Cathy Fleming
Partner

437 Madison Avenue • New York, New York 10022
Phone: 212-940-3783 • E-mail: cafleming@nixonpeabody.com
www.nixonpeabody.com

Practice
Litigation and Dispute Resolution
Corporate Governance & Regulatory
Government Investigations and White Collar Defense
Securities Litigation
Antitrust
Financial Services Litigation

Experience
Cathy Fleming’s practice has a particular focus on complex civil litigation, white collar criminal cases, money laundering, international extraditions, securities, employment, antitrust and environmental law. She has tried more than 50 cases to verdict, most of which have been in federal courts, including in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California. Cathy regularly conducts internal integrity audits and investigations for corporations and public bodies. She also provides counsel to corporate management and committees and has represented members of Special Committees in defense against shareholder complaints in federal and state tender offer litigation.

Cathy regularly represents large companies or its executives in investigations, including in connection with securities cases in all fora, including criminal investigations, SEC enforcement proceedings, class actions and other civil cases. Cathy regularly represents major brokerage houses in arbitrations, often in cases involving millions of dollars. Cathy has significant experience in representing public accounting companies.

Cathy has tried to verdict, in both state and federal courts, employment cases on a variety of issues ranging from hostile work environment, retaliation, wrongful termination and violation of restrictive covenants.

Until August 2007, Cathy served as President of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL). In connection with her work for NAWL, Cathy also counsels corporations and law firms on implementing and enriching diversity initiatives.

Much of Cathy’s work cannot be described since it involves preventing cases from becoming public.  Cathy’s notable public experience includes:

• Lead counsel in defense of SEC enforcement cases involving various industries.
• Defense of public accounting firm in numerous proceedings stemming from frauds committed by accounting firm clients.
• In a case receiving international press attention, Cathy successfully defended four times federal extradition attempts of Mario Ruiz Massieu, the former deputy attorney general of Mexico. She thereafter successfully prevented his deportation by convincing a federal court that the statute on which the Government relied was unconstitutional. United States v. Reno, District of New Jersey, 1996.
• In a case of first impression, Cathy obtained the decision of a federal court requiring the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey to retract a report published on its website which revealed grand jury materials and ordered the United States Attorney to apologize to her client, a former Lieutenant Governor of Texas. United States v. Smith, District of New Jersey, 1996.
• Cathy co-tried to a successful verdict an environmental case involving migration and fate of DNAPLs and LNAPLs. Gussack v. Xerox, Southern District of New York, 2000.
• Cathy defended the only distributor of frozen food who went to trial in the federal criminal antitrust case prosecuting suppliers of frozen food and produce to the New York City Board of Education.
• Cathy defended former Newark Mayor Kenneth Gibson against an 18 count indictment. The 10 week federal prosecution resulted in a hung jury.

In June 2007, Cathy was named a Woman of Power & Influence by the National Association of Women Lawyers. Cathy has been a guest commentator for Court TV and other media. She has served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of New Jersey, including as Chief of the Special Prosecutions Unit. In 1987, Cathy was awarded the Department of Justice's prestigious Special Commendation award. Cathy has been recognized since 2006 as New York SuperLawer by Law & Politics magazine for her work in the area of Criminal Defense: White Collar. Cathy is also fluent in French.

Education
Columbia University School of Law, J.D.
Mount Holyoke College, B.A., cum laude

Admissions
Cathy is admitted in New York and New Jersey. She is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals, Second, Third and Fifth Circuits; and the U.S. District Courts, District of New Jersey, and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Affiliations
Cathy served until August 2007 as President of the National Association of Women Lawyers, the oldest women's bar association in the United States. She has been a member of the Executive Board of NAWL since 2004 and currently serves as Immediate Past President. Since 1997, Cathy has served as a Trustee of the Historical Society for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. For four years, she served as a Member and Hearing Chairman for the New Jersey Supreme Court Ethics Committee, District V, Essex County.  Cathy is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Recent Publications
“ ‘Invisible’ Attorneys Seek Notice,” co-author, National Law Journal, October 23, 2006.

