Catherine van Kampen manages BLB&G’s Staff Attorney Group, which supports the firm’s litigators. Before rejoining the Staff Attorney Group, Catherine managed the firm’s class action settlement administration in the Settlement Department.
Catherine has extensive experience in complex litigation and litigation management, having served as a team leader and overseen attorney teams in many of the firm’s most high-profile cases during the 2008 financial crisis. Catherine has worked on more than two dozen high-value cases. Fluent in Dutch, she has served as the lead investigator and led discovery efforts in actions involving international corporations and financial institutions headquartered in Belgium and the Netherlands. She is certified in e-discovery and healthcare compliance.
Prior to joining BLB&G, Catherine focused on complex litigation initiated by institutional investors and the federal government. She has worked on litigation and investigations related to regulatory enforcement actions, corporate governance, and compliance matters, and has conducted extensive discovery in English and Dutch in cross-border litigation.
Since attending law school, Catherine has been deeply committed to pro bono service. Through her volunteer work, Catherine has advocated for social change and justice, particularly for immigrant and refugee women and children. As a member of the New York City Bar Association’s United Nations Committee, she spearheaded the highly successful and widely praised International Law Conference on the Status of Women, Pro Bono Engagement Fair, Epiq’s Women Organization Awards, and Huntington Bank’s Her Hero Awards, featuring the Under Secretary and Special Representative to the Secretary General of the United Nations for the Prevention of Violence Against Women, and other progressive women advocates from New York’s legal community.
A committed humanitarian, Catherine was honored as the 2018 Ambassador Medalist at the New Jersey Governor’s Jefferson Awards for Outstanding Public Service for her international humanitarian and pro bono work with refugees. The Jefferson Awards, issued by the Jefferson Awards Foundation founded by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, are awarded by state governors and are considered America’s highest honor for public service bestowed by the U.S. Senate. Catherine was also honored in Princeton, New Jersey, by Stuart Country Day School, in its 2018 Distinguished Alumnae Gallery for her humanitarian and pro bono efforts on behalf of Yezidis and Christians afflicted by war in Iraq and Syria. In 2020, Catherine was accepted as a SHESOURCE legal expert advocating for the needs of immigrant and refugee women by the Women’s Media Center. In 2021, Catherine was appointed a Global Goals Ambassador for Clean Water and Sanitation by the United Nations Association of the USA.
Catherine is a recipient of several honors recognizing her pro bono work and commitment to social issues, including an invitation to attend the 2020 Tory Burch Foundation Embrace Ambition Summit and an appointment to the Advisory Board of the National Center for Girls’ Leadership in Princeton, New Jersey. In 2021, the President of Manhattan honored Catherine with a Certificate of Appreciation for her outstanding leadership in the advancement of human rights and she was honored as the 2021 Human Rights Leader of the Year by the Arts for All Foundation. In 2023, Catherine was nominated for Legal Women of the Year. She was a 2024 Honoree for the New Jersey State Governor’s Volunteer Awards’ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Champion for Justice and a Finalist for the New Jersey Legal Awards’ Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year by the American Lawyer Media’s New Jersey Law Journal. In 2025, Catherine received the Virginia S. Mueller Outstanding Member Award from the National Association of Women Lawyers for her podcast series on women lawyers. Catherine currently serves as a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council.
Catherine has conducted extensive legal research and co-authored legal articles in international law journals and magazines. She is an active member of the American Bar Association, American Bar Foundation, New York State Bar Association, New York City Bar Association, New Jersey State Bar Association, and the National Association of Women Lawyers. In 2020, Catherine was appointed to the NYSBA’s Leadership Development Committee for which she developed the NYSBA’s Leadership Academy for Lawyers and Profiles in Leadership series. In 2021, Catherine was appointed to the NJSBA’s Class Actions, International Law and Organizations, and Special Civil Part Committees. In 2022, she was appointed Co-Chair of the NYSBA’s Leadership Development Committee and Co-Chair of the American Bar Association's International Law Section — Women's Interest Network. Catherine was also appointed a Fellow at the American Bar Foundation in 2022. In 2023, Catherine was appointed Vice Chair of the National Association of Women Lawyers’ Podcast Committee. As part of her international pro bono legal work, she serves on several boards of international NGOs serving refugees and internally displaced persons in the Middle East and Africa and rescuing exploited and trafficked women and girls.
Catherine clerked for the Honorable Mary M. McVeigh in the Superior Court of New Jersey where she was trained as a court-certified mediator. While in law school she interned at the Center for Social Justice’s Immigration Law Clinic at Seton Hall University School of Law. Catherine is a Graduate of the American Inns of Court.