Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of Q&As with leading women in the legal profession, in honor of National Women’s History Month. They were conducted and written by the legal recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa.

Ellen Koplow, the executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of TD Ameritrade, started her legal career in private practice. She spent the first 15 years of her professional career developing her private practice and became managing partner of the Columbia, Maryland, office of Miles and Stockbridge at age 35. At 39, Ellen was approached to go in-house at TD Ameritrade by its general counsel to help develop the legal department and support the growing technology group. “At that point, I had created a good career with a good reputation in the community, so I decided to see where a new path might take me,” she says. In November 2000, she was named acting general counsel, and in 2001, she became general counsel.