Karen began her career as a civil rights advocate and is passionate about women’s rights, particularly regarding access to healthcare.

While in college and law school, Karen volunteered at the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. It was through this work that she recognized an important gap in the services afforded to rape survivors – knowledgeable, compassionate legal support was not easily accessible to rape survivors and their families.

As a result, Karen worked with others to launch the Victim Rights Law Center.  Founded in 2000, the VRLC is the first nonprofit law center in the country dedicated to serving the critical legal needs of sexual assault survivors. The VRLC provides free, trauma-informed civil legal services to rape and sexual assault survivors and serves as a national model for such advocacy.

Karen continues to give of her time and services.  She enjoys mentoring professionally and personally, both within and externally to Goulston & Storrs.  Karen also is a frequent speaker at the annual ICSC Law Conference and other retail industry conferences.  She attends as many CREW Boston and national CREW events as she can and every year participates in the Massachusetts Conference for Women.