Kate’s Life Story
Kate’s Early Years
Kate Marshall was born on July 22, 1959 in a welfare clinic at Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco. Born prematurely and without modern day medication, Kate’s lungs had not fully developed. She was incubated for two weeks in the welfare clinic, where medical care was poor at best. Kate’s parents couldn’t afford any better. Nonetheless, Kate’s mother said “the clouds parted and the sun came out” when she was born.
Kate Marshall’s family moved often — when the lights went out and the phone went dead, it was time for her family to move again. The constant moving, the family’s unstable income, bank foreclosures and her parents focus on housework over homework meant Kate had to make it on her own.
Kate’s family could not afford to send her to quality primary and secondary schools, much less pay for college. At a very young age, Kate understood the importance of education. She managed the high school bookstore before and after school to pay for her high school education at St. Rose Academy.
Kate’s College and Law School Years
After high school graduation Kate attended California State University San Francisco for three semesters. UC Berkeley’s Minority Admissions Office contacted her after receiving her SAT scores and encouraged her to apply to the University. Kate applied, was accepted and received academic and financial grants and scholarships to attend. She earned her way through college by working in the school library and receiving food stamps. Even then she could barely make ends meet.
After graduation in 1982, she worked for a year and then joined the Peace Corps. Surrounded by rugged terrain in the rural outback of Kenya, Kate taught English and Commerce. Successful in her first teaching experience, the Peace Corps recruited Kate to establish the teaching curriculum for the Peace Corps program for Secondary School English in Kenya.
Kate’s life was forever changed by her experience teaching in East Africa. Even though she had grown up with little, she worked with people in East Africa who had far less. Drawing on her own life and what she saw in Kenya, Kate was determined to rely on hard work and persistence and make it on her own.
When she returned from East Africa she worked hard, applied, was accepted and graduated with a juris doctorate from the Boalt Hall School of Law, UC Berkeley. She worked hard studying and spent her summers interning with law firms, most notably with Nevada’s United States Senator Paul Laxalt’s law firm, Laxalt, Washington, Perito & Debuc, in Washington, D.C
After receiving her Jurist Doctorate degree, Kate applied and was accepted to the United States Department of Justice’s honors program, where she began her career as a protector of the people, financial watchdog and public servant.
During the Bush Administration Kate was stationed in the Department of Justice San Francisco field office, building and prosecuting cases involving criminal antitrust litigation. Heavily involved in antitrust litigation, she was often required to make many trips to Washington, DC. During these trips Kate would visit and have dinner with friends from college.
Kate and John Marshall
During one of her D.C. trips Kate had dinner with Frances, an old college friend of Kate’s. Joining them was Frances’ brother, John. Throughout dinner Kate and John talked non-stop and immediately ‘clicked’. Soon thereafter Kate and John began their courtship.
Kate moved to Washington, DC to be near John, and to continue her work with the Department of Justice. Two years later, Kate and John were married — outside a barn in Healdsburg in Sonoma County, just as they had planned during their first date.
Kate continued to protect citizens by serving the public in the Department of Justice, now under President Clinton’s administration. Kate received the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division’s Outstanding Contribution Award and a public acknowledgement for her work in the Antitrust Division from Joel Klein, the United States Assistant Attorney General of Antitrust.
Kate called upon to create new direction for Nevada Attorney General’s Office
Kate and John had their first child, Anna, and began to consider what community was best for raising a family. They wanted to raise their children in open spaces, with long sunny days, blue skies and mountains. They wanted to raise their children where the entrepreneurial and independent spirit reigned free. For Kate and John, that meant raising their children in Nevada.
Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa asked Kate to move to Nevada to create a new division of the Attorney General’s Office. Perfectly paired with Kate and John’s hopes to raise their children in Nevada’s welcoming community, Kate accepted the job.
As Senior Deputy Attorney General, Kate worked tirelessly to build a new and innovative division, Nevada’s Antitrust Unit. Kate led a team of attorneys, financial experts and administrators to successfully streamline and modernize Nevada’s antitrust statutes, facilitating greater access and protection for all Nevadans.
Kate fought hard to stop and prevent price gouging at the gas pump. Her work with community members and financial institutions saved small town grocery stores and mom and pop restaurants. She successfully led her team of attorneys and experts to crack down on financial fraud and abuse and prosecute white collar criminals.
Kate’s leadership continued further into the community where she fostered the expansion of Nevada’s “Toys for Tots” program into rural Nevada, an area often times overlooked by government agencies and officials.
In 2000, Kate became in-house counsel for ATG, Inc., a private telecommunications firm, which served small and medium size businesses in Northern Nevada. In 2001, she was chosen as an honoree in the Nevada Women’s Fund, Women of Achievement event. Prior to her election as Nevada State Treasurer in 2006, Kate ran her own successful law practice, specializing in consumer protection, telecommunications law, and competitive market analysis.
Kate’s Family
Since moving to Reno in 1997, Kate and three other mothers started the Parent Teacher Club for Mount Rose Elementary School. She helped run the Plumas Park ski club for children learning to ski at Mt. Rose Ski Resort. She’s volunteered in school and taught her daughter’s class to knit.
Kate and her husband John have two wonderful daughters, Anna and Molly. Anna is an avid skier and Molly loves to swim. Kate and her family make their home in Reno.
