Karen’s primary practice is civil litigation, including general commercial, product liability, and natural gas industry issues. She also undertakes general contract consulting and drafting, and she consults on LGBTQ+ legal rights. Karen works part-time as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Ohio County, WV, handling primarily driving and Controlled Substances act felonies.

She received a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from the West Virginia University School of Pharmacy, and a Juris Doctorate from the WVU College of Law.

Karen is devoted to service work, serving on many non-profit boards of directors over the years. Most important to her is the work she has done to assist her impaired colleagues in the State of West Virginia. She was the driving force behind the Supreme Court’s enactment of the West Virginia Rules of Judicial and Lawyer Assistance Program and has served on its Board of Directors’ Executive Committee since its inception in 2012. Because of this work, in July 2018, Karen was honored to receive the West Virginia State Bar Board of Governors’ 2018 Achievement Award.
Karen has also been involved on a national level through the American Bar Association’s Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs.

Karen has been elected by her peers to Best Lawyers in America annually since 2010, in the categories of commercial litigation, product liability litigation-defendants, mass tort litigation/class actions-defendants and personal injury litigation-defendants.

In 2021, Karen was welcomed as a Fellow of the West Virginia Bar Foundation. The Bar Foundation is the philanthropic organization for the legal profession and annually selects for Fellowship those judges and lawyers whose professional, public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of their communities and honorable service to the legal profession with the individuals selected reflecting the diverse nature of the legal profession in West Virginia.

Karen serves on the West Virginia Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being, chaired by Supreme Court Justice Beth Walker.

Karen is a pro bono network member for the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

Karen and her two children reside in Wheeling, West Virginia.