Karen C. Burgess is a trial lawyer, Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Specialization. Her practice includes trade secrets, oil and gas, contract, real estate, securities, partnership and fiduciary litigationreally any commercial litigation.
Thomson Reuters has named Karen a Top 10 Super Lawyer in Texas. Chambers ranks Karen as a Band One Commercial Trial Lawyer. Lawdragon has repeatedly named Karen one of The 500 Leading Lawyers in America, and The Best Lawyers in America (BL Rankings) lists Karen and her firm for Commercial Litigation.
Karen is a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Society of Barristers. Karen recently delivered the Deans Address for the AcademyTruth or Consequence: Protecting Justice and the Rule of Law Against a Crisis of Deceptionand is currently the Academys President-Elect. Karen is a member of the Colleges State Committee. After two terms as the elected treasurer of ABOTAs National Board of Directors, Karen is currently an elected Trustee of the national ABOTA Foundation, and an appointee to ABOTA Nationals Executive Committee. In 2021, she served as President of Austins ABOTA Chapter. Karen was a faculty member for the ABOTA National Trial College at Yale Law School in 2018 and 2022. Karen is also a member of the American Law Institute and an Honorary Overseas Member of the Commercial Bar Association of the UK and Wales (COMBAR).
Karen enjoyed the honor of co-chairing the 2019 State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting and introducing keynote speeches by iconic newsman Dan Rather and acclaimed author Wil Haygood.
Stephanie and Bill Whitehurst named a University of Texas School of Law Public Interest Fellowship in her honor, and the University of Texas School of Law named her the 2018 Alumni Mentor of the Year. Karen was the 2018-2019 President of the Lloyd Lochridge American Inn of Court, and she has served as a co-chair of the Austin nominating committee for the Texas Bar Foundation.
In addition to delivering her Deans Address around the nation, Karen is a frequent speaker on business torts, the Uniform Trade Secrets Act and the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act as well as other litigation topics. Karen has also conducted on-stage interviews for the International Academy of Trial Lawyers annual meeting and TEX-ABOTAs Santa Fe conference. COMBAR invited her as one of the 6 participants in its annual debate, which was on the efficacy of the trial process for commercial matters.
Karen is active in the community. She is a past President of the Peoples Community Clinic Foundation Board, and she remains a board member. Karen has served on the Foundation Board for the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, has done committee work for the Paramount Theatre. She is an elder of Westlake Presbyterian Church.
Before practicing law in Austin, Karen earned her B.A. in Economics, Spanish, and Policy Studies from Rice Universitywhere she had the opportunity to study at the Universidad Catolica in Valparaiso, Chile.
Karen is married to a commercial transactions attorney, Brian Burgess. Karen and Brian are the proud parents of two college students.
Company Firm
Burgess Law PC
Website
Firm Mailing
404 West 13 St
Austin
Texas
78701-182578701
United States of America
Fellow Since
March 2, 2019
Practice Areas
- Commercial Litigation
- Intellectual Property
Chapter
- Texas
Contact Info