KAREN COTTLE is a senior counsel in Sidley’s Corporate Governance practice and located in the firm’s Palo Alto office. Prior to joining Sidley, she was senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE), for 10 years. Karen brings her years of on the ground experience to the legal issues that are of most concern to management and in-house lawyers at global technology and other growth companies.
As a member of Adobe’s senior management team, Karen was involved in all aspects of the company’s business, and managed the global legal function with responsibility for all matters including corporate governance, securities, M&A, compliance, intellectual property, licensing, product support, litigation, public policy, privacy and anti-piracy enforcement.
Prior to joining Adobe, Karen served as general counsel for Vitria Technology, Inc., where she served as the first general counsel for the public software company and was responsible for all legal matters. Karen also previously worked at Raychem Corporation as division counsel before being promoted to vice president, general counsel and secretary of the company.
In 2012 Karen received Corporate Board Member Magazine’s Top General Counsel Award, and a Transformative Leadership Award from Inside Counsel magazine. Karen is recommended in Technology: Data Protection and Privacy in the Legal 500 US 2014.
Karen served as law clerk to the Honorable Spencer Williams, United States District Court, Northern District of California.
Achievements
Karen speaks at industry events regarding issues of concern to technology companies. Additionally, she is a member of the first class of the DirectWomen Institute, part of the DirectWomen Initiative, an effort by the American Bar Association, the ABA Section of Business Law and Catalyst, Inc. to increase the number of women lawyers serving as independent directors on boards of large public companies.