Kasia Park is a member of the firm’s Trial Services and Higher Education Groups. Her litigation practice includes a broad range of civil cases including municipal, civil rights, employment, and general commercial disputes. She represents clients in federal and state courts and has substantial jury trial experience. Kasia is also an experienced higher education attorney and serves as outside counsel to a college in Maine. A significant portion of her practice focuses on providing investigative and other services to educational institutions across the country, including in Title IX matters.

Civil Rights Defense

Kasia is the leader of the firm’s Civil Rights Defense Group. This area of her practice focuses on defending Section 1983 civil rights claims on behalf of a wide variety of clients including municipalities, law enforcement officers, and schools. Given the nature of these cases, Kasia has extensive jury trial experience in federal court. For example, in 2019, she obtained a favorable jury verdict in the defense of a police officer in the first civil rights deadly force case to be tried to a jury verdict in Maine in more than 40 years. She also had a two week jury trial in 2021 and a five-day jury trial in 2022. Kasia uses her breadth of experience in defending law enforcement officers to successfully litigate complex constitutional issues, including being well-versed in qualified immunity. She is also an experienced appellate lawyer and appears regularly before the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Higher Education and Title IX Services

Kasia provides comprehensive counseling and investigative services to educational institutions. She thoughtfully and carefully handles investigations involving employee or student complaints of harassment, discrimination, sexual misconduct, and other misconduct.  She also has experience conducting large-scale investigations, including allegations of hazing. Kasia has conducted these complex investigations both independently and in collaboration with the other experienced attorneys in the Higher Education Group for a team approach.

Kasia has experience in almost every aspect of the Title IX process, including policy development, advising Title IX Coordinators, serving as an advisor to students at live hearings, conducting external investigations, presiding over live hearings as the hearing officer, adjudicator, and decision-maker, and advising officials during appeals. By serving in these different roles, Kasia has developed a unique perspective that allows her to successfully navigate complex and sensitive allegations of sexual misconduct. She has conducted dozens of investigations for institutions across the country. She is thoughtful and thorough and ensures that her investigations are fair, comprehensive, and impartial.  Kasia’s experience as a litigator makes her well-suited to advise students during the grievance process, including conducting cross-examination at live Title IX hearings.

Kasia is a Maine native and is dedicated to serving her community. She is a member of Drummond Woodsum’s Community Service Committee, which plans and conducts service projects in the greater Portland area. In 2014, she received her former law firm’s award for pro bono attorney of the year for her work supporting guardians ad litem in child protection cases. Kasia has been listed as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer reviewed legal ranking. Kasia has served as an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at the University of Maine School of Law and regularly presents at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy during the New Chiefs and Sheriffs seminar.