About Katherine Mims
Katherine Mims Crocker entered law from a liberal arts background. She earned an A.B. in History and Science from Harvard University in 2009 and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2012. Those credentials set the stage for a career that has moved between appellate practice, firm work, and academic scholarship.
After law school she served as a law clerk to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 2012. The clerkship provided immediate exposure to appellate litigation and federal court procedure. It also shaped the way she approaches legal questions in both practice and the classroom.
Her early professional years included work in private practice and scholarship. In 2017 she held a position as counsel at McGuireWoods LLP. In the same year she also joined Duke University School of Law as an Olin-Smith Fellow and postdoctoral associate. Those roles combined practical legal work with time for research and writing, and they bridged the transition from practice back into academia.
In 2019 she joined the faculty at William & Mary Law School as an assistant professor of law. On campus she teaches and mentors law students, and she pursues scholarly projects. Her background in appellate clerking and firm practice informs classroom discussions and research questions. Students and colleagues see this mix of practice and scholarship in her seminars, where doctrinal material meets procedural and appellate perspectives.
Crocker is admitted to practice in Virginia. Her career path—Harvard undergraduate work, a Virginia law degree, a federal appellate clerkship, time in private practice, and postdoctoral scholarship—reflects a balance between courtroom experience and academic inquiry. She has published and presented on legal topics while teaching at William & Mary, drawing on earlier roles to bring practical perspective to academic study.
Observers of her career note the steady movement between practice and scholarship rather than a straight line into one or the other. That trajectory has given her a broad view of how law operates in courts and classrooms. She currently teaches and pursues legal scholarship at William & Mary Law School.
