Karen A. Jeffers

Karen A. Jeffers is a corporate and business law attorney with more than thirty years of experience working with clients in a wide variety of industries, including health care, marketing and advertising and education.

Karen’s general corporate and business law practice encompasses everything from mergers and acquisitions to corporate governance. She has significant experience in structuring and drafting affiliation and joint venture agreements, as well as complex, long-term service agreements.  She serves as both legal counsel and a sounding board for businesses confronting a problem or weighing a new opportunity.  Karen represents clients in commercial arbitration proceedings and counsels clients regarding employee terminations, compliance with applicable employment laws and regulations, and responding to employee claims. Karen is a skilled negotiator and advises both employers and high-level executives regarding executive severance agreements.

Karen represents independent schools and colleges and universities in all aspects of their operations, including governance issues, labor, employment, enrollment, student affairs, regulatory compliance, vendor and service contracts and faculty relations. Having served on boards of trustees for both colleges and independent schools, Karen has a first-hand understanding of the practical aspects of their operations and the unique culture of academic institutions.  She combines her business background and her interest and experience in this field to provide clients with counseling and guidance that has unusual insight.

Karen’s experience in the healthcare industry includes representing hospitals, nursing homes, physician groups, home health agencies and a state health insurance exchange. She has assisted in drafting health care legislation at the state level and uses her extensive corporate and business law experience to assist health care clients with transactions, affiliations and corporate reorganizations. She also represents businesses, such as information technology companies, which serve healthcare entities that need to understand the layers of regulation involved.

In the marketing and advertising industries, Karen has supported clients through the major changes that have taken place during the past two decades. Her experience has allowed her to represent both agencies and advertisers in negotiating agency/client agreements that make sense and are fair.  She finds practical solutions to problems that arise in the course of creating a marketing or promotion campaign and frequently assists clients with all of the legal elements that are involved – from claim substantiation and significant regulatory issues to drafting music and talent agreements.  In support of these and other clients, Karen also provides trademark and copyright registration and advice.

Office

Professional Affiliations

American Association of Advertising Agencies - Legal Advisory Group

American Bar Association - Health Law and Intellectual Property Law Sections

Connecticut Bar Association - Business Law and Intellectual Property Law Sections

Community Involvement

The Southport School - Board of Directors; Corporate Secretary; Member, Executive Committee

The Business Council of Fairfield County - Board of Directors; Member, Executive Committee

Visiting Nurse Services of Connecticut, Inc. - Board of Directors (2007-2019); Chair, Ethics Committee and Member, Executive Committee (2013-2019)

Trinity College Women's Leadership Council - Founding Member

Trinity College Presidential Advisors

Trinity College Board of Trustees (1992-1998)

Honors & Recognitions

Named a Moffly Media Top Lawyer in Fairfield County, 2021 - Business Law, and 2023 and 2024 - Education

Publications

Press Releases

Blog Posts