Crowell & Moring LLP is pleased to announce the addition of partner Karen A. Gibbs to the firm's Irvine, California office. Gibbs joins Crowell & Moring's Antitrust Group and will anchor the firm's Health Care Group on the West Coast. She previously
held the position of lead in-house counsel at Applied Medical, a privately-held global medical device company headquartered in California.

Gibbs represents companies in the medical device, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other health care and life science sectors. She also has successfully represented companies in the airline, computer hardware and software, currency exchange, food and beverage, office products, sports equipment and telecommunications industries. Gibbs focuses on antitrust and unfair competition litigation, anti-kickback and false claims matters, sales and marketing ethics, patent and trade secret disputes, the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property law, licensing disputes, non-compete and employment disputes, and distribution transactions and disputes.

"Karen is a major talent and we are very happy to have her on board," said Steven P. Rice, head of Crowell & Moring's California office. "Her track record in representing health care and life science companies makes her an important legal player in the industry. She will anchor the firm's health care practice in California and complement our existing antitrust, commercial litigation and intellectual property capabilities."

Gibbs said, "I joined Crowell & Moring, because, in addition to its noted strengths in antitrust, health care, intellectual property and complex litigation, the firm has a prominent Washington, DC presence and global focus. I also wanted to join a firm whose culture fosters team work and creativity to deliver outstanding client service to companies of all sizes, from start ups to Fortune 50 companies."

At Applied Medical, Gibbs headed the legal and contracts departments, managed all trial and litigation matters and provided general counsel to all of the company's operational groups and global subsidiaries. Her in-house experience provides her with insight into the challenges in-house business and legal teams face in an increasingly globally-competitive environment.

"There are increasingly intense competitive, distribution and compliance challenges in health care," said Gibbs.  "Having counseled and represented a number of health care companies over the years and also having been an industry insider at a highly-competitive, global company for nearly five years, I understand the pressures in-house legal and business teams face to meet these challenges. My role is to help these teams and their companies meet these challenges using creative and multidisciplinary approaches."  

Before joining Applied Medical, Gibbs practiced antitrust, intellectual property and commercial litigation with major law firms in Southern California and the Silicon Valley. In addition to representing Applied Medical both as outside and in-house counsel in multiple litigation matters and trials, Gibbs has successfully represented Amgen, Interpore Cross International (now Biomet), Sun Microsystems, Electronics for Imaging, Travelex Currency Services, and numerous other well-known companies.

Gibbs received her B.A. with a double major in Law & Society (Political Science) and Psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara, with Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa and High Honors. She received her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.  During law school, Gibbs was Editor-in-Chief of the Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal and also a judicial extern to the Honorable Joseph T. Sneed III of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Crowell & Moring LLP is a full-service law firm with more than 350 lawyers practicing in litigation, antitrust, government contracts, health care, labor and employment, corporate, intellectual property and more than 40 other practice areas. More than two-thirds of the firm's attorneys regularly litigate disputes on behalf of domestic and international corporations, start-up businesses, and individuals. Crowell & Moring's extensive client work ranges from advising on one of the world's largest telecommunications mergers to representing governments and corporations on international arbitration matters. Based in Washington, D.C., the firm also has offices in California, New York, London, and Brussels. Visit Crowell & Moring online at
www.crowell.com.