Public Finance Partner Cat Woltering on Connecting from Day One
Bringing together experience across the affordable housing lifecycle
Lateral partners bring established experience and client relationships while gaining access to new colleagues and capabilities across the firm. In this Attorney Spotlight, Christine B. Cottrell, Senior Manager of Lateral Partner Recruiting, speaks with Partner Catherine E. Woltering about her transition to Robinson+Cole, the relationships she has built across practices, and how the firm’s integrated platform supports her public finance and affordable housing work.
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Read our cookie policy.Christine B. Cottrell (Christine): What was your impression of the firm during the recruiting process? How has that manifested itself?
Catherine E. Woltering (Cat): I was really struck by the combination of sophisticated work, genuine collaboration, and collegiality. Robinson+Cole clearly had excellent lawyers, but it also seemed like a place where people across practices truly worked together to solve client problems. In public finance and affordable housing, that kind of teamwork is not just a bonus; it is practically part of the closing checklist.
That first impression has held true. My practice focuses on public finance, and through our affordable housing industry team, we bring together experience in real estate, land use, public finance, tax, and agency matters to support clients throughout the affordable housing lifecycle. During the recruiting process, people talked about collaboration, and once I arrived, I saw that it was not just an interview talking point but genuinely how the firm operates.
Christine: What advice would you give to other laterals joining Robinson+Cole about how to make the most of their first year?
Cat: Start getting to know people across the firm as early as you can. As a lateral, it is easy to stay focused on your existing matters and immediate practice group while you are learning new systems, seeing new faces, and figuring out where everyone keeps the metaphorical, and sometimes literal, coffee.
One of the great things about Robinson+Cole is how much you can learn from people outside your immediate practice group, so it is worth looking beyond your own group. If your work touches several disciplines, as mine does, that first year is a great time to build relationships with colleagues in complementary areas. Those relationships improve client service, help you understand everything the firm offers, and make the transition much more enjoyable.
Christine: Can you share how your practice is a good fit here and the value you aim to bring to clients?
Cat: Robinson+Cole is such a good fit because of the firm’s affordable housing industry team and the ability to support clients throughout the affordable housing lifecycle. Affordable housing projects are multi-layered and having that breadth of experience in one place allows us to bring in the right people at the right time.
The value I try to bring is practical, strategic guidance that helps keep complex projects moving. Clients usually need more than an answer to one isolated legal question, so I help navigate financings and transactions that can involve public-sector participation, agency considerations, real estate issues, tax questions, and long-term project goals—often all at once. They need someone who can see how all the pieces fit together over the life of a project. My goal is to offer advice that is clear, coordinated, and genuinely useful, without turning every call into a graduate seminar on bond documents, unless everyone agrees in advance and snacks are provided.
Christine: What do you enjoy most about working with your colleagues?
Cat: My colleagues are incredibly knowledgeable and very practical. People are generous with their time, quick to engage, and focused on helping the client reach the right answer. There is also a shared understanding that collaboration is not simply about adding more lawyers to an email chain, although we are lawyers, so there will inevitably be an email chain. It is about bringing the right perspective to the table at the moment it can be most helpful.
It’s energizing to be at a firm where the platform matches the ambition—and where the people are genuinely enjoyable to work with, which matters quite a bit when the closing calendar starts to look like a logic puzzle.
Christine: Outside the practice of law, what do you enjoy doing?
Cat: I value spending time with my family and friends, being outdoors, hiking, skiing, and finding ways to stay connected to my community, like serving as the Vice-Chair for my town’s Planning Commission. Like many lawyers, I have strong opinions about coffee, Oxford commas, and how much detail belongs in an agenda.
I am always happy to find a good reason to step away from my inbox and remember that the world includes things other than bond documents, calendar invites, and “quick questions” that are rarely quick.
Cat’s experience reflects the collaborative culture she first encountered during the recruiting process. Through her work in affordable housing and public finance, she provides practical and coordinated guidance throughout the affordable housing lifecycle. Lateral attorneys interested in a collaborative culture and opportunities for cross-practice growth are encouraged to connect with the Robinson+Cole’s legal recruiting team to learn more.
