Katherine Leatherman "Kate" Adams is an American attorney and corporate lawyer who has served as the

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

and senior vice president of legal and global security at

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

since 2017.

Early life and education

Katherine Leatherman Adams was born on April 20, 1964 in New York City, the daughter of John Hamilton Adams and Patricia Brandon (Smith) Adams. In 1986, she earned a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in comparative literature with French and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

concentrations from Brown University, and, in 1990, a Juris Doctor degree from the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...

, where she was the recipient of the

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...

Career

After graduation, Adams worked as a law clerk for Stephen Breyer, then chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit; as a trial attorney for the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

, Appellate Section, Environment and Natural Resources division; and as a law clerk for associate justice Sandra Day O'Connor of the Supreme Court of the United States. She then joined the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

-based law firm

Sidley Austin Sidley Austin LLP is an American multinational law firm with approximately 2,000 lawyers in 20 offices worldwide. The firm's headquarters is at One South Dearborn in Chicago's Loop. The firm specializes in a variety of areas in both litigatio ...

, working in its

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

office for ten years as an associate and then as a Partner. In 2003, she moved to

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...

, where she worked for fourteen years, becoming the senior vice president and general counsel. She was in charge of the organization's global legal strategy for its 128,000 workforce in more than 100 countries, and managed the full range of the company's legal affairs. Adams joined Apple Inc. on October 6, 2017, replacing the retiring Bruce Sewell as general counsel and SVP of legal and global security. Adams has also taught law at

New York University Law School New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in New ...

and environmental law at Columbia University Law School.

Recognition

In September 2008, Adams and other influential New Jerseyans, including 2008

Nobel Prize in Economics The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...

winner

Paul Krugman Paul Robin Krugman ( ; born February 28, 1953) is an American economist, who is Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and a columnist for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, Krugman was ...

, were invited to an Economic round table hosted by Goldman Sachs' former chairman and CEO, ex-

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Jon Corzine Jon Stevens Corzine ( ; born January 1, 1947) is an American financial executive and retired politician who served as a United States Senator from New Jersey from 2001 to 2006 and the 54th governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. Corzine ran fo ...

. In 2009, she was also nominated for the ''NJBIZ'' "Best 50 Women in Business awards program" which recognizes "New Jersey's most dynamic and distinguished women in business today". In 2013, Adams was named "General Counsel of the Year" for companies whose revenue exceeds one billion dollars by ''NJBIZ''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Katherine L. 1964 births Living people Brown University alumni Columbia Law School faculty New York University School of Law faculty University of Chicago Law School alumni Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Lawyers from Chicago American legal scholars American women business executives American women academics American women lawyers Corporate lawyers Apple Inc. executives People associated with Sidley Austin Women legal scholars 21st-century American women

Early life and education

Career

Recognition

See also

References