Cathy A. Fleming

Cathy A. Fleming

Education

• B.A., cum laude, Mount Holyoke College (1977)
• J.D., Columbia University School of Law (1979)

Admissions

• New York (Federal and State)
• New Jersey (Federal and State)

Practice

Cathy Fleming has been a trusted advisor to corporations, their boards, and individuals for more than 43 years. Her varied experience, including as a former federal prosecutor, enables her to counsel and represent boards and committees of both public and private companies, as well as provide valuable financial and management insight. Experienced in crisis management, she has performed a multitude of roles including spearheading internal investigations. A trial lawyer, Cathy has tried more than 60 cases to verdict, most of which have been in federal courts.
Cathy is a refugee from “Big Law.” Prior to founding Fleming. Ruvoldt PLLC, she was at Hodgson Russ, LLP, where she served both as Managing Partner of the New York City office and as Chair of the Tax Investigation and Defense Group. She also chaired the white collar department as a partner of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP.

She has served on not-for-profit boards, including as president. She acts as outside general counsel for corporations. She has been a manager in law firms with budget, P&L, and personnel oversight. Cathy regularly teaches courses related to ethics, fraud and trial skills.

Cathy represents large companies and their executives and employees in investigations, including criminal investigations, tax investigations, Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) enforcement proceedings, class-action lawsuits, and other civil cases. She represents major brokerage houses in arbitrations, often in cases involving millions of dollars. She has acted as co-lead counsel in securities litigation, acted as lead counsel in defense of a number of SEC enforcement cases involving various industries, and defended public accounting firms in numerous proceedings stemming from frauds committed by accounting firm clients. A significant portion of Cathy’s work cannot be disclosed, since the matters were never made public.

Honors

In 2008, the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association (NJWLA) honored Cathy with the NJWLA’s Platinum Award for Women’s Initiative & Leaders in Law. She was named a Woman of Power & Influence by the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 2007. Cathy was awarded the Department of Justice’s Special Commendation Award for her work as a federal prosecutor.  She has been recognized each year since 2006 as a New York Super Lawyer by Law & Politics magazine for her work in the area of white-collar criminal defense.

Affiliations

Cathy is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. She is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. She was a member of the ABA House of Delegates from 2007-09. She served as president of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL), the oldest women’s bar association in the United States, from 2006 to 2007, and was a member of the executive board of NAWL from 2004 to 2010. She is also a founding director of the NAWL Foundation and served on its board until 2014. From 2008 to 2012, Cathy served on the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Women in the Courts, and she served from 1997 to 2016 as a trustee of the Historical Society for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. For four years, she served as a member and hearing chair for the New Jersey Supreme Court Ethics Committee, District V, Essex County.