Meet a Colleague: Catlin Meade Catlin Meade is a professor of practice who has been teaching legal writing since 2022.

By Law Communications
November 1, 2023

Catlin Meade is a Professor of Practice who has been teaching Legal Writing at W&L Law since 2022. She began teaching law as an adjunct at her alma mater, American University Washington College of Law, in the fall of 2020. Catlin is originally from Delaware, which she escaped to attend the College of William & Mary in Virginia. After college, Catlin worked as a paralegal for a small law firm in New York City for two years before moving to Washington, D.C. to attend law school. She was an associate at a large law firm in D.C. for five years before moving in house to a large government contracting company for four years. Catlin’s practice focused on cybersecurity, privacy, and government contracts. Her husband, Lars, is an electrician, and they share a love of reading, exercise, music, and their nine-year-old pit bull Boomer.

Q. Where is your favorite location on the W&L campus?
My office. That’s where I make the best connections with my students: sharing breakthroughs on tough assignments, discussing their goals, and just talking about how they’re doing.

Q. What is your favorite thing to do when you are not working?
Exercise of some form. Either running, something at the gym, Solidcore (a Pilates-inspired workout), swimming, or just going for a walk. I also enjoy reading/listening to audiobooks, particularly memoirs of musicians, chefs, and others. I have (somehow) remained a loyal N.Y. Jets fan my entire life and watch football on Sundays.

Q. Book/Podcast/TV Show Recommendation?
“Psych.” It’s a comedy procedural that was on from 2006-2014 on USA. It’s about a perceptive guy who pretends to be a psychic and helps the police solve crimes. (If you think that sounds familiar, it’s the show “The Mentalist” ripped off.)  It’s clever and feel good and stars one of my favorite actors (Dulé Hill of “West Wing” fame).

Q. Who inspired you to teach?
My own legal writing professor (and later Covington colleague), Susan Cassidy. She saw something in me I didn’t see and was the first person in law school who made me believe I could be a good lawyer. Teaching also runs in the family. My aunt Ana teaches high school Spanish in Italy, and my aunt Ileana is a professor at the University of Puerto Rico.

Q. If you could have coffee or tea with one person, who would it be and why?
I could try to be deep here, but it’s honestly Hayley Williams (the Paramore singer). She’s very smart, introspective, and thoughtful about the human condition, which is reflected in her songwriting and her interviews.

Q. What is an accomplishment you are proud of?
I’m choosing to answer this outside of work accomplishments. In 2019, a group of friends were competing in a CrossFit Games team qualifier at Rogue Fitness when my friend badly injured her fingers (needed many, many stitches) during the first event. I had traveled to the event to cheer them on, and the team subbed me in so they could finish the competition. I was not (and am not) a high-level athlete, so I stuck out like a sore thumb. The last event of the first day was a relay that ended with completing ten snatches (an Olympic lift where you bring a barbell from the ground to overhead in one unbroken movement) at 145 pounds (a weight I could not snatch regularly). So, as expected, my partner and I were the last ones working in the packed arena (and worldwide live stream), and I was missing snatches. Finally, buoyed by the crowd, I hit one. Then another. And two more before time expired. It’s not that I hit the lift that makes me proud. It’s that I stood in an arena of 6,000 people, surrounded by professional athletes and cameras in my face and maintained my composure. That I succeeded in a few lifts is a bonus. Don’t believe me? Google it.

Q. Favorite food/restaurant/drink?
Thai food. Specifically drunken noodles or Krapow. Yes, they are basically the same thing but one has noodles and one has rice. My favorite Thai place was D.C. Noodles, but it closed last year.

Q. Most used/enjoyable app on your phone?
My favorite app is the New York Times Games app. I do the mini-crossword, full crossword, and connections every day. Puzzles are a form of stress relief and meditation to me; they focus my brain better than anything else. I might be the only person my age with a subscription to the Penny Press puzzle books. I use Spotify more than any other app because I always like to have music on.

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