involved in a number of local cases against various corporate defendants and is responsible for developing legal theories, conducting legal research, and drafting discovery, pleadings and motions. 

Katie also works with Motley Rice's Environmental team to assist individuals and businesses in their efforts to hold BP and other corporate defendants accountable for the BP oil spill. Additionally, she has experience representing consumers, public pension funds, unions, whistleblowers and other institutional investors in complex securities and consumer fraud class actions and shareholder derivative suits.

Prior to joining Motley Rice, Katie served as a law clerk for the Honorable Catharine R. Aron, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Middle District of North Carolina. In this capacity, she gained valuable experience writing complex legal memoranda, preparing proposed orders and working with attorneys to handle and resolve both consumer and business bankruptcies. Katie clerked in 2007 and 2008 for a number of South Carolina-based law firms in the Charleston area and, a former summer associate with Motley Rice, returned to join the firm in 2010.

Katie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Studio Art, cum laude, from Washington and Lee University in 2006. A South Carolina native, she returned home to pursue a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law as a 3-year Merit Scholarship Recipient. Katie served in law school as a Student Editor of the American Bar Association (ABA) Real Property Probate & Trust Journal, a competing member of the University of South Carolina Moot Court Bar, and a Representative for the Legislative Council of the Student Bar Association. Katie also demonstrated her commitment to public service as a member of the University of South Carolina Pro Bono Board, a student arbitrator with the Lexington County Juvenile Arbitration Program, and a volunteer law clerk for South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, where she worked to affect change in low-income communities throughout the state through education advocacy and petitions to the local courts. In 2008, she received the USC School of Law Pro Bono Award.

Katie is a member of the Charleston County and American Bar Associations, the South Carolina Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, the South Carolina Association for Justice and the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association. 

* Please remember that every case is different. Any result we achieve for one client in one matter does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.