The Business Law Section Diversity Fellowship Program is designed to assist a diverse and inclusive group of lawyers in becoming better leaders within our profession and the Business Law Section, while enhancing their leadership skills, as an encouragement and commitment to attract young and diverse lawyers to join, participate and ultimately serve in leadership positions of the Business Law Section. The Business Law Section will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Fellowship Program with the incoming 2023 class. Applications are being accepted until April 1st. The Inclusion/Mentorship/Fellowship Committee will be sharing Fellow Spotlights to allow the Section to get to know our outstanding current fellows on a weekly basis leading up to the application deadline.
If you know a dynamic business law attorney, encourage them to apply here.
Katherine Van de Bogart is a Class of 2021-2023 Fellow.
What kind of cases/matters excite you most to work on?
I enjoy representing clients in all types of business disputes. While money is usually the root of the problem in business litigation, there is always an emotional aspect that comes into play. Finding out a client’s goals and helping them achieve those goals is exciting and a very satisfying part of my job.
What do you wish you had known when you first started practicing law?
I wish I understood how important it is to use common sense when practicing law. I often got caught up in legal wording, complicated statutes and the technicalities of law. Having practiced now for over ten years, I realize that a lot of the way the law is written is based on common sense, and how I argue, needs to be simple, direct and also make sense. I would advise younger attorneys to write and argue in a way so that anyone can read it and understand what they are saying.
Do you have any pets?
I currently have one orange cat named Remington that I rescued last year.