Ms. Karen J. Orlin
New York , NY 10116-7855
MS. ORLIN RELOCATED HER PRIMARY LEGAL RESIDENCE FROM SOUTH FLORIDA TO NORTHERN NEW JERSEY IN MARCH 2019, CONTINUES TO MAINTAIN HER LAW FIRM'S VIRTUAL OFFICE IN SOUTH FLORIDA, AND IS ADMITTED TO PRACTICE LAW IN NEW YORK AND FLORIDA.
Ms. Orlin provides forensic consulting, litigation support, and expert witness services to attorneys and law firms in entity governance and fiduciary duty, and attorneys' ethical and fiduciary duties, standard of care, and unlicensed practice of law, not securities law or handwriting analysis.
Denying defendant's motion for summary judgment in a legal malpractice case pending in the Circuit Court in the State of South Dakota, the judge said, "[Plaintiff's] expert, Miss Orlin, says. . . that the rules of ethics talk about clients and former clients and if you know that you've committed malpractice that injured a former client. . . it's a continuing tort if you don't inform the former client."
U.S News & World Report quoted and relied upon Ms. Orlin in its article entitled, "What Does 'Of Counsel' Mean?" published on November 6, 2023:
https://law.usnews.com/law-firms/advice/articles/what-does-of-counsel-mean
Ms. Orlin, licensed in New York and Florida, is member of the Professional Responsibility Committee (also served on that committee 2015-2018) and an affiliate member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee and former member of the Task Force on the Rule of law and the Task Force for the Independence of Lawyers and Judges, Professional Ethics Committee, and other committees of the New York City Bar Association; member and former Chair, Vice Chair, and Co-Vice Chair of the Corporations, Securities, and Financial Services Committee and former member of the Executive Council, Business Law Section, The Florida Bar, former member of the Professional Ethics Committee of The Florida Bar; member of the Business Law Section and its Dispute Resolution Committee and its Professional Responsibility Committee, the Section of Dispute Resolution, the Senior Lawyers Division and its Business Law Committee and its Ethics and Professionalism Committee, and Chair and former Co-Vice Chair, Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, Senior Lawyers Division.
She was partner/counsel of major law firms; General or Associate Counsel of financial institutions; member Special Committees on Opinion Standards and Vice Chair Committee on Relations with CPAs and FICPA of The Florida Bar.
She was instructor “Corporations,” St. Thomas University School of Law, Miami, FL, legal ethics and paralegal studies, The Law Center, Miami Dade College, Miami, FL, and BramsonORT College, New York, NY, and presented “Opinion Letters after 2001 ABA Guidelines” and seminars and webinars regarding entity governance, fiduciary duty and legal ethics in llcs and not-for-profit entities, and mergers, acquisitions and securities law and regarding arbitration. A comprehensive list of her publications is included in her resume posted in this profile.
She is licensed to practice law in Florida and New York, in U.S. District Courts for Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and, before 2014, in U.S. Court of Appeals for Second Circuit although she has not practiced in any court since 1980.
A.B. summa cum laude in mathematics U. Pennsylvania, J.D. Harvard Law School. She is a member of her solo practice law firm, formerly was partner, senior attorney, or of counsel of law firms, and organized and was General Legal Counsel and Associate Counsel to financial institutions.
Ms. Orlin is a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Dispute Resolution Arbitrator(Northeast Region), Chair Status: Qualified, and a Panelist--American Arbitration Association National Roster of Arbitrators (Commercial and Consumer cases).
References in this listing to "expertise" mean and refer to areas in which Ms. Orlin concentrates her forensic consulting and litigation support services, and do not represent Ms. Orlin as an "expert" as that term is used in the Rules of Professional Conduct applicable to attorneys licensed to practice law in the State of Florida or New York.
To date, to the best of her knowledge, all cases in which Ms. Orlin served as expert witness settled, after delivery to her attorney clients of her expert opinions documents in the respective cases, on terms favorable to the clients of those attorney clients.
- Business Law
- Contracts
- Corporate Governance
- Legal Ethics
- Legal Malpractice
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Q: Please list your professional accreditations, degrees, licenses, and certificates granted:
- A: Legal: HARVARD LAW SCHOOL, J.D.
