Karen is of counsel in the Vorys Columbus office and a member of the probate and tax group.  She has spent more than 40 years counseling clients regarding the thoughtful design and implementation of their estate plans.  Karen focuses her practice on a full array of services in estate planning and administration, emphasizing the drafting of wills and trusts with related estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax planning; administration of estates and trusts; and litigation involving trusts and estates.  Karen also advises trustees on their fiduciary duties in administering trusts.  In addition, she counsels numerous fiduciaries and estate and trust beneficiaries in resolving disputes before litigation arises and serves as counsel in fiduciary litigation matters in court. 

Karen is a past president of The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), and currently a fellow and regent emerita of ACTEC.  She also serves on the Fiduciary Litigation, Communications, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Committees of ACTEC.  Karen is a member of the Columbus Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA) and the American Bar Association.  She previously served as chair of the OSBA’s largest section, the Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law Section and currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee.

Karen has taught a number of classes as an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.  These classes include estate planning, administration of decedents' estates, and trusts and wills.  

Karen received her J.D. summa cum laude from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where she was a member of the Ohio State Law Journal Board of Editors and Order of the Coif.  She received her B.A. summa cum laude from Ohio University.

Industries

Education

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, J.D., summa cum laude, 1975, Order of the Coif

Ohio State Law Journal, Member, 1973-1975; Board of Editors, 1974-1975

Ohio University, B.A., summa cum laude, 1972

Bar & Court Admissions

  • Ohio
  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
  • U.S. Tax Court
  • Admitted to practice law only in the states listed above.
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