Business Law Section Leadership: Episode 7: Blazing the Leadership Trail

In this episode, Shazia Ahmad talks with Kathleen S. McLeroy about her successful legal career and the skills, strategies, and opportunities that allowed her to assume not only a leadership position at her firm but also holding leadership positions in her bar and community organizations. Shazia Ahmad works on complex structured finance transactions involving a variety of asset classes at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP. She advises issuers, underwriters, borrowers, lenders, and service providers in these transactions, including drafting and reviewing transaction-related documents, performing due diligence and facilitating closings. Prior to joining Kramer Levin, Shazia gained finance and legal experience at Fortune 500 companies and global banking institutions. Shazia is the Chair of the Young Lawyer Committee and a member of the Marketing Board of the ABA Business Law Section. Kathleen S. McLeroy, a shareholder with CarltonFields in Tampa, and has extensive experience resolving disputes as a litigator, mediator, and arbitrator. As a trial lawyer, she has substantial experience representing creditors in disputes with debtors in all forums, including state court, federal court, bankruptcy court, and in arbitration proceedings. Kathy regularly arbitrates and mediates disputes arising from contract disputes between health care providers. She works with judgment holders to enforce and collect large commercial judgments, both domestic and international. She also represents commercial banks, mortgage holders, property owners, title insurers, and real estate developers in real property disputes and mortgage foreclosures. Clients seek her guidance on matters involving receivership law, and she serves as a real estate receiver and counsel for receivers. In 2004, Kathy was certified by the Florida Supreme Court as a circuit civil and county court mediator. She is also certified to serve as a mediator in matters pending before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. She mediates a variety of commercial disputes including commercial foreclosures, contract disputes, title disputes, and bankruptcy disputes. She is also qualified by the Florida Supreme Court to serve as a court-appointed arbitrator.