Katherine C. McCollam

I was born and raised in Northern Virginia, having graduated from Chantilly High School.  I received my Bachelor of Science from James Madison University. At JMU, I played for the women’s soccer team as a collegiate scholarship athlete. Upon graduation, I moved to San Diego, California, to continue my work with children with severe emotional disabilities. My experience with these young children – many of whom suffered abuse and neglect – guided my decision to attend law school.

I received a Juris Doctorate from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C. in 2010. In law school, I focused my studies in trial advocacy, family law, criminal law and juvenile law. During my first year in law school, I co-founded the Street Law Program at the Columbus School of Law, designed to introduce local high school students to basic concepts and areas of the law. Each year, the Street Law Program took the high school students to the Supreme Court of The United States of America for the students to tour the courthouse and to observe live oral arguments surrounding a topic that we had been studying. In the second year of the program, we expanded our services to include one-on-one academic and career mentoring between the law school students and the high school students. In my final year of law school, the Street Law program earned the Dean’s Award. The Street Law program has continued to thrive at the Columbus School of Law.

To gain real world experience outside of the law school classroom, I interned at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, assisting the Juvenile Department in criminal matters and research. I completed a summer clerkship with The Honorable Kimberly J. Daniel in the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, observing and learning the intricate workings of the juvenile court both in the courtroom and outside of the courtroom.

In 2010, upon graduation from law school, I was selected for a one-year judicial clerkship with The Honorable Lon E. Farris in the Prince William County Circuit Court. As a judicial law clerk, I was tasked with researching and analyzing a wide variety of legal matters, to include family law, criminal law and general civil litigation. The clerkship provided me with invaluable experience that has helped shape my view of the practice of law and advocacy. In 2011, I joined Maureen A. Kersey, PLLC, where I gained instrumental experience, honing my trial advocacy skills. Four years later, I opened my solo practice focusing on the areas of family law, juvenile law and criminal law.

In 2016, I partnered with Jessica Foster, Esq. and we founded our law firm, Foster McCollam, PLLC.  For the past two years, our law firm has been focused on family, juvenile and criminal law.  

I am a member of the Virginia State Bar, in good standing. I am qualified in the Prince William County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court to accept court appointments for adults in criminal, child support, and child protective services matters and to accept court appointments for juveniles in delinquency matters.

I am a member of the Prince William County Bar Association and I am committed to remaining active in the Bar Association. Currently, I serve as the Juvenile Court-Appointed Coordinator and I am a member of the Judicial Selection Committee. I am also a director of the Prince William County Bar Foundation, which supports programs such as Beat the Odds.  I was previously selected by the judges of the Prince William County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court to serve on the Juvenile Court Model Discovery Committee and I worked with my colleagues to produce the Court’s now active model discovery for custody, vistiation and child support proceedings.

My current practice areas include:

• Family Law: custody, visitation, petitions for paternity, child support (including DCSE cases), abuse & neglect proceeding involving CPS, CPS investigations, CPS administrative hearings and appeals, termination of parental rights, pre-marital agreements, separation agreements, contested and uncontested divorce for both opposite and same-sex marriages.

• Special Immigrant Juvenile Status at the state level for undocumented children facing deportation proceedings.

• Criminal Law: adult and juvenile offenses, felonies and misdemeanors, police investigations.

• Traffic offenses: DUI, Reckless Driving, Driving without a License, Driving on a Suspended License, ASAP Violations, Speeding, Accidents, Moving Violations.

I am currently accepting cases in Prince William County/Manassas, Fairfax, Loudon, Fauquier, and other jurisdictions on a case-by-case basis.