Ms. Civins received her B.A. degree in history with highest honors from the University of Oklahoma in 1968 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She then spent a year studying Russian at the Munich Institute for the Study of the U.S.S.R. She received a Master’s Degree in political science from Columbia University in 1972 and her J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 1975.

After law school, Katy joined the law department of Gulf Oil Corporation in Houston, Texas. She practiced law with Gulf from 1975-1984 in the litigation section, focusing on Title VII employment discrimination cases, working part-time from 1977 through 1980, and taking off 1980 through 1982, for family reasons. In 1984, she and her family moved to Austin.

In Austin, Ms. Civins practiced transactional real estate law from 1988-1990 with Alonzi and Neder, L.L.P. She thereafter retired from the practice of law to raise her children. Her community service and affiliations during that time included: co-chair of the Law School Class of 1975 30th and 35th Reunions; chair of the Mind and Spirit Committee of the First United Methodist Church from 2001-2005; co-chair of the Guidance Committee, Westlake High School from 1994-1998; and Chair of the Pebble Project Board from 1991-1992.

From 2006 to 2009, Ms. Civins worked at the University of Texas School of Law in the Development and Alumni Relations department, during which time she became one of the founders of the Center for Women in Law. In 2009, Ms. Civins retired to spend time with her grandchild, Gus Civins.

Ms. Civins’s husband, Jeff, and their two sons and daughter-in-law are also UT Law graduates.