Karen is a former television reporter and editor in both major and mid-sized markets who regularly advises media clients on libel, news gathering, reporter's privilege, access, public records, and privacy matters. On behalf of those clients Karen has litigated to a successful conclusion numerous libel and other news gathering claims, and opened the court proceedings and records in many high-profile cases, including the child abuse prosecution of Carmen and Jorge Barahona, the child custody battle between tennis champion Boris Becker and his estranged wife, the domestic violence prosecution of then-Miami Mayor Joe Carollo, the murder of Jimmy Ryce, the jury tampering trial of the jury foreman in the Willie Falcon/Sal Magluta prosecution, the judicial corruption prosecution known as Operation Court Broom, the trial of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, and the William Kennedy Smith rape trial, among others. Karen also has argued before the Florida Supreme Court on public records matters. Her clients have included WPLG, Inc., BH Media Group, Inc., Graham Media Group (f/k/a Post-Newsweek), Ft. Myers Broadcasting Company, CBS, NBC, Telemundo, and an international financial news network. Karen also serves as an expert witness on the reasonableness of attorneys’ fees in libel and related matters.
I have devoted my entire professional life to ensuring the free flow of information to the public and defending free speech, both as a working journalist and as a lawyer. I can think of few greater callings.
Karen also practices in the area of complex commercial litigation in both federal and state court, and has litigated a variety of complex contract, tort and other commercial matters to a successful conclusion.
She is a 1988 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School where she served as Articles Editor of the University of Chicago Legal Forum. Before attending law school, Karen worked on the assignment desk at WLS-TV, the ABC-owned-and-operated station in Chicago, and was a writer and producer at Chicago's WIND Radio, then owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting. She also has been a reporter for various other television stations, radio stations and newspapers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C.; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Huntington, West Virginia.
In 1979 Karen received a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism, and in 1980 a Master of Science degree in journalism, from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
Karen is a past chair of The Florida Bar's Media & Communications Law Committee, created a program to educate judges about media law issues and regularly appears on panels discussing such issues, including those sponsored by the Media Law Resource Center. In May 2019 she served as faculty on access issues for the College Of Advanced Judicial Studies for Florida state court judges. She also has spoken on media law issues to the National Association of Hispanic Journalists as well as a meeting of free-lance journalists sponsored by the Media Law Resource Center.
Karen is a member of both the Florida and Illinois bars, as well as the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida. She mentors at-risk young women as a member of the Women of Tomorrow Mentoring and Scholarship Program, and also is a volunteer driver with the American Cancer Society’s Road To Recovery program. A long-time figure skater, Karen is a past president of the Miami Figure Skating Club (a member of U.S. Figure Skating, the governing body for figure skating in the United States), and has judged U.S. Figure Skating’s “Learn To Skate USA” competitions.