[4] Born resigned as chairperson on June 1, 1999, shortly after Congress passed legislation prohibiting her agency from regulating derivatives.

Born was attracted to Arnold & Porter because it was one of the few major law firms to have a woman partner at that time, Carolyn Agger, who was the head of the tax practice.

[7] Born's early career at Arnold & Porter focused on international trade law, in which she represented a number of Swiss industries and the government of Switzerland.

[7] She developed a practice representing clients in numerous complex litigation and arbitration cases involving financial market transactions.

She made partner at Arnold & Porter, after moving to a three-day schedule to help raise her second child,[10] and eventually rose to be the head of the firm's derivatives practice.

Born also helped rewrite the American Bar Association rules to make it possible for more women and minorities to sit on federal bench.

As chair of the committee, Born was invited to address the U.S. Congress regarding the nomination of Judge Sandra Day O'Connor to the U.S. Supreme Court.

[9] In 1993, Born's name was floated as a possible candidate for Attorney General of the United States, but Janet Reno was nominated.

[14] In July 2009, Nancy Pelosi appointed Brooksley Born as a commissioner to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC).

CFTC regulation was strenuously opposed by Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, and by Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.

[16] The disagreement between Born and the Executive Office's top economic policy advisors has been described not only as a classic Washington turf war,[8] but also a war of ideologies,[17] insofar as it is possible to argue that Born's actions were consistent with Keynesian and neoclassical economics while Greenspan, Rubin, Levitt, and Summers consistently espoused neoliberal, and neoconservative policies.

Using mathematical models to calculate debt risk, LTCM used derivatives to leverage $5 billion into more than $1 trillion, doing business with fifteen of Wall Street's largest financial institutions.

Under heavy pressure from the financial lobby, legislation prohibiting regulation of derivatives by Born's agency was passed by the Congress.

[8] An October 2009 Frontline documentary titled "The Warning" [20] described Born's thwarted efforts to regulate and bring transparency to the derivatives market, and the continuing opposition thereto.

According to Caroline Kennedy, "Brooksley Born recognized that the financial security of all Americans was being put at risk by the greed, negligence and opposition of powerful and well connected interests....