Catharina Min was just 13 years old when she first ventured into the working world. She mowed neighbors' lawns, babysat, cashiered and waitressed before making the leap into law. Min attributes her early exposure to work life with teaching her how to help and listen to people, the value of hard work and the importance of long-term goals.

Nowadays, Min serves as vice chair of the Business and Finance Department at Reed Smith, an international law firm where she has worked since 2007. Min specializes in several areas: mergers and acquisitions with an emphasis on cross-border transactions; high-tech and life sciences startups; and venture capital financing. In addition, she serves as vice chair of the firm’s Business and Finance Department. Min also has extensive experience representing Asian clients who do business in the U.S.

The now-former Virginia resident got her first taste of Northern California while working as a summer associate in San Francisco. After graduating law school, she relocated to the Bay Area and joined Cooley Godward as a corporate associate. Four years later, Min traveled to her native Seoul, Korea, to work as a senior foreign lawyer at Shin & Kim, returning to the Bay Area in 1998. She was a partner at Squire Sanders for nine years before joining Reed Smith’s Silicon Valley office.

Min is dedicated to community work that supports and strengthens the voice of Korean Americans. She is a founding board member of the Council of Korean Americans, and serves on the boards of the Korean American Chamber of Commerce, the International Association of Korean Lawyers and the Korean American Bar Association.

Read the full article at bizjournals.com.