KAREN S. KIENBAUM, ESQ.

 

 

A litigator and ADR champion with 30+ years experience representing individuals and corporations. She is an internationally recognized authority in the areas of contract, labor and employment law, litigation, arbitration and mediation. After 14 years as in-house counsel at Ford and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, she founded her Detroit-based, A-V rated law firm. She has been saluted by Corp! Magazine and NAWBO as one of the Top 10 Michigan Business Women, and the law firm as one of Michigan's top businesses. Karen is involved in a wide variety of civic and professional organizations.

Karen is President of , a proprietary risk management program. Its secure Helplines, internet access, and protocol procedures cut costs, reduce legal exposure and fraud, and meet compliance laws.


Education University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, Detroit, Michigan     
     J.D. 1975

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
     B.A., History; B.A. Education; post graduate work in history


Legal Employment
THE KIENBAUM LAW GROUP, P.C.
     Principal and Founder, March 1998 - Present

Abbott, Nicholson, Quilter, Esshaki & Youngblood, PC
     of Counsel, 1995 - 1998

Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett, LLP
     Managing Counsel: Detroit Office, 1993 - 1995

Ford Motor Company
     Senior Attorney, 1990-1993

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
     Assistant General Counsel and Director, 1978-1979, 1981-1990

Legal Aid and Defender Association of Detroit
     Deputy Defender, 1975-1978


Prior Experience Representation of public and private sector parties and interests, individuals and employers. Focus on employment and labor relations including: contract disputes, training and investigation and early analysis of allegations of wrongdoing; litigation; wrongful discharge; discrimination, harassment; workplace torts; negotiations;work stoppages; reductions in force; alternate dispute resolution (ADR) procedures; regulatory proceedings, including NLRB, USDOL, OSHA, EEOC and OFCCP.

Areas of Practice
Labor and Employment & Contract Issues; Facilitation/ Mediation/ Arbitration; Policies, Procedures and Training Programs, Expert Witness and neutral investigations; advice and counsel to individuals and employers. Emphasis - Discrimination, Wrongful Discharge, Health Care Issues, OSHA.

Ms. Kienbaum is also Founder and President of ADROS, Inc., a Human Resource Solutions firm and has a patent pending on its Programs, the premier human resource solution for resolving employee complaints.


Professional
Admissions
U.S. SUPREME COURT; U. S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT; MICHIGAN SUPREME COURT AND ALL MICHIGAN state courts, 1975-present

AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSOCIATION (AAA): Employment Advisory Council 1996-present; neutral member: Commercial Panel, Employment Panel, and Labor Panel.

AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION (ABA); Delegate, House of Delegates, 1993-to present; member,
Standing Committee on Group and Prepaid Legal Programs 2003;member,
Commission on Advertising and Commission on Responsible Client Development, 1997-01; member,
Caucus of State Bar Assoc. 1999-present, member
ADR, Labor and Employment Law Sections

STATE BAR OF MICHIGAN; Commissioners’ Appointee: ABA House of Delegates 1998-04 and Caucus of State Bars; Chair: Standing Committee on Professionalism, 1991-00; member, Character and Fitness, 2001-to 2003; Council, Labor Relations Section, 1987-92

DETROIT METROPOLITAN BAR ASSOCIATION; President 1992-93, Officer and Director 1986-93, Chairperson of the Year; Chair: Labor Section, 1985; Chair, Corporate Counsel Section 1989, Trustee, Board of Trustees 1984-86; Delegate, ABA House of Delegates (3 terms)

AMERICAN CORPORATE COUNSEL ASSOCIATION (ACCA) – President, Michigan Chapter 1990; member, Board of Directors 1984-90; founder and Trustee, ACCA Scholarship 1991

SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT: Life member

MEDIATION TRIBUNAL NEUTRAL PANELIST: Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties

FEDERAL, WOMEN’S, OAKLAND & MACOMB County Bar Associations: member


Rating/
Recognition

 

