Alumni Spotlight: Patricia O’Donnell, J.D. ’02
Most English majors don’t aspire to careers where numbers are essential. In fact, they actively avoid them.
Clearly, Patricia O’Donnell, J.D. ’02 isn’t most English majors.
O’Donnell works as an associate in the securities practice at White & Case in New York City. “I do structured finance, not the sexy IPOs you think of when you think securities law,” says O’Donnell, who serves as counsel to either underwriters or issuers in structured finance transactions called collatoralized debt obligations, or CDOs. “The subject matter was more interesting than I thought it would be,” she marvels. “If you had told me when I entered law school that I was going to like tax and securities, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
But there she is, structuring and documenting securities offerings for leveraged investment funds . Since beginning at White & Case in 2006, she has counseled major investment banks, including Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley.
Her work schedule varies, and ranges from non-stop to your typical eight-hour day. “Any time a deal is toward the end of its life cycle—about three-to-four weeks before it closes—I anticipate long hours and late nights,” O’Donnell says.
A dual citizen (United States and Ireland), she earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 and lived in Dublin, Ireland, after undergrad and before attending law school at Notre Dame.
“I absolutely loved law school, and so did my friends,” says O’Donnell. “But when I talk to other lawyers and ask them about their law school experience, it is very rare that people who did not go to Notre Dame say they loved law school.” She says that the close-knit community at Notre Dame helps to make it great. “The students are genuinely concerned about one another. People want to help each other. The friendships formed there are very close. It was a truly defining experience for me.”
O’Donnell adds that her professors’ knowledge went far beyond the subject matter found in the textbooks. “They have amazing real-world experience, and it comes through in the classroom. I never dreaded going to a two-hour lecture. In fact, during second year some of my friends went to Professor [Charlie] Rice’s first-year torts class just to listen. His demeanor was conducive to keeping you interested in class.”
O’Donnell says she also enjoyed an atmosphere that supported healthy debate. “I would be surprised if anyone said their viewpoints were marginalized. Discussions were very open, both in the classroom and in less formal settings.”
