Kate Dodoo is an accomplished appellate, trial, and labor and employment lawyer who leads both the firm’s Appellate Group and Immigration and Compliance Group. She represents businesses in appellate litigation and serves as business immigration counsel for major U.S.-based corporations with global operations, and foreign-owned companies with business interests in the United States.
As a member of the firm’s Labor & Employment Group, Kate utilizes her immigration experience to assist clients in securing employment-related visas for their employees entering the United States. Her work spans industries such as healthcare, technology, banking and finance, education, and high-audit risk industries. She also provides strategic guidance to employers on I-9 compliance, E-Verify, self-audits, audit preparedness, and defense, as well as counseling employers on various aspects of labor and employment law.
Kate utilizes her extensive experience to represent clients in the administrative, state, and federal trial and appellate courts across a wide range of civil litigation matters.
She also serves as a town attorney and advises Oklahoma municipalities.
As part of her appellate practice, Kate delivers strategic counsel and prepares cases for immediate appellate review through appeals and original actions. At the trial court level, she serves as embedded appellate counsel, collaborating with teams to provide support through the preparation of dispositive motions and jury charge preparation, with an eye toward preserving the record for appellate review.
Kate’s achievements have earned her inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America (commercial litigation; litigation – labor and employment).
Kate frequently serves as a guest legal columnist for The Journal Record and is a contributing author to Law360, the Oklahoma Employment Law Letter, Midwest Employment Law Letter, HRlaws.com, and EmployerLINC. She is also a frequent speaker at McAfee & Taft’s annual EmployerLINC employment law seminar and previously presented at the firm’s Corporate Counsel Seminar.
Before joining McAfee & Taft in 2021, Kate dedicated the first 15 years of her legal career to public service at the federal, state, and municipal levels. Her roles included serving as assistant chief counsel in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, where she litigated complex cases before the Executive Office of Immigration Review, U.S. Department of Justice, and litigated appeals in the Board of Immigration Appeals. Additionally, her tenure as an appellate attorney in the Oklahoma Supreme Court honed her skills in providing procedural and substantive legal advice, drafting precedent-setting decisions, and navigating complex civil cases.
Kate has completed advanced training from the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), Appellate Judge Education Institute (AJEI), Institute of Special Education Advocacy (ISEA) at the William & Mary School of Law and Stetson University School of Law, School-Justice Partnerships Program from the Georgetown University School of Public Policy (CJJR), and the Police Legal Advisor Training Program (PLATP) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC).
Active in a number of professional organizations, Kate is currently serving a three-year term as governor on the Oklahoma Bar Association’s Board of Governors in addition to serving as a trustee on the association’s Bench and Bar Committee, governor liaison to the OBA Law School Committee, and a member of OBA Diversity Committee. She is also a fellow of the Oklahoma Bar Foundation and a member of the Oklahoma County Bar Association, Cherokee Nation Bar Association, State Bar of Texas, Texas Bar College, American Bar Association, National Bar Association, and American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Kate has remained a committed community volunteer while maintaining an active professional and family life. Over the years, she has devoted her time to enhancing education opportunities for at-risk and special needs youth through the Oklahoma Children’s Court Improvement Program, coaching the Frederick Douglass Moot Court teams at the Oklahoma City University School of Law, mentoring law students participating in the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s internship programs, and serving the boards of the Law and Public Safety Career Academy of Douglass High School, the YWCA, and Youth Opportunity Task Force. Her community engagement earned her a nomination for the YWCA’s Social Justice Activator Award and recognition as an “Oklahoma Shero” in 2017 by the State of Oklahoma.