Catherine (Cathy) Carr is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a Lecturer at its School of Social Policy & Practice.
Cathy is the immediate past Executive Director of Philadelphia’s Community Legal Services (CLS), where she worked for 20 years as its first female and longest-serving Executive Director. Previously, Cathy was a CLS Advocate and Public Benefits Litigator for eleven years. She continues to serve as a consultant to CLS and other legal aid organizations and funders across the country.
In addition, Cathy is co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Task Force on Civil Gideon and Access to Justice; Coordinator for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association’s (NLADA) Strategic Advocacy Initiative; an American Bar Foundation Fellow; an American Law Institute Member; a Management Information Exchange Board Member; the Independence Foundation’s Board Secretary; and an Oversight Board Member for the Mayor of Philadelphia’s Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity. She has received the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s inaugural Louis H. Pollak Award, the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Sandra Day O’Connor Award, and the NLADA’s Denison Ray Award.
Cathy holds a Bachelor’s degree from Yale College, where she was the first graduate with a Women’s Studies major, and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.