Karen is BPE Law Group's Litigation Practice Leader, overseeing the Company's Litigation Practice. Karen is responsible for formulating and implementing winning strategies for the Company's clients faced with litigation. Karen is a civil trial attorney, with extensive courtroom experience in professional liability, business disputes, employment and real estate.
Legal Malpractice, Professional Liability, Real Estate Litigation, Employment Litigation and Complex Litigation
Karen Goodman founded Goodman Law Corporation and as a trial attorney she has extensive experience in complex litigation, including legal malpractice, professional liability, real estate, and employment matters. She is widely recognized for her work in trial advocacy and legal ethics.
California Lawyer Association (2016–current)
- Vice Chair, Ethics Committee, California Lawyer Association (2019-2021)
- Committee member (2019-2024)
American Bar Association (Small Firm/Solo, Labor & Employment) (2016-current)
- Chair, GP/Solo– Litigation Committee (2016–2024)
- Vice chair, GP/Solo-Litigation Committee (2024-2026)
- Vice Chair, GP/Solo-Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee (2021-2022)
- Co-Chair Spring Program for GP/Solo (with Litigation Section) (2019)
ABOTA (2003–Present)
- President, ABOTA–Sacramento Chapter (2021)
- Vice President, ABOTA–Sacramento Chapter (2020)
- Secretary, ABOTA–Sacramento Chapter (2019)
- Treasurer, ABOTA–Sacramento Chapter (2018)
- Membership Chair, ABOTA–Sacramento Chapter (2017)
- Immediate Past President, ABOTA-Sacramento Chapter (2022)
- Cal-ABOTA Board (2020-2025)
- Board member at large (2022-2024)
- Treasurer (2024)
- Vice-President (2025)
- President-Elect (2026)
American College of Trial Lawyers-Ethics Committee (2023-2026)
Inducted as a Fellow in 2021.
APRL
- Education committee (2025-2026)
National Conference of Bar Examiners:
- Diversity Committee (2017-2018)
- Technology Committee (2018-2019)
California State Bar
- Member since 1984
- Committee of Bar Examiners (2014–2018)
- Chair, Committee of Bar Examiners (2016–2017)
- Chair, California State Bar Task Force Discipline Standards (2014)
- State Bar Board of Trustees (2010–2013)
- California State Bar Legal Malpractice Specialization Committee (2010)
- California State Bar Legal Malpractice Specialization Task Force (2008–2009)
- California State Bar Professional Responsibility & Ethics Committee (1998–2000)
Board Member, National Conference of Women Bar Associations (2009–2013)
California Lawyers Association (member of Litigation, Real Estate & Employment Sections)
President, California Women Lawyers (2007–2008)
Chair, Resolutions Committee for the Conference of Delegates (2005–2006)
Judge, Pro Tem Settlement Conference (El Dorado and Sacramento Counties)
Sacramento County Bar Association (Small Firm, Labor & Employment, Real Estate Sections)
Sacramento County Fee Arbitration Committee and Ethics Committee
President, Women Lawyers of Sacramento (1999)
Sacramento Professional Advisors Network (SPAN)
- Obtained a jury verdict in Placer County for a client who had suffered from nuisance activities by a neighbor which restricted access over a private road.
- Negotiated a successful sale of a client's ownership interest in a family owned business in Solano County.
- Negotiated a settlement for an elderly client who had been victimized in a series of real estate transactions in Butte County.
- Obtained a judgment of dismissal in favor of an attorney client following a court's decision sustaining a demurrer without leave to amend in Sacramento County.
- Obtained a jury verdict in Nevada County for $5.9 million for a wrongfully terminated employee resulting from the employee's whistleblower activities.
- Obtained a jury verdict in Nevada County for $1.4 million plus attorneys fees for a wrongfully terminated employee subjected to age discrimination and age-based harassment. (Affirmed by the Third District Court of Appeal in Hoglund v. Sierra Nevada Memorial-Miners Hospital (2024) 102 Cal. App. 5th 56).
