Karen R. Dow

Karen R. Dow has been a practicing litigator for more than 30 years, and during her career, she has handled complex commercial cases involving breach of contract, antitrust, ERISA, non-competition agreements, and breach of fiduciary duties.  She has also handled cases involving medical malpractice, pharmaceutical product liability cases, and cases involving premises liability and toxic torts.  Most recently, Ms. Dow represented a large group of physicians and other allied health providers seeking to recover payments in a case involving breach of contract, antitrust, and ERISA issues, trying that case with Firm lawyers and obtaining a $6.8 million judgment for the Firm’s client.  She also represented a local government client in environmental litigation involving the Texas Clean Air Act, the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act, and various recycling rules in a dispute with a scrap metal processing and recycling facility, resulting in a favorable settlement for the Firm’s client and injunctive relief.  She has represented the Firm’s clients in enforcing non-competition agreements and has assisted in handling the Firm’s large personal injury docket on behalf of a Fortune 500 Company.

Ms. Dow is a native Houstonian and a third-generation Houston lawyer.  She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Communications, Magna Cum Laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.  She obtained her law degree from the University of Houston Law Center, where she was an Associate Editor of the Houston Law Review.

After law school, Ms. Dow served as a law clerk to a federal Administrative Law Judge at the United States Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C.  Prior to joining Baker Wotring LLP in 2009, Ms. Dow worked at an aviation law firm in Washington, D.C. and at the international law firm of Kaye Scholer LLP in New York City.

Ms. Dow is admitted to practice law in Texas, New York, and the District of Columbia. Ms. Dow is AV® Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, the highest rating for Legal Ability and General Ethical Standards.  She is a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, whose members are elected based on their outstanding professional achievements and demonstrated commitment to the improvement of the justice system throughout Texas.

Ms. Dow’s experience includes:

• Representing plaintiffs and defendants in cases involving allegations of breach of contract.
• Representing plaintiffs seeking to enforce covenants not to compete and defendants seeking to avoid the enforcement of covenants not to compete.
• Obtaining a significant settlement for a healthcare provider plaintiff in a federal Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) action against a major insurance company which was sued for systematically understating its calculation of “usual, customary, and reasonable” charges when paying healthcare providers and reimbursing patients for out-of-network medical services.
• Obtaining a significant plaintiff’s verdict in favor of a healthcare provider who sued an insurance company for breach of contract and violations of the Texas Prompt Pay Law.
• Obtaining a plaintiff’s verdict in favor of a healthcare provider employer whose former employee intentionally interfered with his former employer’s exclusive-provider contract with a Houston area hospital.
• Obtaining a favorable settlement for a Texas governmental entity which sued the owner of a scrap metal processing and recycling facility for violations of various Texas environmental laws and regulations.
• Defending a national railroad in personal injury actions throughout the State of Texas, including cases brought under the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA).
• Serving on a team of attorneys acting as national defense counsel for a major pharmaceutical company in federal Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) product liability lawsuits involving a diabetes drug and hormone replacement therapy.
• Defending an insulation company in cases filed throughout the State of Texas involving allegations of exposure to asbestos.
• Defending physicians in cases involving allegations of malpractice.
• Obtaining a defense verdict in favor of a property owner who was sued for negligence after a fire—which originated in debris located on a portion of his property which he leased to a third party—spread to adjacent property causing damages.  The Court of Appeals affirmed the jury’s finding of no liability, holding that the property owner was not liable as a possessor of the property where the fire originated merely because he held legal title to the premises.  Newsom v. Whittington, 953 S.W.2d 410 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 1997, pet. denied).
• Representing United States and foreign airline clients before the United States Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration in connection with licensing and regulatory compliance matters.