Karen Haynes Curtis attorney photo

Karen Haynes
Curtis

Partner

Karen's
Professional Experience

With 40 years of experience in appellate practice and litigation support in state and federal courts, Karen heads the Firm’s appellate and litigation support practice.

After graduating first in her law school class, Karen clerked for United States District Judge William M. Hoeveler. Before joining Clarke Silverglate as a Partner in 2004, she practiced for 15 years at an AmLaw 200 firm and then at a litigation boutique that she co-founded and of which she was President. She has been Board Certified in Appellate Practice since the early years during which such certification became available to Florida lawyers, and she is consistently ranked by a variety of legal publications and groups as one of the top attorneys in Florida. Among other selections, Karen is listed in Best Lawyers in America and has been ranked in the Top 25 Female Lawyers in Miami and the Top 50 Female Lawyers in Florida. She is a charter member, as a master, of the Rosemary Barkett Appellate American Inn of Court. She has handled hundreds of cases in a wide range of substantive areas, including antitrust, banking, civil rights, class actions, commercial torts, contract and construction disputes, covenants not to compete, defamation, employment law and discrimination, ERISA, fraudulent transfers, insurance, lender liability, medical malpractice, minority set-asides, mortgage foreclosure, product liability, professional liability, probate and guardianship, and securities fraud.

Her leadership positions include chairing the Federal Court Committee of the Dade County Bar Association and its local rules subcommittee, which drafted an extensive overhaul of the rules; serving for a decade on the Appellate Court Rules Committee of the Florida Bar; and vice-chairing the Appellate Advocacy Committee of the ABA’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section. She has served the bar and legal community in numerous capacities – as chief editor/publisher of the Southern District Digest, summarizing and publicizing significant local district court decisions before the advent of electronic access to such decisions, and as a member of the Florida Bar Grievance Committee and the Admissions Committee of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Karen has been active for decades in her church community, where she has served as Treasurer and co-Treasurer, and on the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, and as chair and member of numerous other committees. Karen’s daughter is an appellate lawyer in the public defender’s office, and her son is in culinary arts. In her free time, Karen is busy with her teenage niece, who lives with her, and her three young grandchildren. Karen also enjoys reading and playing the piano.

Education
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Education

  • J.D., Nova University Law Center, summa cum laude, 1978, Member, Law Review
  • B.S. (Biology), Newcomb College of Tulane University, 1973
Bar Admissions
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Bar Admissions

  • Florida Bar, 1978
Court Admissions
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Court Admissions

  • United States Supreme Court
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  • United States District Court, Southern District of Florida
  • United States District Court, Middle District of Florida
  • Florida Supreme Court
Board Certification
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Board Certification

  • Board Certified in Appellate Practice 1996-2021
Leadership
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Leadership

  • Florida Bar (Appellate Court Rules Committee 1993-2002; Grievance Committee 1988-91;
  • Appellate Practice Section 1993-present)
  • Dade County Bar Association (Federal Court Committee 1981-88, Chair 1985-86; Insurance
  • Law Committee, Chair 1991-92; Banking and Corporate Litigation Committee, Vice Chair 1992-
    93; Professionalism Committee 1990-91; Appellate Courts Committee 1990-present)
  • Southern District Digest (Board of Editors 1982-87)
  • Rosemary Barkett Appellate American Inn of Court, master designation
  • Federal Court Committee for Proposal and Drafting of Amendments to Local Rules for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Subcommittee Chair) 
  • Federal Court Admissions Committee (S.D. Fla.)
  • ABA (Women Rainmakers Group; Vice Chair Appellate Advocacy Committee of the Tort Trial
    and Insurance Practice Section, or TIPS; Council of Appellate Lawyers)
  • Federal Bar Association
  • American Judicature Society
  • Supreme Court Historical Society
  • Florida Association for Women Lawyers (FAWL)
  • National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL)
Awards & Recognitions
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Awards & Recognitions

  • Best Lawyers in America, Appellate Practice (2020)
  • AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell
  • Voted by peers as among the “Best Lawyers in America” – Appellate Practice
  • Voted by peers as a Florida Super Lawyer
  • Ranked by peers in the Top 25 Female Lawyers in Miami
  • Ranked by peers in the Top 50 Female Lawyers in Florida
  • Designated a Leading Florida Attorney in the specialty of Civil Appellate Law by Leading Attorney Network, Inc.
  • Selected by Florida Trend for Florida Legal Elite
  • Listed in Who’s Who in America
  • Listed in Who’s Who in American Law
  • Listed in Who’s Who of American Women
  • Listed in Who’s Who in the World

“Live simply, love generously, serve faithfully, speak truthfully, pray daily, and leave everything else to God.” Faith Presbyterian Church. “Never forget who and whose you are.” My grandmother. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”.

Aristotle

Get to Know
Karen Curtis

Karen has been active for decades in her church community, where she has served as Treasurer and co-Treasurer, and on the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, and as chair and member of numerous other committees. Karen’s daughter is an appellate lawyer in the public defender’s office, and her son is in culinary arts. In her free time, Karen is busy with her teenage niece, who lives with her, and her three young grandchildren. Karen also enjoys reading and playing the piano.

A few things she likes

Learning new things

Meeting new people

Staying healthy

Taking care of family, friends, and pets

clarke silverglate, p.a.

5301 Blue Lagoon Drive, 9th Floor
Miami, Florida 33126

305-377-0700

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