Family Law attorney skilled in negotiation, analysis, strategy and communication

Kathleen Rice began her career practicing law as a candidate attorney in South Africa in 1996 with a focus on family and property law. 

Today she lives in Kitsap County and has returned to working with clients on family law issues, such as divorce and child custody. She also advocates for tenants in landlord-tenant disputes. During her time in South Africa, she came to focus on telecommunication, broadcasting, media and technology law both as a university lecturer and an attorney. 

She was admitted to the Washington State bar in 2020. She also works with Kitsap Legal Services as a volunteer helping their clients with family law issues and as a contract attorney in tenant disputes.

Making Family Law cases clearer, easier, and less expensive for her clients

That is always Kathleen Rice’s goal. Key to that, she believes, is identifying the core issues for her clients. Her strongest motivation is that each client is satisfied with the outcome of the case. She brings many skills honed in corporate suites and high-stakes litigation to her work representing people with their very personal crises - skills such as negotiation, strategy, analysis, and communication. To all those skills she adds her passion for the law and a commitment to making justice accessible to the average person.

In South Africa her clients included multinational corporations many of whom are household names. She has been recognized by international ranking agencies as outstanding in those fields of law many times and was advisor on the ITU digital finance group, a program funded by the Gates Foundation. Kathleen was a director at DLA Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, one of South Africa’s top law firms, which was, at the time, a South African associate for DLA Piper LLP, one of the world’s largest law firms. Kathleen continues to provide South African legal advice to several South African and multinational companies, including companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

A natural for our Peninsula life

Kathleen Rice enjoys dancing, cycling and hiking. She began volunteering at West Sound Wildlife Shelter in 2014 as a wildlife rehabilitator and education bird handler. Her favorite is the Turkey Vulture, Princess Remi.

She is married to Chris and has two wonderful stepchildren, Hunter and Taylor. Her daughter Thandi lives in South Africa.

Bar Admissions

  • Washington State, 2020
  • Law Society of South Africa, 1998

Education

  • University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa LLB, 1996
  • The University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa BCom (with distinction), 1993
    • Major: Business Economics