Catherine “Catt” Burton was born in Houston, Texas, to two native Oklahomans (her father from Capitol Hill and her mother from a dairy farm north of Shawnee). At eleven, she moved to Oklahoma to her mother’s hometown of Shawnee. Catt graduated from Shawnee High School many years ago and went on to the University of Oklahoma, where she spent seven years earning two degrees. While at OU, she was a member of the President’s Leadership Class, Mortar Board, OU Women’s Chorus, and President of Walker Tower for two years, to name a few.

While in law school and after graduating from the University of Oklahoma College of Law, she worked for the Oklahoma County Public Defender’s office for 7 and ½ years as a law clerk, intern, and Assistant Public Defender. After that, she spent over eleven years in private practice focusing on criminal Defense, which included having her own firm and working with John W. Coyle III, for many years. She represented thousands of Oklahoma citizens through those years.

After private practice, Catt was a Team Leader over all Diversion/Treatment Court Programs and Misdemeanors in the Oklahoma County DA’s Office, where she worked for 14 years. In 2011, she helped start the Oklahoma County Veterans’ Diversion Program for David Prater, a program that gives veterans in criminal trouble a second chance to learn to “live life on life’s terms since or because of their service.” She was also part of starting the REMERGE, Female Diversion, DUI Court, and Alcohol Diversion Programs for Oklahoma County. In 2019, she helped Oklahoma County receive a grant to start a Veterans Treatment Court, which has been operating at full-strength for almost four years. 

Catt is a former Board Member at OKC Metro Alliance, which operates Mens’ and Womens’ Firstep and the Public Inebriate Alternative (PIA) here in Oklahoma City. All of these programs serve to help others get sober and live a sober productive life.

Judge Burton is now a Special Judge in Oklahoma County, where she was appointed by the Oklahoma County District Judges on December 1, 2020. One of her responsibilities is handling the Oklahoma County Mental Health Treatment Court, which has almost tripled in the last two years to 280 participants. She is humbled and honored that she has been given the opportunity to serve as a Special Judge for Oklahoma County.  

Judge Burton is married to her prince, Scott Anderson, who is an attorney in Oklahoma City. They have been married 20 years and have a daughter, Delaney (who is eighteen in March and in her last semester at Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School) and Buddy, a nine year-old Cocker (who is sure he is one of their children)! She is an active lector and Eucharistic Minister in her church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, and previously served on the Archdiocesan Review Board for sixteen (16) years. What little spare time she has is spent at Delaney’s activities, volunteering, baking, and watching movies that have happy endings!