KAT TODD grew up in Edmonton, Canada and obtained her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from Bishops University in Lennoxville, Quebec. She then enrolled at the University of Alberta, obtaining her law degree in 1999. After graduating from law school, Kat then clerked for one year (per Canadian requirements) for an insurance defense law firm in Edmonton, Bryan & Company, before being admitted to the Alberta Bar in 2000. From 1996 to 2002, Kat was an elite rugby player, representing Canada in the Women’s Rugby World Cup in Amsterdam, Holland in 1998, followed by the Women’s Rugby World Cup in Barcelona, Spain in 2002 (where she concurrently studied for the California Bar!). When Kat emigrated to the USA in 2001 to join family in Sonoma County, she joined the All Blues Women’s Rugby Club in Berkeley, California assisting the team in winning the USA Women’s National Club Championships in 2002 and 2003.
Kat was admitted to the California Bar in December 2002 and then joined a healthcare defense firm in Sacramento, Dummit Briegleb, where she practiced as an associate until 2007. In 2007, she joined prominent Sacramento healthcare defense firm, Schuering Zimmerman & Doyle (SZD. Kat practiced at SZD from 2007 and was promoted to the SZD partnership in 2011. In 2024, Kat moved to Sonoma County to join her significant other. As of May 1, 2024, she joined J Supple Law as a partner.
Kat specializes in healthcare defense, including medical malpractice defense in civil litigation cases and healthcare licensing defense in Board investigations. She has tried multiple cases to verdict including cases involving Interventional Cardiology, Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Neurology, Obstetrics, Oncology, Orthopedics and Podiatry. Kat has also represented large academic institutions at trial, representing multiple different specialties in one trial.
Kat retired from playing elite rugby after the USA Women’s National Club Championships in 2003, and then transitioned to match officiating. Kat officiated rugby until 2011 and then coached rugby match officials through to 2017, including having international appointments with World Rugby at the Women’s Rugby World Cups in 2014 and 2017. Now retired from all team sports, Kat cycles and travels with her significant other.
Kat presents frequently on medical-legal topics to large medical groups and will act as a guest lecturer to medical residents. She has also served as a Community Member on the UC Davis Medical Center Bioethics Committee, consulting in patient care issues involving difficult topics such as differing goals of care and patients without decisional capacity. Kat has also volunteered as Temporary Small Claims Judge in the Sacramento County Superior Court.
Kat is a member of the Marin, Sonoma and Sacramento County Bar Associations. She is also a member of the Association of Defense Counsel, California Society for Healthcare Risk Management and the California Medical-Legal Committee. Last, she was a Rising Star in 2009 and 2013 and has been nominated annually to be a Super Lawyer by Super Lawyer Magazine since 2019.