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Karen L. Hirschman
Karen L. Hirschman
Experience | Education | Recognition | Activities | Publications
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Biography
With more than 25 years handling major commercial disputes, Karen is a top-rated litigator with extensive trial experience. She is particularly skilled at defending auditors, issuers, directors and officers in securities fraud class actions and M&A litigation, and in representing professionals in accounting and legal malpractice matters.
Karen’s extensive trial experience includes numerous cases tried in state and federal courts in Texas and other jurisdictions. She has also handled significant arbitration matters in Texas and beyond. Chambers USA named her as one of America’s leading business lawyers in securities litigation from 2006 to 2009.
Karen has played an active leadership role at Vinson & Elkins since joining the firm as partner in 1999. With Marie Yeates and Brenda Strama, Karen is a founding member of the Vinson & Elkins Women’s Initiative. Currently, Karen serves on V&E’s Management Committee and is chairman of the firm's Talent Management Committee and Women's Initiative.
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Representative Experience
Mergers & Acquisitions
- Represents buyers, sellers, directors and officers in shareholder class actions and derivative litigation arising out of merger transactions
- Representative matters include: private equity acquisition of TXU Corp., private equity transaction of United Surgical Partners International, Inc., acquisition of MetaSolv, Inc. by Oracle, acquisition of Alamosa Holdings PCS by Sprint/Nextel
Securities Litigation
Case Citations | View All
- On behalf of directors and officers of Microtune, Inc., obtained dismissal of all claims in a derivative lawsuit filed in connection with a restatement of earnings resulting from accounting for stock options
- On behalf of Deloitte & Touche LLP, obtained dismissal with prejudice of all claims in this putative securities fraud class action arising from the bankruptcy of Dallas-based Amresco Inc. In its first opinion addressing claims against auditors under the PSRLA, the Fifth Circuit affirmed, holding that the District Court properly refused to consider the opinions and conclusions in an expert affidavit attached to the complaint
- On behalf of Blockbuster and certain of its officers and directors, obtained dismissal with prejudice of all claims in this putative securities fraud class action involving the loss of over $2 billion in market capitalization. A companion state court derivative lawsuit against the directors and officers was nonsuited after the court granted our special exceptions on grounds of lack of standing
Professional Liability Litigation
- Obtained take-nothing verdict on behalf of a Big 4 accounting firm in a $300 million auditing malpractice case tried to a jury in Dallas District Court
- Obtained summary judgment for a Big 4 accounting firm in a $250 million dispute in Dallas County court at law
- Represented a major law firm in a legal malpractice case involving a multi-million dollar damage claim; case tried to jury for six weeks in Tarrant County, Texas before favorable settlement
Commercial and Business Litigation
- Obtained summary judgment for the defendant in an adversary proceeding in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Austin, Texas, involving debtor’s attempt to reject a multi-million dollar sale lease-back arrangement
- Represented a Fortune 500 company in a significant arbitration proceeding in New York over earn-out in an asset purchase agreement
- Represented a major oil and gas company in a dispute over operation of a gas processing plant; obtained successful result for client in a three week arbitration
Other Litigation Matters
- Obtained summary judgment for an international consulting firm in a Title VII case brought by a professional employee in U.S. District Court in Houston, Texas
- Obtained summary judgment for an international manufacturing companion a multi-million dollar antitrust claim in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Education and Professional Background
- The University of Texas School of Law, J.D. with honors, 1983 (Order of the Coif; Chancellors; Note and Research Editor, Texas Law Review, 1982 - 1983)
- The University of Texas, M.A., 1980
- University of Delaware, B.A. with high honors, 1973 (Phi Beta Kappa)
- Judicial clerk to The Honorable H. Barefoot Sanders, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, 1983 - 1984
- Admitted to practice: Texas, 1983; Washington, D.C., 2002; New York, 2003; United States Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third and Fifth Circuits; U.S. District Court for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas; U.S. District Court of Colorado
Professional Recognition
View All
- "Local Litigation Star: Texas," Euromoney's Benchmark: Litigation, 2008 and 2009
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The Best Lawyers in America® in business litigation, 2005; in commercial litigation, 2006 - 2010; in professional malpractice law, 2009 and 2010; in bet-the-company litigation, 2010
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Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in litigation: securities, 2006 - 2009
Activities and Affiliations
View All
- Member: American College of Trial Lawyers; American Law Institute
- Co-chair: Programs Subcommittee, Trial Practice Committee, Litigation Section, American Bar Association
- Admitted: American Arbitration Association National Roster of Neutrals, Commercial Panel
Publications and Presentations
- "Trial Teams and the Power of Diversity," Litigation, Spring 2009 (co-author)
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Trial Objections, 3rd Ed., 2003 (co-authored)
- Frequent speaker and panelist at ABA and State Bar seminars
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Full Biography
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Trammell Crow Center
2001 Ross Avenue
Suite 3700
Dallas, TX 75201-2975
Tel +1.214.220.7795
Fax +1.214.999.7795
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