Robert Reinstein to step down after 19 years - Temple University ...

Marina Kats ’88Youngest member ever to join Centennial SocietyPicture this: central castingneeds a glamorous womanto play the part of theassistant district attorney onLaw & Order. She must lookfearless in her power suitand be able to ambulatebriskly in stiletto heels. Topit off with a mane of hair thatwhispers, “I’m worth it” in ashampoo ad.Marina Kats could get thepart. But she’s no actress—she’s the real thing. Kats is thepresident of the law firm ofKats, Jamison, Van der Veen &Associates. Located inFeasterville, Pa., the firmspecializes in civil and criminal litigation. “We don’t encourage ourclients to settle. We’re trained to go to court,” she says. And thattraining has resulted in several multi-million dollar verdicts whichhave provided her with a grand lifestyle, the means to become amajor real estate investor, and the ability to emerge as a benefactorof causes and institutions that are dear to her heart.Prosperity has not prompted her to forget her roots. She wasborn in Kiev, Ukraine, when it was part of the Soviet Union. There,her family had a relatively comfortable life style. “I am an onlychild,” she explains. “My mother was an economist and my fatherwas the director of a state food distribution chain. I received a goodeducation there but I was aware that some crucial human rightswere lacking. I believed in freedom of expression and freedomof religion and this was not possible in the Soviet Union. At 15I told my parents that I planned on going to Israel. They worriedabout my going into the army so they agreed to go instead to theUnited States.”The Katses left in 1979 when she was 17. None of them spokea word of English. Was she afraid of the adjustment to anotherculture and the economic privations that it entailed? “No,” she says.“When you’re 17, you’re afraid of nothing. But my parents knewthat it would be difficult for them to achieve the success theyenjoyed in the Soviet Union. It is the natural instinct of parents tosacrifice for their children.”They arrived in Philadelphia in August, settled into a crampedapartment in the Northeast and lived off a small stipend from theJewish Family Service. Kats attended a children’s course inEnglish as a second language in the morning and an adult classin the afternoon. By September she had enrolled at PhiladelphiaCommunity College, takingonly math courses becauseher English vocabulary waslimited. Her dictionary was herbest friend.The following year sheenrolled at Temple and paid herway with loans and by working ata dental office as an interpreterand later became a dentalassistant. “I had many jobs,sometimes two jobs, sometimesthree,” she says. She thoughtabout a career in medicine buteventually set her sights on thelaw. “I thought I could helpmore people as a lawyer,” she says. In her busy scheduleshe also managed to fit in a marriage to a fellow Russian émigré.“At Temple Law School,” she says, “I had wonderful professors,the work was challenging, and I made amazing friends with whomI’m still close.”For the first six years out of law school she worked as a litigator,taking two weeks off for the birth of her daughter Kelsey (now 16)and three days off for the birth of her daughter Alexandra (now 9).Currently, she is a single mom.In 1995 she established her own law firm, which by now hasgrown to ten lawyers with offices in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.And she was featured in Philadelphia Magazine as a PhiladelphiaSuper Lawyer in 2004.She was also honored for her business acumen by Real Phillymagazine when she was named a Woman of the Year in 2005 andone of the 50 Best Business Women in the Commonwealth in1997; her portfolio of real estate holdings have included shoppingcenters and center city properties. And she serves as the head ofthe Russian-American Chamber of Commerce and hosts a call-inradio show in Russian on legal and civic issues.Kats is also an active member of the boards of Albert EinsteinHospital, HIAS, and the Philadelphia Committee to EndHomelessness. High up on the long list of the institutions shesupports with her time and money is the Beasley School of Law.When her gift to Temple enabled her to join the Centennial Societyin 1991, just three years after she graduated, she was the youngestalumnus to ever become a member.And now she has made a new $100,000 gift to the law schoolwhere a trial advocacy classroom will be named in her honor. Witha toss of her head she explains, “Temple Law School was the besttime of my life; it gave me the tools to do what I do.”—-Ruth W. SchultzTEMPLE ESQ. WINTER 2007 • 19