Karen A. Reardon

Phone: 312.855.1040

Fax: 312.855.1089

E-Mail: kreardon@rgrlaw.com

Karen A. Reardon represents individuals and companies in professional liability, employment and insurance disputes involving: directors and officers of commercial, non-profit, and managed care organizations; trust and bank operations and employment practices; lawyers; and under school board, environmental, miscellaneous professional, health, life, general, excess umbrella and specialty liability policies. Prior to establishing her own firm, Ms. Reardon was a partner with Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold and began her career with Lord, Bissell & Brook. She has defended or managed litigation involving securities fraud, corporate takeovers, employment discrimination and terminations, white-collar crime, architects and engineers liability, public officials liability, benefits administration, and bankruptcy. She also has been retained as a consulting and testifying expert in evaluating the reasonableness of attorneys’ fees and securities settlements, duties of cooperation, and issues of indemnification. Ms. Reardon has more than twenty years of experience in the mediation of complex business, insurance and employment disputes. In 2007, she completed Northwestern University’s Professional Development Program in Mediation and now accepts engagements as a mediator.

Karen Reardon Interviewed By Fortune and Sky-Radio Network (Listen to the interview)

Ms. Reardon is a noted speaker and author on insurance, reinsurance, and litigation management issues:

• In July 2007, Ms. Reardon authored the article titled “Raising the Bar: How the Supreme Court’s Recent Decisions Are Good for Corporations And Their Insurers,” which was published in the July 23, 2007 issue of Andrews Corporate Director & Officer Liability Litigation Reporter.
• In November 2005, Ms. Reardon authored the article titled “The Resolution of the Conseco Securities and Coverage Litigation – What Really Happened, How it Happened and What it Means Going Forward,” which appeared in the November 2005 issue of the PLUS Journal.
• In April 2005, Ms. Reardon authored an article titled “Avoiding Liability as a Non-Profit Director,” which was published in the April 2005 issue of the CBA (Chicago Bar Association) Record.
• In November 2004, Ms. Reardon moderated and spoke on the subject “Under Fire: The Criminal D&O Defendant” at the Professional Liability Underwriting Society’s (“PLUS”) International Conference in San Diego.
• In November 2003, Ms. Reardon spoke as a panelist at the session on “Emerging Issues in Handling Professional Liability Claims” at the PLUS International Conference in Philadelphia.
• In September 2003, Ms. Reardon spoke on “Ensuring Protection for D&O Coverage in Corporate Bankruptcies” at the Institute for International Research Seminar on D&O Liability in New York.
• On May 20, 2003, Ms. Reardon authored “Not All Settlements of Claims are Covered ‘Losses’ Under D&O or E&O Policies,” which was published in Mealey’s Emerging Insurance Disputes.
• In January 2001, Ms. Reardon authored “Disqualifying an Opposing Party – Arbitrator Before the Arbitration,” which was published in Mealey’s Litigation Reports – Reinsurance.
• In November 2000, Ms. Reardon authored “What the Prudent Director or Officer of Illinois Non-Profit Corporations Should Know,” which was published in Illinois Nonprofit Chronicle.
• In January 2000, Ms. Reardon’s conference paper “A Critical Examination of Plaintiffs’ Damage Analysis: An Important Defensive Tactic After Daubert and Kumho” was published in Andrews Corporate Director & Officer Liability Litigation Reporter.
• In November 1999, Ms. Reardon directed a panel presentation at the PLUS International Conference in New York entitled, “The Debate You Asked For: Is Damage Analysis in Securities Litigation Against Directors and Officers Junk Science?”
• In November 1998, her panel presentation entitled “Valuing the Claim Against Directors and Officers: How Damages Sought in a Securities Complaint Impact Settlements, Judgments, Reserves and Underwriting” was a focal point of the PLUS International Conference in Palm Springs, California, and resulted in an article entitled “When the Merits Matter: The Influence of Insurance on Settlements in Securities Class Actions” published in Andrews Securities Litigation & Regulation Reporter in three parts on December 28, 1998 (Part I); August 23, 1999 (Part II); and September 13, 1999 (Part III).
• In August 1998, Ms. Reardon and her partners published the article, “A Hypothetical - Can a Professional Recover Under an E&O Policy for Lost Business Arising from Employee Negligence?” in Mealey’s Emerging Insurance Disputes.
• In January 1998, Ms. Reardon spoke on “Emerging Areas of Directors and Officers Liability” at a symposium sponsored by PLUS in New York.
• In September 1995, Ms. Reardon’s article, “If You Paid for Legal Services Recently, Chances are You Paid Too Much: Hourly Billing and the Reasonable Attorney Fee Standard,” was published in the CPCU Journal and reprinted in the 1996 Insurance Law Review (Vol. 7) as one of the year’s best insurance articles.

A participant in multiple professional organizations, Ms. Reardon is a longstanding member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS). For over seventeen years, she served on the board of directors of the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI), which promotes the performance of pro bono work by lawyers. In 1994, she received PILI’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Also active in civic endeavors, Ms. Reardon is an alumnus of the Chicago Community Trust’s Leadership Greater Chicago fellowship program.

Ms. Reardon’s commitment to the community and children of Chicago is evidenced most significantly in her work establishing HighSight, a non-profit corporation providing scholarship, tutoring, and mentoring assistance to low-income, inner-city high school students. She serves as a director of the Illinois Humane Society, a foundation dedicated to serving the needs of disadvantaged children. The Chicago Bar Association Foundation recognized her efforts in pioneering HighSight by honoring the organization with the Thomas A. Demetrio “Lend-A-Hand” Award in June 1995. Ms. Reardon was honored in October 1996 as an inductee into the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Catholic School Hall of Fame. She has served as president of the Archbishop Quigley High School Seminary Board of Advisors, having been appointed to that position by Cardinal Frances George Archbishop of Chicago. She and her husband are licensed foster parents and have adopted two children placed in their care.

Ms. Reardon earned her J.D. degree in 1986 from Vanderbilt University Law School and her B.A. degree in 1981 from the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned Dean’s List honors. In 1983, she received her M.A. degree from the University of Michigan, Rackham Graduate School, where she studied on a full tuition scholarship as a Rackham Fellow. She is admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Illinois, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of Indiana, the Southern District of New York, and the Western District of Michigan.

Disclaimer

11/2007