Undergraduate: UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, A.B. summa cum laude (Mathematics); Phi Beta Kappa
Admitted to practice law: Florida; New York; U.S. District Courts for Southern and Eastern Districts, New York; before 2014, U.S. Court of Appeals for Second Circuit.
AV Preeminant(R) Peer Review Rated(TM) by Martindale-Hubbell(R). (See footnote at end of C.V.)
Graduate, Mendenhall School of Auctioneering, High Point, North Carolina-Elected Class President (1994); Florida auctioneer’s and auction business licenses before December 2017; New York City auctioneer’s license before June 16, 2020.
Certificate, The Grant Institute.
Certificate, Dale Carnegie Course, Graduate Assistant (1989)
Current editions of The Marquis Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in American Law. Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award (2018, 2019). Metropolitan Who's Who (2007); Honored Member, Empire Who's Who Among Executives and Professionals (2005-6).
- Q: Please list your affiliations or memberships in any professional and/or industry organizations:
- A: Arbitrator, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Chair Status: Qualified.
Panelist--American Arbitration Association National Roster of Arbitrators (Commercial and Consumer).
Member, Business Law Section, Section of Dispute Resolution, and Senior Lawyers Division (including Dispute Resolution Committee and Professional Responsibility Committee of Business Law Section, Business Law Committee and Ethics and Professionalism Committee of Senior Lawyers Division, and Chair and former Co-Vice Chair of Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of Senior Lawyers Division), American Bar Association.
Member and former Chair, Vice Chair, Co-Vice Chair, Corporations, Securities and Financial Services Committee, Business Law Section, The Florida Bar; member, opinion report and business entity statutory revision subcommittees and former Chair, blue sky statutory revision subcommittee. Former member, Executive Council, Business Law Section, former member, Professional Ethics Committee, The Florida Bar, and former member and Vice Chair, Committee on Relations with CPAs and FICPA. Former member, Broward County Bar Association.
Member, New York City Bar Association, its Professional Responsibility Committee (also served on latter committee 2015-2018) and affiliate member of its Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee; former member of its Task Force on the Rule of Law, its Task Force for the Independence of Lawyers and Judges, its Professional Ethics Committee, its Small Law Firm Committee, and its Securities Regulation Committee; former Co-Chair of its Corporate Mentoring Circle.
Former member, New York State Bar Association and its Not-For-Profit Corporations Law Committee.
Member, New York Regional Expert Witness Association. - Q: Please list any teaching or speaking experience you have had, including subject matter:
- A: Former:
Adjunct Faculty, Paralegal Studies, BramsonORT College, New York, NY, and Paralegal Education, The Law Center, Miami Dade College, and former instructor, School of Community Education, Miami Dade College, Miami, FL.
Coach, The Launch Pad, University of Miami School of Business, Miami, FL.
Adjunct instructor, St. Thomas University School of Law, Miami, FL.
Instructor regarding commercial lending as part of student workshop, University of Miami School of Law, Miami, FL.
Dale Carnegie Course--Graduate Assistant.
Webinar panelist "Alternative Dispute Resolution in These Strange Pandemic Times" (2020), "ADR for Transactional and New Attorneys--Ten Commandments of Ethics and Professionalism in Arbitration" (2021), and "Lawyer Succession Planning--Limitless Opportunities" on "Ethical Issues in Lawyer Succession Planning" (2023), webinar presenter "Tip of an Iceberg for Arbitration Titanic: H.R. 4445" (2022), and moderated three additional webinars, all sponsored by American Bar Association Senior Lawyers Division Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee. For comprehensive list of speaking experience, see https://www.orlinlaw.com .
Webinar presenter, "To LLC or Not To LLC: Florida Update," sponsored by Lorman Business Center, Inc. aka Lorman Education Services.
Participation in seminar presentation, “Advanced LLC Issues”, sponsored by National Business Institute (TM).
Seminar presenter, "Effective Board Leadership, Not for Profit Organizations", sponsored by The Center on Nonprofit Effectiveness (C-ONE) Miami.
Participation in seminar presentation, "Mastering Mergers and Acquisitions", sponsored by National Business Institute (TM).
