Karen Gibbs
Personal, Executive & Corporate Counsel
California
CA
"Karen was a great help in a very difficult situation."
About
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upcounsel
experience
Practice Areas
Client Reviews
"We are a small venture funded company in California. As a small company, we did not have the need for a full time in-house legal counsel. But in April this year, we were sued by one of our larger competitors. Once we saw the expenses for the first couple of months, we realized we needed help. Our head of finance had used UpCounsel for GDPR related work in EMEA and recommended that we see if we could find someone through UpCounsel who could help us understand and manage our legal expenses for the trial. In a very short period of time, we were able to identify a few very promising candidates. We chose to work with Karen Gibbs because she had relevant background as in-house counsel for innovative technology companies before and articulated a strategy for cost that resonated with us. In the last six months of working with Karen, we have realized the incredible value even a contract in-house counsel can provide. Karen has very quickly understood the business, our team, and has become a strong champion for an aggressive legal strategy. She is able to push our trial attorneys on strategy, push us internally on making decisions about key matters, and of course keep a tight eye on costs. I wish we had hired Karen the day we got sued, and not 60 days after. I believe our strategy and costs would be significantly different if we had done that."
Work History
Law Office of Karen Gibbs
Attorney
Apr 2017 - Present
Working with corporate and private clients on transitions, contracts and disputes. Highly experienced handling and negotiating employment/severance/executive compensation, contract, dispute and other sensitive and competition-related matters. Cost-effectively handling sensitive negotiations, legal disputes/litigation, HR/transition issues and contracts with quick turnaround and optimal outcomes.
PBI
General Counsel & VP, Litigation & Contracts
Sep 2016 - Apr 2017
Headed contract, employment, compliance, operational, intellectual property and litigation/alternative dispute resolution matters for struggling start-up healthcare company. Resigned and was engaged as consultant to assist company in transition, including negotiating and wrapping up multiple contract and employment related matters..
Applied Medical
VP, Legal, Litigation & Contracts
Nov 2009 - Jan 2016
Responsible for all legal, contract and employment matters for global medical device company. Supported expansion from 250 to over 3500 employees worldwide, handling all personnel, compliance, contract, competition, litigation, license and intellectual property matters with outstanding return on investments.
Crowell & Moring
Partner
Dec 2007 - Nov 2009
Partner serving primarily healthcare and medical technology clients, including prior employer, Applied Medical, on compliance, competition, litigation and transaction matters. Left to return to Applied Medical.
Applied Medical
Senior Corporate Counsel
Mar 2003 - Dec 2007
Responsible for all company legal and contract matters globally.
Howrey Simon
Senior Associate
Sep 2000 - Mar 2003
Senior associate handling technology transactions and litigation. Clients included Applied Medical, Callaway Golf, Electronics for Imaging, Interpore Cross, Magnecomp, Nestle and Verizon.
Latham & Watkins
Associate
Jun 2000 - Sep 2000
Associate handling technology transactions and litigation. Clients included Allergan, Office Depot, Siemens and VNUS Medical Technologies.
Cooley/Day Casebeer
Associate
Nov 1995 - Jun 2000
Associate working on biotechnology and IT litigation. Clients included Amgen and Sun Microsystems.