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April Lindauer graduated from DePaul University College of Law and was settling into life as an associate attorney at a Chicago law firm. Some of her former classmates were striving to log as many billable hours as possible while others were busy trying to uncover secret shortcuts on the path to partner. Lindauer was making other plans. After just four years, she exited her firm for a role as corporate counsel.
Whether driven by a desire to influence business decisions or to find a better way to balance competing work and life demands, many lawyers eventually make the move in-house. Most, however, tend to spend more time developing their skills and networks within large practices. But in 2007, Lindauer knew she was ready. “I had worked before law school and grew up around lawyers,” she explains. “I made the jump in-house and have never looked back.”
She grew up as the middle child in a family of five. While each of her siblings took a turn working in their dad’s Arizona law practice, she took a special interest in his work. At first, Lindauer would simply answer phones or file documents. Later, however, she would accompany her father to court and type letters and briefs as he recited them to her from memory.
After earning a degree in psychology from the University of Chicago, Lindauer worked as a project manager at Hewitt Associates before enrolling at DePaul. While there, she interned with the National Association of Securities Dealers (now known as FINRA) in the wake of the dot-com bust.
Exposure to financial services law combined with her background and education prepared Lindauer to thrive as corporate counsel. After nearly five years at Computershare, she helped build a regulatory compliance program at Encore Capital Group and then served as a compliance officer at Assurant before joining fintech startup Carta as its deputy general counsel in 2018.
“I made the jump in-house and have never looked back.”
April Lindauer
Carta’s suite of tech products and services help more than forty thousand corporate clients manage capitalization tables and valuations. Carta also supports thousands of funds and special purpose vehicles.
The innovative and fast-growing company is disrupting its industry with things like electronic issuance of stock, transparent compensation planning, easier scenario modeling, and automated back-office fun administration tools. Carta’s software removes barriers to investing. In the decade since Carta started issuing stock certificates as e-shares, the company has evolved into a full-service platform that manages $3 trillion for more than two million stakeholders.
To find success, Carta had to move in-step with constant changes in the venture capital community and the tech market alike. Meeting that challenge is part of what first drew Lindauer to Carta. “I knew Carta had the chance to do something special by creating more employee stock owners and addressing an equity gap that exists in the world of startups,” she says.
When Lindauer joined Carta in 2018, the company had finished its Series C funding round. She collaborated with her counterparts in operations to build the compliance infrastructure that would help Carta scale.
Carta then entered an important phase as leaders added fund administration services and liquidity solutions while expanding its core business. Lindauer became an important sounding board regarding related legal issues and worked closely with Carta’s chief people officer as its workforce climbed from two hundred to almost two thousand employees. She was promoted to general counsel in 2020.
Today, Carta continues to scale as leaders focus on continued international expansion. Thus, Lindauer is working behind the scenes to ensure they have a good understanding of global jurisdictions and their regulatory requirements. She hired a data privacy legal expert, formed relationships with partner law and accounting firms, and now oversees legal and compliance teams standing by in Singapore and the United Kingdom.
“To scale, finding the right people and partners is instrumental to our success. You need people on the ground who can because they help us amass the right knowledge and get the right people on the ground when and where you need them,” Lindauer says.
Like other legal teams across the nation and world, Lindauer’s is now focused on finding new ways to use automation to replace manual, time-consuming tasks. While her legal team already uses software to track law firm spending and manage contracts, the department is hoping to use additional digital tools to enhance its legal and compliance programs in the future.
“To scale, finding the right people and partners is instrumental to our success. You need people on the ground who can because they help us amass the right knowledge and get the right people on the ground when and where you need them.”
April Lindauer
The move will help Lindauer accomplish more work with the same amount of people. Her legal and compliance department is home to about forty-five individuals in various locations. While Lindauer hasn’t met some of them in person, she is careful to find ways to build strong relationships. “It’s important for a leader to ask questions and solicit feedback,” she says. Lindauer, who often benefited from good internships and strong mentors, now looks to provide similar support to others.
Carta is quickly launching new products as it doubles down on efforts to expand internationally, and Lindauer says that mentorship and support will be even more important as they grow.
Lindauer says she’s glad she made the move in-house more than fifteen years ago. “For me, it’s always been more about the work and the people than in-house versus firm.”
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP:
“April Lindauer is my favorite general counsel to work with. She’s funny and smart and reasonable. The scope of her responsibilities at Carta and breadth of her expertise boggles my mind.”
—Mike Laurenson, Partner
“April has a wealth of experience in managing legal affairs and has enabled Carta to succeed in its business endeavors. She has led the way in recruiting a stellar legal department, manages multiple product development counsel, and keeps her client out of trouble in multiple jurisdictions. She and her exceptional legal team are adept at balancing the business at hand with the larger relationship that’s in play.”
—Jonathan L. Pompan, Partner
