Katie Townsend is the Litigation Director at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, an unincorporated nonprofit association of reporters and editors based in Washington, D.C. Townsend oversees the direct litigation work of RCFP attorneys, and represents RCFP, news organizations, and individual journalists, including investigative filmmakers, in court access, freedom of information, and other First Amendment and press freedom matters.

Prior to joining the Reporters Committee in 2014, Townsend was an associate in the Los Angeles office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where she specialized in media and entertainment litigation. In May 2014, she was named a "Rising Star" – one of the nation's top media and entertainment attorneys under the age of 40 – by Law 360. She was recognized in 2015 as a Washington, D.C. "Rising Star" by The National Law Journal and, in 2015, was named part of the "Next Gen - Hollywood's Up-and-Coming Execs 35 and Under" by the Hollywood Reporter. Townsend is a 2007 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was a member of the editorial board of the Virginia Law Review. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Florida in 2004 with a B.A. in English and a B.S. in broadcast journalism.