Kristen K. Waggoner serves as general counslel with Alliance Defending Freedom. ADF is a faith-based legal advocacy organization that protects fundamental freedoms and promotes the inherent dignity of all people. ADF engages in litigation, legislative work, training, funding, and public advocacy with over 400 team members and 4,500 network attorneys. ADF also provides legal counsel to over 3,500 churches and ministries through its Ministry Alliance program. Since 2011, ADF has represented the winning parties in 14 U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission and Uzuebgunam v. Presczewski, which Waggoner argued at the Supreme Court. She will argue her third case at the U.S. Supreme Court during the fall of 2022.
Waggoner has extensive experience in civil litigation, and in employment, education, nonprofit, and constitutional law. After clerking with Washington Supreme Court Justice Richard B. Sanders and interning with U.S. Rep. Linda Smith, Waggoner joined Ellis, Li & McKinstry, a Seattle law firm, where she served as a partner from 2004 until she joined ADF in 2013. At ELM, Waggoner participated as counsel in hundreds of legal matters including constitutional cases such as Andersen v. King County (same-sex marriage), Stormans v. Wiesman (pharmacists’ conscience rights), State ex rel Gallwey v. Grimm (financial aid to religious university students), and State v. Hamlin (clergy-penitent privilege).
Waggoner is Peer Review Rated AV® Preeminent™ in Martindale-Hubbell. Washington Law & Politics selected her as a “Rising Star” for many years, and she is a sought-after national speaker on legal and cultural issues. She regularly comments on religious freedom issues in television, radio, and print media. Waggoner is admitted to practice in multiple states, the Supreme Court, and numerous federal district and appellate courts.
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303 Creative, Free Speech, and Supreme Court Practice
Notre Dame Student Chapter
Notre Dame Law School1100 Eck Hall of Law
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Panel 1: The First Amendment Under Attack
Inaugural Arkansas Chapters Conference
Red & Blue Events Venue1415 W. 7th Street
Little Rock, AR 72201
Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski: From Campus to SCOTUS
Texas Student Chapter
Zoom Webinar -- University of TexasVirtual
Austin, TX 78705
Masterpiece Cakeshop, the First Amendment and Non-Discrimination Law
New Hampshire Student Chapter
Zoom Webinar -- University of New Hampshire2 White Street
Concord, NH 03301
15th Annual Orange County Religion & The Law Symposium
Orange County Lawyers Chapter
Fowler School of Law at Chapman University1 University Dr
Orange, CA 92866