Participation in panel in seminar, "Mergers, Acquisitions and Conversions"; presentation and materials in seminar, "Opinion Letters after 2001 ABA Guidelines"; materials regarding "The Private Offering Exemption" in seminar, "3rd Annual Internet Law and Representation of Technology Companies"; presentation and materials regarding mergers in seminar, "Florida Corporations 1985", all sponsored by the Continuing Education Committee and the Business Law Section, The Florida Bar.
- Q: Have any of your accreditations ever been investigated, suspended or removed? (if yes, explain)
- A: Some licenses that I have not used since 2010 are inactive, as stated elsewhere in this profile.
- Q: On how many occasions have you been retained as an expert?
- A: nine
- Q: For what area(s) of expertise have you been retained as an expert?
- A: Nonprofit corporation governance; securities law legal malpractice; mergers and acquisitions law legal malpractice; trusts and estates law legal malpractice; attorneys' ethical and fiduciary duties; conflicts of interest; attorneys' standards of care and loyalty.
- Q: In what percentage of your cases were you retained by the plaintiff?
- A: 66.7%
- Q: In what percentage of your cases were you retained by the defendant?
- A: 33.3%
- Q: On how many occasions have you had your deposition taken?
- A: None as forensic consultant; twice as a party litigant or factual witness.
- Q: When was the last time you had your deposition taken?
- A: Never otherwise than as a party litigant in 1982 and a factual witness in 2011.
- Q: On how many occasions have you been qualified by a court to give expert testimony?
- A: None, but my expert opinions have been accepted into evidence in at least three cases.
- Q: On how many occasions have you testified as an expert in court or before an arbitrator?
- A: None.
- Q: For how many years have you worked with the legal industry as an expert?
- A: 17
- Q: What services do you offer? (E.g.: consulting, testing, reports, site inspections etc.)
- A: Legal research; attorneys' ethical rules and commentary and fiduciary duty research; consulting; preparation of affirmation, affidavit, memorandum, or report; testifying in deposition and at hearing.
- Q: What is your hourly rate to consult with an attorney?
- A: $400 per hour, with no charge for preliminary conversation with attorney to determine appropriateness of my retention as expert
- Q: What is your hourly rate to review documents?
- A: $400 per hour to review documents, conduct legal and ethical rules research, and draft the document or documents setting forth my expert opinion
- Q: What is your hourly rate to provide deposition testimony?
- A: $500 per hour
- Q: What is your hourly rate to provide testimony at trial?
- A: $500 per hour
- Q: Please list any fees other than those stated above (E.g.: travel expenses, copy fees, etc.)
- A: Reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses, including among others parking, postage, courier, delivery, photocopying, reproduction, recording in electronic media, computer research (e.g., Lexis or Westlaw), other research materials unique to the instant expert witness services, and gasoline, airfare, train and other transportation, lodging and meals expenses for hearings or conferences located otherwise than south of 59th Street in Manhattan, NY, NY, in Newark, NJ, or in NJ north of Newark, NJ on any NJ Transit railroad line.
- Florida Not For Profit Corporation Act 2009 Amendments
- Understanding The World of Minority Rights And Fiduciary Obligations
- Walking The Ethical Line
- ARTICLES OF ORGANIZATION AND OPERATING AGREEMENT PROVISIONS MODIFYING DEFAULT PROVISIONS OF NEW YORK LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY LAW
- THE TITLE “MANAGING MEMBER” UNDER THE FLORIDA REVISED LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY ACT
- SOME JUDICIAL OPINIONS SINCE 2015 AFFECTING FLORIDA LLCS
- To LLC or Not To LLC: Florida Update
- Ten Commandments of Ethics and Professionalism in Arbitration
- Tip of an Iceberg for Arbitration Titantic: H.R. 4445
- Who is an Expert in Fiduciary Duty in Attorneys' and Managements' Professional Liability Disputes?
- The Ethics of Harassment and Discrimination by Attorneys
- The Advantages and Disadvantages of Forming a Florida Limited Liability Company (LLC) Versus a Florida Corporation
- "The Business Judgment Rule" for Directors of Not For Profit Corporations
- Ethical Issues in Lawyer Succession Planning
References and a list of forenic consulting prior engagements are available upon request.