Martindale-Hubbell Rating A-V 1975 to present
Who's Who in American Law, 5th Edition, 1987-88
Who's Who in American Women, 6th Edition, 1987-88
The National Registry of Who's Who 2000 - Lifetime Member

Selected
Publications &
Presentations

Speaker/Text Materials:

UDM School of Law: Speaker, Lunch with a Lawyer
Detroit, Michigan, January 2011

MACPA'S 2010 Annual Conference: Presenter,
Employee Faud: Prevention, Detection & the Law
Livonia, Michigan, May 2010

American Arbitration Association: Presenter,
How to Be a More Effective Advocate in the Mediation Process
Southfield, Michigan, December 2009


Michigan Association of Public School Academies: Speaker,
Risk Management for Charter Schools. Detroit, Michigan, November 2008

Center for International Legal Studies: Employment Law Update, Pilansburg, South Africa, May 2008

Center for International Legal Studies: Corporate Governance in an International Marketplace, Salzburg, Austria 2003 and 2005

Illinois CPA Society/Foundation: Pitfalls in a Compliance conscious world, Chicago, Illinois 2003

Center for International Legal Studies: Employment Issues in the International Market, Valle Nuevo, Chile 2002

Michigan Lawyers Weekly: “ ADR advocacy in Y2K”, 1999

ICLE: Advocacy Institute U of M., “Alternate Dispute Resolution” 1998

Personnel Law Update: “Litigation Prevention Audits,” 1990, 1991; 1996, “OSHA Issues in an Office Environment,” 1991; OSHA Hot Issues, 1992.

California Business Law Institute: Sex Discrimination/Harassment, 1989, 1990: Wrongful Discharge, 1991; Litigation Prevention 1992, 1996.

Troy Consortium to Prevent Violence: Legal Exposure from Violence in the Workplace, 1995.

A.E. Robert’s Seminars: Sexual Harassment: Prevention
and Investigation. 1995.

U .S. Postal Service Symposium: Violence in the
Workplace, Washington, D.C., 1993

University of Wisconsin: Speaker, The Crisis Employment Workplace Issues, 1993

Joint Seminar: Wayne St U, U of Det. Mercy, Det. College of Law: The Changing Workplace, 1991.

Employment Law and Risk Management Seminar: Wrongful Termination, 1991.

State Bar of Michigan, 1989 Annual Mtg: Litigation Cost Analysis; Winter Mtg. 1991: Mediation Techniques from the Defense Lawyer’s Perspective; Annual Mtg. 1991 Sex Harassment, 1991

Author:
DRI Newsletter “Mandatory Arbitration-Is it Dead?"
American Society of Employers, “Violence in the Workplace", October, 1993-and 1996

Spring Magazine: “1993 OSHA’s Biggest Year Yet”, 1993
Focus: “Mediation Techniques”, 1992


Civic/Misc.
Activities

United States Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference, Life Member
Alternate Dispute Resolution Outsourcing Solutions, Inc.

(ADROS) President, CEO and founder of
Magistrate Judge Selection Committee, U. S. District Court
(Eastern District of Michigan), Chair, 1993
American Bar Association, Fellow
Detroit Bar Foundation, Founder, Trustee
American Corporate Counsel Association Scholarship,
Founder, 1990
Michigan State Bar Foundation, Fellow, (elected 1985)
Grosse Pointe Park Foundation, Grosse Pointe Park,
Michigan, Member
Hunter’s Creek Club and Detroit Club, Member
AIDS Consortium of Southeastern Michigan, Detroit,
MI, Member

Other interests include outdoor sports and reading, and daughter Ursula, a labor and employment attorney in Portland, Oregon, and new twin grandbabies.


Copyright © 2011

The Kienbaum Law Group, P.C.
The International Center Building, 400 Monroe, Suite 470, Detroit, Michigan 48226
313-967-0700 / Fax 313-967-0244


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