CATHERINE GLENN FOSTER, M.A., J.D.

Catherine Glenn Foster, M.A., J.D., is an internationally recognized attorney who has litigated precedent-setting § 1983 and other federal constitutional questions and has extensive experience in litigating human rights law, as well as False Claims Act healthcare and Medicaid fraud, First Amendment rights, Freedom of Information Act and open records issues, health and safety rights and regulations (relating to, inter alia, abortion, assisted suicide and euthanasia, controlled substances and illegal drugs, denial of medical care, genetic engineering, human trafficking, maternal healthcare, and medical malpractice), healthcare worker and corporate conscience protections, torts, and white collar crime. She also counsels on aviation law, contracts, employment law, estates and probate matters, import/export, real estate, and other areas of law and regulation.

She has frequently testified before and advised the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and other federal, state, foreign, and international bodies and representatives on a wide variety of legislation and initiatives, many of which she authored based on her litigation clients’ personal experiences. She also drafts white papers, articles, and op-eds on her current litigation, choice of law and other legal issues, science, medicine, international human rights, and finance relating to policy making, media, and cultural debates.

Catherine has developed and directed numerous legal education campaigns on a range of issues, crafting distinctive, relational messaging honed through polling, focus groups, and target audience analysis to help the American public better understand the inner workings of law and policy. She is an experienced keynote speaker and has spoken on and worked throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia on legal and human rights issues, including debates and lectures at legal seminars on philosophy, political theory, history, constitutional jurisprudence, and public policy analysis, as well as training attorneys nationwide to litigate human rights issues. Her award-winning work has appeared extensively in national and international media.

Currently, in addition to her law practice, Catherine serves as President & CEO of First Rights Global, an international nonprofit organization founded on the principles that every life matters; that everyone deserves dignity, compassion, and a chance to flourish; and that while human rights are universal, they demand our advocacy and concrete support to be tangible, especially for the vulnerable, marginalized, and defenseless..

Prior to joining First Rights Global, Catherine served for six years as President & CEO of Americans United for Life, America’s original national pro-life organization and the nation’s premier pro-life legal team. AUL’s legal strategists were involved in every pro-life case before the U.S. Supreme Court from Roe v. Wade to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and pioneered the state-based model legislative strategy, which worked to save lives right away while undermining the so-called “reliance” interest adopted by the Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992): the false idea that women “rely” on abortion to succeed in American society. Under Catherine’s leadership, AUL tripled in size, celebrated both its 50th anniversary and the overturn of Roe, achieved the enactment of hundreds of laws to protect fundamental human rights, and pursued and refined strategies to value and advance the rights, interests, and perspectives of everyone involved in human rights conflicts such as abortion.

Catherine also spent seven years with Alliance Defending Freedom at its Washington D.C. offices, where she was litigation counsel advocating for the dignity of all human life in federal and state trial and appellate courts, and led ADF efforts in the areas of euthanasia, assisted suicide, excellence in care, advance directives, and related topics, as well as training attorneys nationwide on how to litigate such cases.

Catherine then founded and managed a law practice focusing on respect for the sanctity of human life and support for like-minded organizations; served as General Counsel for healthcare providers, nonprofit research and policy organizations, and churches; and led Euthanasia Prevention Coalition USA as Executive Director. Her other clients included Alliance Defending Freedom, Charlotte Lozier Institute, and Concerned Women for America.

Catherine serves as a member of the board of directors for And Then There Were None, Christian Legal Society D.C. Metro Chapter, Democrats for Life of America, the Journal of St. Sebastian, and Rockville Women’s Center, where she served as President for seven years; as an advisory board member for the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity; and as working groups chair at Vanguard.

Catherine earned her J.D. at Georgetown University Law Center and also holds an M.A. in French from the University of South Florida, with a thesis on the effects of the interwar French mandate in Syria and Lebanon on the modern Middle East, and a B.A. in History and French from Berry College.

Catherine is admitted to the bar in Virginia and Washington DC, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 1st, 5th, 8th, and 9th Circuits; and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. She is a member of the American Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association, an inaugural member of the Federalist Society Founders Club, Senior Fellow in Legal Policy at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, and a fellow with the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights and the American Founding.