Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP announced today that associates Alana M. Ibarra and Sarah Ma were selected to participate in a program called Pathfinder,designed by the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) to train high-performing, early-career attorneys in critical career development strategies including leadership and the building of professional networks.

“Both Alana and Sarah have emerged as rising stars at Katten and will benefit greatly from the Pathfinder program,” said Katten Chief Diversity Partner Leslie D. Minier. “Katten is deeply committed to supporting diverse attorneys in their career progression at the firm and in the legal field. This valuable program provides another opportunityto help our high-potential attorneys enhance their skillsets and achieve their career goals.”

As an associate in Katten’s Commercial Finance practice in the Chicago office, Ibarra represents lead arrangers, administrative agents, secured and unsecured creditors, proprietary lenders, junior capital providers and borrowers, among others, in complex commercial lending transactions. She handles a wide range of financings including senior secured, unsecured, cash flow, asset-based and mezzanine debt, among others.

Ma, an associate in the Transactional Tax Planning practice in Katten’s Washington, DC office, counsels clients on a broad range of federal corporate and partnership tax matters, including joint venture structures, asset-backed securitizations, affordable housing projects and federal tax credit programs. She also advises on tax and compliance issues surrounding real estate investment trusts and serves on the Katten team helping investors and real estate professionals navigate the laws associated with Opportunity Zones.

The Pathfinder program will offer Ibarra and Ma practical tools for developing foundational leadership skills, internal professional networks and relationship-building skills through intensive in-person training, online experiential learning, and opportunities to network with their peers.

“We believe it’s a program that can help catapult a person’s career forward,”said LCLD President Robert J. Grey, Jr.

Founded in 2009, LCLD is a growing organization of more than 300 corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners who are personally committed to creating a truly diverse legal profession.

Katten is a full-service law firm with nearly 700 attorneys in locations across the United States and in London and Shanghai. Clients seeking sophisticated, high-value legal services turn to Katten for counsel locally, nationally and internationally. The firm’s core areas of practice include corporate, financial services, insolvency and restructuring, litigation, real estate, environmental and workplace safety, commercial finance, intellectual property, structured finance and securitization, and trusts and estates. Katten represents public and private companies in numerous industries, including a third of the Fortune 100, as well as a number of government and nonprofit organizations and individuals. For more information, visit www.kattenlaw.com.