Cathy Yu is Special Counsel at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP.
Cathy joined the firm after serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Labor, during which time she implemented Secretarial and Administration priorities as a member of the Senior Executive Service and the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs leadership team. Cathy led the Department’s oversight response processes, including maintaining relationships with Congressional oversight bodies, coordinating responses with the White House and other federal agencies, generating strategic oversight productions, and preparing Department officials for appearances at Congressional proceedings.
Before joining the Department, Cathy was the Director of Labor and Health Oversight at the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor under Chairman Bobby Scott, where she led the Labor and Health oversight team in executing all aspects of Congressional investigations.
As the Staff Director of the Economic Opportunity Subcommittee on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Veterans' Affairs under Ranking Member Tim Walz, Cathy’s team was responsible for policy changes that improved veterans' economic outcomes through education, workforce development, and housing programs. She also served on both the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging as part of Senator Claire McCaskill’s oversight and investigations team.
Before her time in Washington D.C., she was an Assistant Attorney General of Illinois, an Assistant Counsel to the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, and began her career as a litigator in the Chicago office of DLA Piper.
Cathy received her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and B.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.