I first met Cathy Kaplan when I was a young associate at Brown & Wood in New York. She was one of the lead partners in the firm’s renowned securitization practice and was known for specializing in esoteric assets. She was hard charging, worked hard and expected those who worked with her to do so as well. In fact, the first meeting I ever had with her in those days was on a Sunday afternoon—in the office!

The daughter of two lawyers, Cathy attended Yale as one of a small number of women in the second class of women fully admitted to Yale. While at Columbia Law School, the New York City native worked with Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU before pursuing corporate law. As her interest in corporate law evolved, she began specializing in municipal financing. The 1986 Tax Reform Act effectively reshaped the municipal bond industry, and Cathy has said she took the change as a chance to explore the area of securitization, a then-nascent field, even though it was a professional risk. In time, it became obvious that she had an early vision of the potential for securitization that few people foresaw. From being one of the first two women partners at Brown & Wood (which later merged with Sidley Austin), she co-headed Sidley’s global finance group for 14 years and served on the firm’s executive committee upon the merger with Brown & Wood.