Judge Karen L. Stevenson

Karen L. Stevenson was appointed a U.S Magistrate Judge for the Central District of California on August 10, 2015.   Prior to joining the Court, Judge Stevenson was Of Counsel in the  Litigation Practice Group of Buchalter Nemer, APLC in Los Angeles, where she specialized in complex commercial matters, including securities litigation, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair competition, and insurance coverage for policyholders.  Judge Stevenson was lead counsel in high‐stakes disputes for national and regional clients, including banks, institutional investors, and mortgage lenders. She frequently speaks on electronic discovery, the admissibility of electronically stored information, cybersecurity, and social media. She has been a featured presenter at the Pincus “Federal Court Boot Camp” CLE programs 2013 – 2015.

Judge Stevenson has been a member of the Editorial Board of the ABA’s Litigation News and Litigation Update since 2008 and served as Editor-in-Chief in 2014-15.   She currently serves on the L.A. County Bar Association Litigation Section Executive Committee.  She is a Trustee to the Rhodes Trust at Oxford University and the District Secretary for Rhodes Scholarship selection committee in Southern California.

Judge Stevenson earned her J.D. with distinction at Stanford Law School. While at Stanford Law, with her teammate, Ms. Stevenson won the Marian Rice Kirkwood Moot Court Award for Best Team of Advocates. She earned an M.A. in European History at Oxford University, England as a Rhodes Scholar and received her B.A. in History (Phi Beta Kappa) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where she was a Morehead Scholar.

Judge Stevenson was selected a Southern California Super Lawyer Rising Star three times in 2005, 2007 and 2008 and nominated by the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles as one of the Top 100 Women Litigators in Los Angeles.  She was named by Savoy Magazine as one of the nation’s Most Influential Black Lawyers of 2015.