 “Corporate Integrity Audits and Preventing the Criminal Inquiry,” chapter author, Winning Legal Strategies for Corporate Governance: Leading Lawyers on Effective Programs for Understanding Regulations, Maintaining Compliance, and Avoiding Liability (Inside the Minds series), 2005.

“Protecting the Audit Committee,” author, GC New York, October 11, 2005.

“Integrity, New Audit Committee Issue,” GC New York, October 12, 2004.

“Federal Sentencing After A Jury Loss,” The Connecticut Law Tribune, March 2002.

“Protecting the General Counsel,” Co-Author. (This article has appeared in numerous publications.)

Recent Presentations
Speaker, NAWL Reception, San Francisco, CA, August 10, 2007.

Master of Ceremonies and Speaker, NAWL Annual Meeting, New York, NY, August 2, 2007.

Speaker, “Mealey’s Women in the Law Teleconference Series: From Associate to Partner – Advancing in Your Firm,” Nexis Lexis, July 24, 2007.

Speaker, “Special Ethics Issues Relating to Antitrust,” Pharmaceutical Antitrust Conference, Practicing Law Institute, Washington, D.C., April 27, 2007.

Panelist, New Jersey Women’s Lawyer Association’s program, “Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Women’s Success in the Law,” held March 22, 2007 at Seton Hall University School of Law.

Keynote Speaker, 2007 CLO Leadership Forum, New York, NY, March 14, 2007. 

Speaker, Practicing Law Institute, “Handling Intellectual Property Issues in Business Transactions 2007 – Ethics Issues,” New York, NY, March 13, 2007.

Speaker, Pennsylvania Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession (WIP) Philadelphia Mid-Year Event, Philadelphia, PA, February 22, 2007.

Speaker, NAWL Mid-Year Meeting, Miami, FL, February 8, 2007.

Speaker, NAWL’s Women Lawyers General Counsel Institute, New York, NY, October 2006.

Speaker, NAWL Annual Meeting, New York, NY, July, 2006.

Panelist, “Examining Criminal, Civil and Administrative Implications of Federal Inquiries, Deferred Prosecution Agreements, Attorney-Client Privilege Issues,” The Thirtieth Annual United States Judicial Conference for the District of New Jersey:  Trying a Civil Case in the District of New Jersey and Representing Corporations and Corporate Officers in Federal Investigations, West Orange, NJ, March 23, 2006. 

Panelist, “Principles of Cross Examination in Federal Court: Testimony from the Masters,” Association of the Federal Bar of the State of New Jersey, West Orange, NJ, November 16, 2005.

Speaker, NAWL's Women Lawyers General Counsel Institute, New York, NY, November 7-8, 2005.

Panelist, “Board Opportunities for Women Lawyers - What, Why and How,” National Conference of Women's Bar Association and NAWL, New York, NY, October 28, 2005.

Speaker, Practicing Law Institute, “Special Ethics Issues for Attorneys Participating in Patent Pools and Standards-Setting Bodies,” Washington, D.C., October 13, 2006.

Panelist, “Blakely/Booker/FanFan: Implications, Strategies and Remedies,” Seventh Annual CJA Seminar, New York, NY, January 29, 2005.

Moderator, “Developing Client Relationships: The Process, Practice and Impact on Your Career,” National Association of Women Lawyers' CLE Series, “Taking Charge of Your Career: Best Practices for Women Lawyers,” New York, NY, October 22, 2004.

Presenter, “Check 21: Risk Implications,” 15th Annual Economic Crime Institute Conference entitled “The Rules Have Changed: Preparing for the New World of Risk Assessment,” Tysons Corner, McLean, VA, October 24-26, 2004.

Recent Awards
In June 2007, the National Organization for Women in New York City honored Cathy with a “2007 Woman of Power & Influence Award,”  recognizing her among women who have forged their way to the top of their fields and become role models for female professionals.