Catherine (Katie) Cherkasky has risen to fame in the legal community for her tenacious logical approach to the law. Katie is a national news personality focused on legal analysis of sexual assault, criminal law, Constitutional law, presidential authority, and military law. Katie’s editorials are routinely published in major newspapers, often focusing on the #MeToo movement, Presidential politics, and police and civil rights reform. Katie has been a frequent legal commentator on Fox News, CNN, and many more national networks on nearly every major legal story, often speaking about Former President Trump, Elon Musk, the current administration, and more. Katie is considered a leading national media personality, positioned to become a household name.
Katie began her legal career as a federal prosecutor where her case load focused on sexual assault, violent crimes, drug offenses, and other felony level cases. After years of various positions within the federal government, Katie transitioned to private practice where she continued her work in federal courts related to criminal defense, civil rights litigation, and complex Federal appeals. Currently, as the Vice-President of Operations for the firm, Katie focuses the majority of her attention on the management of client relations, and complex written litigation.
Katie’s tenacity is rooted in her decision to serve her country through military service starting at the age of 18-years-old, dedicating herself to serve our country during the height of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
Expertise
Criminal trial and appellate lawyer – with experience as a federal prosecutor, defense attorney, and special victims counsel.
Constitutional scholar – currently focuses on appeals with Constitutional implications, and previously served as a clerk (extern) at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, editor to her school’s Law Review, and extensive experience with Constitutional issues while on active-duty in the Air Force.
Independent political analyst – provides national news analysis on current political issues typically focused on presidential authority and legal matters with a moderate to conservative perspective. She specializes in justifying her political position with logical and sound justification based on legal precedent and established legal principles.
Experience
On a daily basis, Katie focuses the majority of her attention on the management of client relations and on the supervision of written litigation. In recent years, she has handled some of the highest profile federal and military criminal appeal cases, primarily dealing with Constitutional issues involving individual rights and the powers of the Executive and Legislative branches of Government. She also handles in-court defense of complex trials, including allegations of murder, rape, sexual assault, drugs, and much more. She credits her tremendous success in criminal law on the breadth of experience she has from her years as a federal prosecutor handling complex sex crimes, representing sexual assault victims directly as the nation’s first military special victims counsel, and more recently, in the defense of those accused of such terrible crimes.
Katie directly oversees the representation of clients in millions-of-dollars of claims and litigation seeking compensation for injuries caused by the Federal Government. She has developed a reputation as an attorney that refuses to settle cases for undeservedly low offers and much prefers the opportunity for her clients to receive fair compensation at trial.
Prior to joining the firm, Katie served in the United States Air Force as a JAG where she began her career as a federal prosecutor. In her final position in the service, she was selected to be the Air Force’s first Special Victims Counsel to represent alleged victims of sexual assault. In this position, she says “I learned exactly the extent to which the military will go to destroy a person accused of sexual assault and protect at all costs the accusers, no matter how weak or obnoxious the facts of the case.”
Throughout her legal career in the Air Force, Katie often focused her time on providing legal advice regarding Constitutional issues, including the ending of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policies, and matters concerning the appropriations of congressional funding and the Executive branch’s authority to use those funds.
In her first assignment at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Katie was identified as the best litigator in the office, despite being the most junior attorney. As a result, she was assigned to prosecute high profile cases that came through, including sexual assault, larceny, and drug offenses. Throughout the rest of her career, Katie was recognized for her abilities as a stellar legal advocate and legal writer. Prior to leaving Dover AFB, Katie was selected to be the Area Defense Counsel for the base.
Education
Katie attended law school at Chapman University School of Law. From the very beginning, she loved everything about law school – the theory, the case studies, and especially the legal writing. In law school, Katie received eleven awards for getting the top grade in a class. She was also picked to be an editor of the law school’s most prestigious law journal. She had the rare honor of an externship with a 9th Federal Circuit Court judge.
Katie graduated summa cum laude as the valedictorian of her class. Not only was she ranked #1 at the end of her law school education, she had obtained the #1 ranking every semester of her three years at the school.
Prior to law school, Katie received an Air Force ROTC Scholarship to attend college. She attended the University of San Diego. Katie split her time between her ROTC obligations, outstanding academic performance, and an active social experience as a member of the Alpha Phi sorority.
Additional Information
Katie is licensed to practice law in California, Illinois, and New York. She is also permitted to practice in all military courts, and many federal courts.
Graduated from Chapman University School of Law, summa cum laude, valedictorian. She was an editor of the school’s law review, Teacher’s Assistant for a number of classes, and Research Assistant.
Externship with Judge Kim McClane Wardlaw, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Graduated from University of San Diego with a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and minors in Spanish and Sociology.
