Catherine M. LaGrange

Associate She / Her / Hers
Minneapolis
As a commercial finance attorney, Katie advises on legal matters related to financial services, particularly with respect to secured and acquisition financing. Katie represents senior and mezzanine lenders, family offices, borrowers, and private equity firms in all aspects of leveraged financings. Katie has experience with asset-based loans, agricultural lending, project financings, syndicated loan transactions, mezzanine and structured financings, and other related loan transactions. Katie provides legal guidance spanning industries such as agriculture, consumer goods, food, professional services, manufacturing, technology, and utilities. She also regularly counsels holding companies and banks on mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, regulatory matters, and capital-raising transactions.

Experience 

Borrower Representations

  • Represented a national food processor in a $40 million asset-based loan from a national bank.
  • Represented private equity firm in obtaining $53 million in senior and mezzanine debt financing in conjunction with the acquisition of a products distribution portfolio company.
  • Represented a private equity firm in obtaining $42.5 million senior and $10.7 million mezzanine debt to finance the acquisition of a plastics product manufacturing company platform.
  • Represented a private equity portfolio company in obtaining a $12 million term loan and $5 million revolving loan through the Main Street Lending Program.

Professional Highlights

Pro Bono Experience

Katie maintains an active pro bono practice. Since 2017, Katie has helped more than 150 individuals prepare tax returns, through her work with Prepare + Prosper, a nonprofit dedicated to helping low- to moderate-income people build financial health and providing free access to quality tax preparation and financial services. Katie also serves as a volunteer mediator for the Ramsey County Harassment Court. Her efforts help an already beleaguered court system conserve precious resources, while teaching community members to resolve future issues of conflict without the violence, threats, or escalating behaviors that often lead to these disputes in the first place.

Judicial Clerkship

Hon. Franklin L. Noel, Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota

Professional Activities

Member of Summer Associate Committee

Member of Ballard Spahr’s Pro Bono Committee

Recognition & Accomplishments

The Best Lawyers in America, "Ones to Watch," Banking and Finance Law, Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law, 2024

North Star Lawyer, Minnesota Bar Association, 2017-2022

Named to Minnesota Lawyer's 2019 "Up and Coming Attorneys" list

Board Memberships & Community Service

Board Member, Bloomington Early Learning Advisory Council

Credentials 

Education

Mitchell Hamline School of Law (J.D., summa cum laude, 2016)
National Moot Court Team

Seton Hall University (B.S., cum laude, 2008)

Admissions

Minnesota