Karen C. Lefton
Karen C. Lefton is a partner in the Labor & Employment Group. She came  to Brouse in 2008 from the Beacon Journal Publishing Co., where she was General Counsel. Karen had a long career as a journalist before assuming responsibility for the labor and legal issues of the newspaper. Her expertise is in the area of collective bargaining, arbitration, contract interpretation, grievance resolution and union avoidance. She also has a special interest in media law and deals regularly with First Amendment, public access/public records issues, as well as defamation and privacy questions. She also serves on the Public Defender's Commission in Summit County.

Professional/Civic Activities
A member of the Akron Bar Association, Karen is immediate-past chair of its Labor and Employment section. Karen is also a member of the Ohio Bar Association, where she has often been a presenter for its annual Law & Media Conference. She recently completed a term on the Executive Committee of the Labor and Employer Relations Association of Northeast Ohio (LERA) and is a former member of the Labor Advisory Council of the American Arbitration Association (AAA).

Karen is a graduate of Leadership Akron (Class XXIII) and is a member of the boards of Project Learn and Goodwill. In addition, she is a founding donor of the Women Endowment Fund and continues to be active as a member of its advisory board.

Admissions

• Ohio Bar, 1984
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
• U.S. Supreme Court