About us

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Kathleen A. Morse:

Kathleen A. Morse joined the law firm in July of 2007 with 28 years of legal experience, in a broad range of subject areas. After graduating cum laude from the University of Maryland School of Law, she worked for three years as a litigation attorney for the prestigious Washington, D.C. law firm of Arent, Fox, LLC. Her private firm work was followed by five years as a U.S. Army JAG officer, and then fifteen years as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Maryland.

As a JAG criminal defense attorney and then prosecutor, Ms. Morse tried crimes ranging from simple assault, to attempted murder, to child-rape, both in Germany and at Ft. Carson, Colorado. As a prosecutor, she was also responsible for advising a brigade commander on administrative law issues. At Ft. Carson, Ms. Morse advised the army post’s child protection and family advocacy team, as well as directing a legal team handling all military administrative discharges.

In 1987, Ms. Morse was appointed a Maryland Assistant Attorney General, remaining in the Army Reserves for several years before finally resigning as a Major. For the first seven years of her tenure as an Assistant AG, Ms. Morse focused on child welfare issues, serving as the lead legal counsel for the Maryland State Social Services Administration and then as the Chief Counsel for Baltimore City Department of Social Services. With the State Administration, she handled litigation in trial and appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court, as well as advising State officials on all child welfare legal issues. In her role as Chief Counsel, Ms. Morse directed an office of over 60 employees who investigated, prepared, and litigated child abuse, termination of parental rights, and adult protective services cases in the Baltimore courts. Ms. Morse was responsible for developing and implementing the computer tracking system for the Division’s 10,000 child abuse cases, and worked with the Juvenile Court Chief Judge to devise an on-line pleadings and filing system for the Court. She chaired the Maryland Bar Association’s Juvenile Law committee, which drafted a set of major revisions to the Maryland juvenile law statutes.

In 1995, Ms. Morse was appointed as the civil rights litigator for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she directed a team of eight attorneys and paralegals in litigating a major civil rights lawsuit in the U. S. District Court for the District of Maryland. She also handled various other trial and appellate cases for the Department, including a major Medicare appeal in the U. S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1998, she was asked to transfer to the Attorney General’s prestigious Civil Litigation Division, where she became the senior civil litigator. In that capacity, she handled several major lawsuits and trials in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and federal trial and appellate courts, in a vast number of subject areas, including tax, employment, health care, contract, and, especially, constitutional law issues. She was also responsible for reviewing appellate briefs, advising other Maryland Assistant Attorneys General, and creating and managing the Division’s internship programs.

Throughout her legal career, Ms. Morse has taught law, litigation, and writing. She was a constitutional law instructor at West Point while in the Reserves, and she taught child welfare law to social workers and as a guest lecturer at Loyola College in Baltimore. She held appointments for many years as an adjunct law professor at both the University of Maryland and the University of Baltimore Law Schools; and she taught legal writing and civil litigation to attorneys for many years, as well as English Composition at Colorado Mountain College.

Ms. Morse has won numerous awards during her legal career, including the U.S. Army Meritorious Service Medal; the Maryland Attorney General’s highest honor, the Jennifer Lauterbach Robbins Award for Outstanding Service in the humanities fields; the University of Maryland’s top award for moot court, Morris B. Myerowitz Moot Court Award; and the International Order of the Coif. She holds an AV rating in the Martindale-Hubbell peer-review system, which is the system’s highest level of achievement.

In 2003, Ms. Morse and her husband moved to Eagle-Vail, Colorado, where she maintained a solo family law and litigation practice. In 2007, Ms. Morse’ husband, Dr. Marc Shiffman, opened a solo internal medicine practice, Summit Internal Medicine, PLLC, in Frisco, and Ms. Morse joined Carlson, Carlson and Dunkelman, P.C., focusing on family law. She is licensed in Colorado and Maryland.

Ms. Morse and her husband ski and hike, and Ms. Morse enjoys sailing and swimming, as well. She indulges in needlework of all kinds. She and her husband love to travel, especially to Europe, and enjoy tasting and collecting wine. They have a custom mahogany wine cellar, which Ms. Morse built, designed especially for Colorado’s dry climate.

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