Biography
Catherine Dowie is a senior associate overseeing MWL’s Boston, Massachusetts branch office. Catherine is licensed to practice in Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont, and is admitted in various federal District and Circuit courts. Catherine handles complex cases touching on wide-ranging topics including product liability, personal jurisdiction, conflict of laws, and federal preemption. Her background and focus is in healthcare litigation, including ERISA and health insurance matters running the gambit from traditional subrogation and coverage claims to provider billing disputes to class action and fraud claims brought against benefit plans. In addition to work at the trial level, Catherine has extensive appellate experience, and is in the process of expanding her appellate practice. In addition to her experience with merits briefing, she contributed to an amicus brief filed with the United States Supreme Court, obtained certiorari for a client before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and has argued before the Second Circuit.
Catherine boasts an undergraduate degree from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. A graduate of the Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Catherine graduated cum laude, with a concentration in Trial and Appellate Advocacy, and served as Comment Editor for Suffolk’s Journal of Health & Biomedical Law. In her time at Suffolk, she excelled at moot court, served as Judicial Intern for Judge Elspth B. Cypher of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, and went on to represent clients as a student attorney in three separate clinics, including Suffolk’s Supreme Court Clinic.
Before (and during) law school, Catherine worked full-time for The Phia Group. Her work at the Phia Group centered on ERISA and healthcare subrogation claims, including litigation. After graduating law school, Catherine served as a pro bono attorney in the Appellate Division of the Office of the Vermont Defender General, and went on to clerk for the Honorable Sarah A. L. Merriam, U.S. District Judge (D. Conn.) and the Honorable Benita Y. Pearson, U.S. District Judge (N.D. Ohio).
Catherine was born and raised in New Jersey, where she played a lot of tennis. After failing to earn a starting position on Smith College’s tennis team, she joined the debate society, which is how she met EJ, her husband. They have two Siberian cats, Bran and Arya, and a growing number of succulent plants. Catherine enjoys knitting, axe-throwing, comic books, and baking.
Education
Suffolk University Law School, Boston, MA
- Juris Doctor, Cum Laude, Evening Division, May 2018
Trial and Appellate Advocacy Concentration (with distinction) - Honors: Alexander Cella Book Award (Administrative Law); Jurisprudence Award (top grade), Civil Procedure; Dean’s List (‘14-‘18); Best Oral Advocate; Law Achievement and Sorgi Scholarships (merit-based, ‘15-‘18).
- Journal: Chief Comment Editor, Journal of Health & Biomedical Law
Smith College, Northampton, MA
- Bachelor of Arts, American Government and Computer Science, May 2012
Bar Admissions
Massachusetts, 2018
Vermont, 2018
New York, 2021
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
- U.S. District Court Southern District of Indiana
- U.S. District Court of Massachusetts
- U.S. District Court Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court Western District of New York
- U.S. District Court Northern District of New York
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of Wisconsin
Memberships
- Claims Litigation Management (CLM)
- National Association of Subrogation Professionals (NASP
- Self Insured Institute of America (SIIA)
Published Articles
Massachusetts’ High Court Declares Third-Party Inherent Diminution In Value Auto Damages Are Now Recoverable, published by Claims Pages, January 31, 2022.
Speaking Engagements
- Common Mistakes in Handling Personal Injury Subrogation: Identifying and Resolving Errors Prior to Settlement – August 16, 2023 – Webinar for Strafford Publishing.
- Health Subrogation Roundtable (Health Subrogation Series Part 9) – October 25, 2022 – MWL webinar presented to the public. Co-presented with Ryan L. Woody and Nancy A. Case.
- Navigating No-Fault Benefits (Health Subrogation Series Part 7) – August 23, 2022 – MWL webinar presented to public. Co-presented with Nancy A. Case and Stephen A. Smith.
- Fully-Insured and Non-ERISA Plans: Advanced Topics in Preemption and Anti-Subrogation Exceptions (Health Subrogation Series Part 6) – July 26, 2022 – MWL webinar presented to the public. Co-presented with Ryan L. Woody.
- ERISA Subrogation 101: Back to Basics (Health Subrogation Series Part 5) – June 21, 2022 – MWL webinar presented to public. Co-presented with Ryan L. Woody and Nancy A. Case.
- Post-Montanile Tracing and Stop Loss 101 (Health Subrogation Series Part 4) – May 24, 2022 – MWL webinar presented to public. Co-presented with Ryan L. Woody and Nancy A. Case.
- Understanding Form 5500s, Responding to 1024 Document Requests, and Addressing Arguments on Plan Delivery (Health Subrogation Series Part 3) – April 26, 2022 – MWL webinar presented to the public. Co-presented with Ryan L. Woody and Nancy A. Case.
- Whose Claim Is It Anyway (Health Subrogation Series Part 2) – March 22, 2022 – MWL webinar presented public. Co-presented with Ryan L. Woody and Nancy A. Case.
- From First Notice Letter to Courthouse Steps: How To Avoid, But Be Ready For, Litigation (Health Subrogation Series Part 1) – February 22, 2022 – MWL webinar presented to public. Co-presented with Ryan L. Woody and Nancy A. Case.