Karen A. Lopez Peña

Karen A. Lopez Peña represents employers in a wide range of workplace matters. Her practice includes advising on, drafting, and implementing arbitration agreements. She also represents employers in judicial and administrative proceedings involving wage and hour claims, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, unfair labor practices, and claims brought under California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).

Karen appears before California state and federal courts and has experience handling matters before federal and state agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB), the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), and the California Labor Commissioner. She supports employers throughout all stages of litigation and administrative enforcement, from early investigation through resolution.

Before joining Littler, Karen spent seven years as a civil litigation paralegal at a top Fresno-area firm, where she worked on a heavy and diverse caseload. In that role, she prepared and served pleadings, reviewed and responded to discovery, drafted meet and confer correspondence, managed document productions, and communicated regularly with clients, opposing counsel, experts, and vendors. She also obtained, organized, and summarized case materials, including deposition testimony, discovery responses, and medical records, and assisted extensively with trial preparation, expert discovery, and deposition preparation.

Karen’s prior litigation experience focused on specialty litigation matters, including personal injury, wrongful death, catastrophic injury, premises liability, slip and fall claims, uninsured and underinsured motorist claims, subrogation, and indemnity. She worked closely with experts and vendors to coordinate independent medical examinations and supported attorneys in complex litigation strategy and case development.

Earlier in her career, Karen worked at various plaintiff-side firms, where she gained pre-litigation experience as a case manager and later as a paralegal. Karen’s background as a paralegal informs her practical, detail-oriented approach to representing employers and managing litigation efficiently.

Karen also has experience in immigration and estate planning matters, and she served as a summer clerk at a law firm where she was exposed to insurance defense, specialty litigation, family law, and estate planning.