Karen has been a highly respected lawyer and businessperson for over 30 years. A 1971 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, she was an associate at O’Melveny & Myers; a founding partner of Bardeen, Bersch & Kaplowitz; and a partner for over 20 years in Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan, one of the premiere entertainment litigation firms in California. At the Alschuler firm, Karen served as Marketing Partner for a decade, as well as head of the Labor and Employment Department, helping to grow the firm to its current prominence. She also was of counsel to Reed Smith in Princeton for several years. Karen has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America from 1997-2004.
Karen also served as President of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers and as Chair of the Employer-Employee Relations Committee of the ABA’s Torts and Insurance Practice Section.
She has spoken throughout her career at numerous forums, including the Los Angeles Copyright Society, Women in Film, ABA National Institutes; ABA annual meetings; the Association of Business Trial Lawyers; the Corporate Practice Conference of the ABA Section of Business Law; the American Corporate Counsel Association [New York City and New Jersey chapters]; National Conference for Women Litigators; California Trial Lawyers Association; ALI-ABA; Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles; the Los Angeles County Bar Association; National Conference of Women and the Law; and Women in Management.
Karen is the creator of Aiming High, an annual event to benefit NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, which has honored 35 of the most powerful and successful women in American business since 2001. She is a member of the Advisory Board of Disability Rights Advocates, which is based in Oakland, California.
The New Ellis Group
The New Ellis Group is a business development consulting firm based in Princeton, New Jersey. Since 1997, The New Ellis Group has provided strategic planning and business development expertise to companies in a wide array of industries including professional services, publishing, legal software, advertising, sports media, graphic design, project management, investigations and security, manufacturing, commercial real estate, distance learning and wireless telecommunications.
Through The New Ellis Group, Karen has applied to the business arena her success in resolving complex business disputes with win-win business solutions. Her forte is helping her clients build business networks: networks of clients, customers and referral sources. She is known for helping businesses to capitalize on existing opportunities and to obtain access to appropriate strategic partners through her extensive national business network and connectivity skills.
