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Karma Guilianelli

Bartlit Beck LLP, United States

Career

Karma Giulianelli tries cases for Fortune 500 companies all over the country. With nearly 24 years of experience, her cases have included a range of bet-the-company cases, including antitrust, contract, product liability, fraud, and securities cases.

Her representations have included the Canadian government in a case involving civil RICO claims against R.J. Reynolds; Micron Technology in a case against Rambus involving misconduct in the standard setting arena; E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company in products liability trials in Florida; various pharmaceutical companies in confidential mediations and False Claims qui tam cases; Tyco International Ltd. in securities litigation; and Hewlett-Packard in multiple plaintiff-side antitrust cases. In addition, Karma represented Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, Inc. in securities cases against certain underwriter banks regarding the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities in the mid-2000s.

Karma has tried cases in almost every region of the country, including for three cases to a jury for DuPont in multiple product liability cases with exposure in the hundreds of millions. Most recently, Karma has taken a lead role in two antitrust trials for Sabre, a travel distribution platform, including a ten-week federal jury trial in New York brought by U.S. Airways involving an alleged conspiracy and agreements in the airline ticket distribution market. The jury rejected the alleged conspiracy claim, gave plaintiff a verdict on the remaining claim, but awarded only $5 million in damages, resulting in the successful elimination of 99% of the alleged $1.4 billion damages. The Second Circuit reversed the verdict for plaintiff and remanded the case for a new trial.

In the past year, clients have selected Karma to first chair and co-first chair multiple trials, including for a large consumer appliance manufacturer (resulting in a six-week jury trial that Karma tried to verdict); OtterBox (a case with a $100M exposure that settled on extremely favorable terms right before trial); and Bayer (a case that was set for trial in December 2019).

Karma joined the firm in 1999 after she served on the United States v. Microsoft trial team for the Department of Justice. Prior to joining Bartlit Beck, she was a trial lawyer in the Honors Program at the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice. While at the Antitrust Division, she worked on both criminal and civil antitrust matters, including merger and non-merger matters. Karma was a member of the team investigating Microsoft's Internet-related conduct in 1996. After participating in the October 1997 case against Microsoft alleging violations of the Consent Decree, she continued as a member of the core trial team in United States v. Microsoft, which was filed in May 1998.

Karma has served as an Adjunct Professor of Antitrust Law at the University of Colorado, was named one of Colorado's Top Women Lawyers and recognized as one of Colorado's "Rising Stars" in 2010 and 2011. She graduated from Stanford Law School Order of the Coif, Magna Cum Laude.

Memberships

Adjunct Professor of Antitrust Law; University of Colorado Boulder Board of Trustees, Great Outdoors Colorado, http://www.goco.org/about-us Board of Directors, Big City Mountaineers, https://www.bigcitymountaineers.orgCoach, Lakewood High School Mock Trial.

Education

Stanford Law School, 1996, J.D., magna cum laude

Order of the Coif

Notes Editor, Stanford Law Review

Moot Court

Vice President, Kirkwood Moot Court Board

Co-Chair, Women of Stanford Law

Santa Clara University, 1993, B.S., Political Science and Spanish, magna cum laude

Phi Beta Kappa

Pi Sigma Alpha, National Political Science Honor Society

Phi Sigma Iota, International Foreign Language Honor Society

Outstanding Woman Leader Award