Tamar Katz ’23: Translating Ideas Into Solutions

A former investment banker, Katz shares how discovering antitrust helped her find “a path for a more meaningful career” that still incorporated her interest in business and markets.

Hometown: Overland Park, Kansas

Why the Law: Tamar Katz knew she was interested in a career in antitrust, but at the start of law school, she couldn’t necessarily describe what she wanted her career to look like on a day-to-day basis. “Meeting teachers who had spent time in government in different roles—that really clarified for me the range of opportunities that existed for me after I graduated.” As the recipient of the 2023 Millstein Financial Regulation Fellowship, Katz will spend a year working at an executive agency. The fellowship is “an opportunity to learn about antitrust policy in a more policy-oriented setting,” she says.

Favorite Law School Support Team: “The biggest rock in my life is my fiancé. . . . It’s been really nice to watch my whole family really support whatever I was doing.” In 2020, when classes were remote due to the pandemic, Katz spent time away from New York with her family. “My grandparents were always so excited to hear about what I was learning. And one day when I was home, my first year of law school, I was watching a class on Zoom, so I literally put the class on the TV, and they were really excited to watch it with me.”

At Columbia Law: Recipient, Millstein Financial Regulation Fellowship; Columbia Business Law Review; Law and Political Economy Society; research assistant, Lev Menand, associate professor of law; research and teaching assistant, Tim Wu, Julius Silver Professor of Law, Science and Technology; James Kent Scholar; Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

After Columbia Law: Moving to Washington, D.C., to work at an executive agency as part of her Millstein Financial Regulation Fellowship. 

“A lot of law school is talking about ideas, but because these are legal ideas, these are ideas about how our society should be structured. And so in an ideal world, the best ideas actually do translate into concrete, implementable solutions that can hopefully make people’s lives better.”