In 1976, he graduated from
Rockhurst High School, a
Jesuit all-boys
preparatory school in
Kansas City, Missouri.
[1][8] At Rockhurst, Kaine joined the debate team and was elected student body president.
[2]
Kaine received his
B.A. in
economics from the
University of Missouri in 1979, completing his degree in three years and graduating
summa cum laude.
[1][2] He was a
Coro Foundation fellow in Kansas City in 1978.
[9] He entered
Harvard Law School in 1979, interrupting his law studies after his first year to work in
Honduras[10][11][a] for nine months from 1980 to 1981, helping Jesuit
missionaries who ran a
Catholic school in
El Progreso.
[7][14] While running a vocational center that taught carpentry and welding, he also helped increase the school's enrollment by recruiting local villagers.
[2] Kaine is fluent in
Spanish as a result of his year in Honduras.
[14]
After returning from Honduras, Kaine met his future wife, first-year Harvard Law student,
Anne Holton.
[2] He graduated from Harvard Law School with a
J.D. degree in 1983.
[15] Kaine and Holton moved to Holton's hometown of
Richmond, Virginia, after graduation,
[2] and Kaine was
admitted to the
Virginia Bar in 1984.
[8]
After graduating from law school, Kaine served as
law clerk to Judge
R. Lanier Anderson III of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in
Macon, Georgia.
[8] Kaine then joined the Richmond law firm of Little, Parsley & Cluverius, P.C.
[8] In 1987, Kaine became a director with the law firm of Mezzullo & McCandlish, P.C.
[8]Kaine practiced law in Richmond for 17 years, specializing in
fair housing law and representing clients discriminated against on the basis of
race or
disability.
[16] He was a board member of the Virginia chapter of Housing Opportunities Made Equal, which he represented in a landmark
redlining discrimination lawsuit against
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. arising from the company's practices in Richmond.
[17][18] Kaine won a $100.5 million verdict in the case; the judgment was overturned on appeal, and Kaine and his colleagues negotiated a $17.5 million
settlement.
[18]
Kaine did regular
pro bono work.
[17] In 1988, Kaine started teaching legal ethics as an
adjunct professor at the
University of Richmond School of Law.
[8][16] Kaine taught at the University of Richmond for six years, and his students included future
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring.
[16][19] He was a founding member of the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness.
[17]
