Karen L. Hagberg is a partner in Morrison & Foerster’s Litigation Department. Her practice focuses on litigation and arbitration of complex commercial cases.

Ms. Hagberg advises both domestic and international companies on IP-related issues, including patent licensing and litigation, and trademark, trade secret and copyright matters. She has represented clients in a variety of industries, including electronics, pharmaceutical, entertainment and media, and aerospace. Ms. Hagberg has led a number of patent disputes which involved suits in venues around the world.

In addition to her IP practice, Ms. Hagberg has overseen a number of internal investigations involving claims of price fixing and unfair business practices. She has also prosecuted and defended cases for U.S. and non-U.S. clients in areas including business torts, theft of trade secrets, and unfair competition.

Ms. Hagberg’s practice also includes advising companies and financial institutions in complex business litigation, including pension fund investments, breach of contract and business disruption and termination issues. She has also represented companies in a variety of industries in products liability litigation and regularly provides counseling on labeling and recall issues.

In 1987, Ms. Hagberg joined Morrison & Foerster’s New York office and became a partner in 1992. She moved to the Tokyo office in August 1997, where she headed the firm’s Asia litigation practice. She returned to New York in the fall of 2002, where she served as that office’s Managing Partner until 2008.

She is a frequent lecturer in locales throughout the U.S. and Asia on U.S. and international legal issues relating to intellectual property rights.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, she received her B.A. degree in 1977 from the State University of New York at Binghamton and her J.D. degree, cum laude, in 1984 from Cornell Law School. She served as law clerk to the Honorable Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum in the Southern District of New York from 1986-1987.

Ms. Hagberg is a member of the American Bar Association, and the Federal Circuit and New York State bar associations and AIPLA. She is the former co-chair of the Intellectual Property Arbitration Subcommittee of the ADR Section of the American Bar Association. She is also a member of the Daini Tokyo Bar Association.