- ABOTA-Sacramento Valley Chapter Trial Lawyer of the Year (2025)
- Distinguished Attorney of the Year-Sacramento Co. Bar Assn. (2022)
- Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers (Inducted September 2021)
- Martindale-Hubbell rated AV
- Harry Sondheim Ethics Award – State Bar of California (2016)
- Named as a "Super Lawyer" of Northern California
- Top Women Lawyers In Northern California (2015–2023)
- Best Lawyers in America-Real Estate (2012–2025)
- WLS Frances Newell Carr Award (2009)
Author
- "Co-Venturing Your Next Case," CLA Newsletter (2021)
- "Multiple Clients: How to recognize when you have too many clients," CLA Newsletter (2020)
- "Why Lawyers Should Care about the Bar Exam," SCBA Magazine (2020)
- "Managing Your Experts" ABA GP Solo Ezine (2019)
- "Co-Venturing Your Next Case?" ABA GPSolo Ezine (Co-Author, 2017)
- "When Essential Skills Begin to Decline," The Daily Journal (2013)
- "Ethics in Settlement," ABA Employment Rights and Responsibilities Annual Meeting (2001)
- "Recognizing & Avoiding Conflicts of Interest," SCBA (2001)
- "Defending the Real Estate Broker: How Counsel Can Stop the Runaway Train," The Defense (1998)
Testified
- Assembly Judiciary Committee, California Bar Exam (2017)
- Senate Judiciary Committee, Judicial Selection Process (2007)
Presenter
- Ethics at the Quarter Century—Placer County Bar Association (2025)
- Living out Loud on Social Media—CLA Ethics Committee (2024)
- Navigating Co-Counsel Relationships Podcast—ABA GP/Solo (2024)
- My Co-Counsel is a Robot—CLA Solo and Small Firm Summit (2024)
- Ethical Issues re: the Impaired Lawyer—CLA Ethics Committee (2023)
- Transitioning out of the Pandemic—Litigation Committee, ABA GP/Solo (2022)
- Succession Planning, SCBA (2021)
- Transitioning and Consolidating Solo Practices in a Virtual World, ABA GP/Solo (2021)
- Ethics v. Business: How to successfully navigate the ethical issues most commonly facing the solo lawyer, Lake County Bar Ass'n (2021)
- Selling Your Services Ethically, CLA (2020)
- Knowing Your Client, South Placer Estate Planning Council (2020)
- Knowing Your Client, Professional Fiduciary Association of California (2020)
- ABA GP-Solo webinar Managing expert witnesses (2019)
- Examination of witnesses, Placer County Bar Ass'n (2018)
- Ethics and Social Media, Sacramento County Bar (2016)
- Ethics and Social Media, ABPLA (2016)
- Ethics in Trial, ABPLA (2015)
- Demonstrative Evidence in Trial, ABOTA Masters in Trial (2014)
Panelist
- ABOTA-Sac Valley Chapter Masters in Trial (2025)
- Preparing for the Worst (co-presenter), CLA (2021)
- Ethics in Employment Law, Annual California Employment Law Conference, PLI (2020)
- Show me the Money: Ethical issues in charging and collecting attorney's fees, Annual Conference, CLA (2020)
- Breaking Away: Ethical concerns when leaving a firm to start your own practice, Small Firm Summit, CLA (2020)
- Civility Matters, ABOTA Sacramento Valley Chapter (2020)
- California Lawyers Association- What's new in ethics (2019)
- California Lawyers Association-Conflict Waivers (2019)
Articles and Presentations
- UCD Law School-ABOTA Civility matters (2019)
- Sacramento County Bar Association: Collecting attorney's fees (2019)
- ABA Litigation Section/GP Solo Division: Demonstrative Evidence (2019)
- California State Bar Ethics Symposium—Joint Defense Agreements (2018)
- McGeorge School of Law, ABOTA Civility Matters (2013, 2017)
- Lincoln Law School, ABOTA Civility Matters (2018)
- Women in the Law: Clearing the Hurdles, WLS (2014)
- Civility Matters for Litigation Section (2011)
- ABOTA Masters in Trial Cross-Examination of Experts (2009)
- ABOTA Masters in Trial: Demonstrative Evidence (2013)
- ABA Lawyers Professional Liability Committee: Taking and defending the lawyer's deposition (2013)
Speaker
- Relief Practitioner—Succession Planning, Solo & Small Firm Summit, California State Bar Conference (2013)
- SCBA Bankruptcy Section, Predatory Lending (2009)
- Trial Practice, WLS (2009)
- Evaluating Cases, CWL Conference (2009)
- Practicing within the Lines, ADC Annual Conference (2008)
- Glass Ceiling, Santa Cruz Women Lawyers (2008)
- Rainmaking, CWL Conference (2008)
- Gender Bias, Santa Barbara Women Lawyers, McGeorge Alumni Continuing Education Seminar (2008)
- Rainmaking for Women Lawyers, CWL (2007)
- Work-Life Balance, McGeorge Law School (2007, 2009)
- Powerful Women, WLS (2007)
- Real Estate Practice, NBI (2005)
- Confidentiality, Lorman Business Institute (2005)
- Trial Practice, Lorman Business Institute (2003)
- California Legal Ethics, Lorman Business Institute (2000–2003)
- Avoiding Conflicts, WLS (2001)
- Recent Developments in Ethics, California State Bar (2000)
- Recognizing and Handling Conflicts in an Attorney-Client Relationship, Yuba Sutter Bar Association (1999)
- Recent Developments in Ethics, State Bar Conference (1999)
- California Ethics, Lorman Institute (1999)
- Ethical Billing Practices, MCLE program sponsored by Women Lawyers of Sacramento (1996)
- Recognizing and Avoiding Conflicts in Bankruptcy, Sacramento Valley Bankruptcy Forum (1995)
Moderator
- Opening a Law Firm, WLS (2015)
- Lawyer as Employer, Litigation Section, State Bar of California (1995)
- Selecting a Jury, Litigation Section, State Bar of California (1994)
- Admitted to California Bar, 1984
- Admitted to Eastern District U.S.D.C. 1984
- Admitted to Northern District U.S.D.C. 2005
- Admitted to Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal California State Bar
- Certified Specialist California State Bar– Legal Malpractice Law
- ABPLA– Diplomate Legal Malpractice Member of the California State Bar
- Juris Doctorate from University of San Francisco, School of Law, J.D., with honors
- Bachelor's of Science from University of California Davis
Karen enjoys playing golf with family and friends. She is passionate about Notre Dame football and the San Diego Padres baseball team.
